Poker News

Dr. Scott Aigner, MD

Imagine yourself playing in a major no limit tournament. Sitting with a medium stack on the button, you look down at an Ace 10 suited. This hand is good enough to raise with given that only the blinds remain. You raise three times the big blind. You are watching the small blind as he contemplates for a few seconds and then moves all in. He has a short stack and the raise is just a little more than double your initial raise. You noticed that he was a little forceful when he put his chips into the middle (acting strong). The big blind folded. You are now in a quandary and have a tough decision to make. Does your opponent have a real hand or is he just making a move? Needing more information you decide to observe him for a while and look for more tells. At the same time you think about his previous hands and how he played them.

I was faced with this very situation not too long ago. Studying an opponent for tells (or signals) is easy to do. Everyone exhibits body language. It is a major form of communication although we normally do not consciously think about it. Body language is either dominant, submissive, or neutral. Mike Caro wrote the definitive book on tells. The main theme in this book is that one acts weak when strong and strong when weak. A good player takes time to study an opponent when he has a close decision to make. As the pressure builds up the opponent might forget about his acting job and his real holding might be unmasked.

One way to add even more pressure on an opponent (and allow more time to recall prior situations) is to talk. Continue to observe him as you try to get him to respond in a verbal fashion and even more importantly by eliciting body language that reveals the real strength of his hand. In this situation I felt that my opponent was pretty weak. Even though he had on his poker face his body was as stiff as a board (a sign of fear or weakness). All of my prior observations of him were much different than I was observing now. He was trying to act strong but with added pressure on him he might show more signs of weakness.

“Man, I think you are weak,” I said to him. He became just a tad stiffer (he is scared). I waited a little while and then said, “I just can’t fold this hand” and watched his reaction again. His respiratory rate had quickened because he was not breathing during all of this time and needed air. I also noticed that even his arms became rigid too. Everything screamed to me that he was weak. “I call!” He turned over Jack Deuce suited. I led until he rivered a deuce to win the pot. It was not the outcome I was hoping for but I did make the right read and the right play.

Anyone can learn to read body language but eliciting tells takes it one-step further. It is one of the skills that makes a great player great. I recommend that you read Caro’s book and do a little research online too. Just time alone increases the pressure an opponent is feeling. Adding conversation can elicit more tells.In no limit hold em tournaments one hand can be the difference between winning and losing. Learn this skill and it will help you make the right decision more often.

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