Chapter 5 Tells

Bar Poker Tells Bar poker is the best place to improve your tell reading ability. No where else will you see more visible and exaggerated tells. If you are unsure of what tells are, there are some great books out on the subject. It is a worth while investment. A little knowledge can save or make you a lot of chips in a bar game. Here are a few classic tells that you will see in bar poker. Looking at chips- This is the easiest and most common bar poker tell. If you watch a player as they look at their cards or see a flop and immediately look at or go to their chip stack then they like what they have seen. Remember, that each player has a different opinion on what is a good hand. They may not have a monster hand they just liked what they have seen. You need to make your judgment based on your hand and the knowledge you have received. This is a sure give away that a player has made a draw. They are calling your bets and on the river card look or go to their chips stack. You must fold unless you have the nuts. Covering their cards – Many players will only cover their cards if they plan on playing a hand. If you are thinking of bluffing a hand and a tight player has capped their cards you may want to fold or just call rather then raise. Once again remember that different players give different value to what constitutes good cards. Betting out of turn – This usually means that the player is excited about their hand so beware. Checking out of turn – don’t like their hand. They are not even paying attention to what going on. They will fold to any bet. Taking a lot of time to call – hand is weak, probably on a draw. If strong they would have called right away. Look for looking at chips tell after next card. Look at hole cards or flop and suddenly pays attention. They may have been talking or drinking or eating and now are enthralled in hand. They have a good starting hand or hit the flop. If they immediately go to chips they have a big hand and plan to bet or raise. Grabbing chips then checking – They like their hand a lot. They are either looking to check raise or let you catch up so you will call a big bet. Sometimes players will do this when they are on a nut draw. I was thinking of betting my draw and decided to check. Either way beware of a big hand potential. Fake tells – There are a few bar players capable of fake tells, but not many. Most of the time tells will lead you to make correct plays. If you see a fake tell, remember who it was that did it for future information. Should you fake tells at a bar poker game? The problem is most people that play bar poker will not even know that you gave them a tell, so it is a waste of time and energy but it may work once in a while to make it worth it.