something im doing almost always now...

[mike l.]

some of it's subconcious. people do different things. their nostrils flare, they feign loving the flop when the hate it, they fake hating the flop when they love it, they sigh and put the chips in really depressed like, they look away, they wait forever not wanting to bet and ask "he checked?" to make sure they arent missing an extra bet and to seem weak and hesitant, they grunt or groan or grimace, they sit upright, they bet really quick and sloppy, their hands shake, they tense up, their face gets red, the vein in their neck goes beep beep beep really fast (this is especially noticeable in younger players), they talk uncomfortably, they talk comfortably, they pretend not to be interested. all sorts of things. figuring out what each thing means takes a lot of time and is specific to each player. some players give off almost nothing or randomize to some extent because they play a lot of poker and betting the flop is just betting a flop it's something they do so often with so many types of flops that it doesnt excite them to have the nuts or to be bluffing with rags, it's just another bet. but a lot of mid limit players are high on the game and they play like their drunk, theyre lying but the truth is just underneath he surface and with a lot of time and practice looking at people you create a mental subconcious log of what each varying gesture and expression might most likely mean. i wish it were as simple as "i look for them to screw the top of an oreo, then i know theyre bluffing," but it's more subtle than that usually.