Top 10 tells to watch for at the poker table

Although many players argue that physical tells are overrated, utilizing them properly can make a significant difference to your win rate.

Poker tells refers to all sorts of unintentional actions hinting at the opponent’s hand strength, allowing you to adjust your course of action.

In this article, Tadas Peckaitis from Pokerati.com takes a look at the top 10 tells to look out for at the poker table. If you pay close attention to your opponents’ actions even when you’re not actively involved in a hand, you will be able to master physical tells and add another important layer to your game.

Shaky hands are one of the more obvious tells.

10. Shaky hands
We’ll start with one of the most obvious tells in all of poker – shaky hands. Many inexperienced players will not be able to control their hands when handling chips and cards in big pots, and shaky hands are one of those tells that are easy to spot.

That said, you should be careful when factoring this tell into your decisions. Sometimes, it can be a sign of nervousness, but at other times, this tell is displayed by players with a really strong hand who can’t contain their excitement.

How can you tell if it’s one or the other? It’s hard to do in isolation, but if you’re up against a player that you play with a lot, you may be able to figure out which one of these scenarios is likelier in their particular case.

9. Unusually small bets
Next in line is an unusually small bet on the river. If there is $500 in the pot and your opponent bets out for $30, it usually means they have a hand they’d like to show down, but it’s not very strong.

By betting instead of checking, they hope to set their price and accomplish their goal without risking a few hundred, which you might bet if they checked.

While this type of bet can be used to elicit a raise in some rare instances, more often than not, it signals weakness, and you should, for the most part, view them the same as a check and proceed accordingly.

8. Quick calls
A player making a very quick call after you bet out usually indicates a draw of some sort or a medium-strength hand at best.

When someone has a very good hand, they’ll usually take at least a bit of time to consider their options and figure out if they want to put more money in the middle.

As far as poker tells go, this one is pretty reliable, and it can help you figure out a range of hands that you’re likely up against.

7. Quick bets
Unlike quick calls, quick bets coming from an opponent can be harder to read. The good news is that with a variety of poker vlogs available to everyone we can see many examples and determine how to adjust versus different players.

A player betting out without much thinking usually indicates a strong hand. However, to get more out of this tell, consider whether the turn or river cards changed things. If, for example, a flush draw came in, and the opponent kept betting without a pause, they might be bluffing.

On a card that changes the board structure significantly, they should be taking a pause. Continuing to mindlessly bet often indicates they have it in their mind that they want to win this pot no matter what.

6. Excessive talking
There are only a handful of players out there who are capable of maintaining a prolonged and relaxed conversation after pulling a bluff and waiting for your decision.

Time and time again, after some back and forth, you make the call, and they show you the nuts.

In the grand scheme of things, if a player is too talkative after a big bet, especially on the river, where there are no more cards to come, they have it, and they’re trying to convince you to give them their chips.

It’s important to emphasize that their actual words don’t matter. Whether they’re saying they’re bluffing or that they have it if they’re talking a lot – they usually have it.

5. Not paying attention
In lower-stakes games, if you notice a player isn’t paying attention to the action anymore, it usually means they’re done with the hand. This can be very helpful in multi-way pots where you’re not closing the action.

If there is a player left to act behind you, you should try and gauge the level of interest they have for the pot. Sometimes, you’ll be able to tell with 100% certainty that they’re done, and you have nothing to worry about.

There is a caveat here, though. If a player is going out of their way to act uninterested, this can often be a sign of extreme strength. They’re doing everything they can to seem like they’re done with the hand in hopes of other players doing their bidding so they can spring the trap.

It’s not always easy to tell one from the other, but if a usually silent player becomes very animated all of a sudden, ordering drinks and staring intently at the television (although he didn’t seem one bit interested in that soccer game the entire night), it might be the case of (bad) acting.

4. Double-checking hole cards
This is one of the things that is mentioned in almost every guide to poker tells out there, but I’d say you should take it with a grain of salt.

It is true that on monotone boards, a player checking their hole cards usually means that they don’t have a suited hand and are checking if they have one card of a matching suit. But it can also mean that they’ve just flopped a flush, and they’re double-checking to make sure.

In general, don’t read too much into this tell unless it’s someone you play with a lot and you know their behavioral patterns very well. A random player in lower stakes live poker games could be double-checking their hole cards for a variety of reasons, including they simply forgot what they started with.

3. Forceful handling of chips
This is a poker tell often exhibited by amateurs who believe that looking and acting scary at the table will help their bluffs get through more often.

When someone is throwing chips into the pot with force or slamming their stack onto the table when making a big bet, the odds are good that they’re trying to intimidate you and get you to fold.

It’s important to note that this doesn’t always mean they’re bluffing. Sometimes, they may have a strong hand, but the board contains a lot of draws, and they want you to go away and let them win the pot.

The board texture and any additional tells from this player can help bring more clarity, such as the speed with which they make the bets and any verbal statements.

A stern look aims to scare off opponents.

2. A stern look
Similar to the previous one, a stern and prolonged look from an opponent is usually an attempt to scare you away.

Unlike forceful handling of chips, though, which is often considered rude in higher-stakes games, prolonged stares are often employed by very experienced players with the goal of making you uncomfortable.

With amateurs, though, this is more often a sign of weakness. They’re trying to make up for the shortcomings of their actual hand strength with intimidating behavior. A casual player with a strong hand will try to avoid giving you reasons to fold.

1. Overly relaxed
While experienced players are perfectly capable of pulling a huge bluff and staying super-relaxed and chatty, this isn’t the case for a majority of amateurs.

If you face a big bet or an all-in, and your opponent seems relaxed and open to chatting and joking with you, more often than not, they have the goods.

There are nuances to this, of course. You should listen to the tone of their voice and see if there are any changes to the pitch, which may indicate something is off. In general, though, if you’re up against a casual player who doesn’t seem to have a care in the world after just moving all in, trying to hero-call them is usually not the optimal course of action.