Applying Caro's tells

[sharkscopeaholic]

I've purchased this book recently and have read half of it but i dont see many tells when i play, no matter how observant I am during play. Does it take long to start picking up some of the things opponets do?

I never look at my cards till its my turn and i try to analyze most moves/words they make/say but its just not clicking i guess. I play online much more than live, but play live 10 hours a month or so. When did picking up on these tells start working well for you?

[Taso]

I think I see something Caro wrote about maybe in every other hand that I play (talking live poker here) Whether or not it means what Caro says it means is another story. Really, I use 'tells' when I have to make a marginal decision, a tell can help me lean a certain way and make that tough call, or tough lay down. They aren't the biggest part of poker by any means, but they can help.

I think some of the most basic ones you should be able to spot right away. IE - when 3 cards to a flush come and a player checks back at his hand, you can be fairly sure that he doesn't have a suited hand, as most players will remember what suit they have. Of course, sometimes players will check back when they do have it, either as a 'false' tell, or because they simply want to be sure what they have.

Another basic one that is easy to see, is when the flop comes and a player immedietly glances down at his chips. This is an indication of strength, and if he acts after you, you can know that you shouldn't bluff at the pot. Or, if you have a big hand, you can check and be fairly certain that he will bet into you.

There's a few more really basic ones, I don't have his book on hand though.

Shakey hands can indicate a very big hand. The last time I saw this one I was up against turned Quads after I flopped a set and turned a full house. haha, Unfortunetly it didn't save me much money, he only had a few BB's left, and the pot was massive :P Again a caveat, shakey hands can also be just nerves. When I first started playing in casinos my hands would be shakey - sometimes they still are for the first few hands.

Just keep trying, keep trying to read strength/weakness and you'll get better at it. Don't base your decisions just on tells though.

[holdem2000]

Not explicitly one of Caro's but it aligns with several of his tells: the more people are moving their eyes around, be they at the board, their chips, feigning disinterest, etc., the more likely they are to be strong. This doesn't apply if someone genuinely doesn't care about the hand and is, say, watching tv in a relaxed posture.

[BigBuffet]

Observing players (especially when you aren't in a hand) will help you read a player for the times when it counts. And when it counts, you need to know the player rather than hoping to pick up a tell at that moment.

Caro's and Navarro's books are good for learning tells. But also important is using those books to give off false tells to opponents who have also read the books.

The books are a good start, but there are lots of tells that won't be covered. I remember one tournament where this player was putting her cards behind her stack so I couldn't tell if she was in the hand or not. I almost called the TD, but then I realized she did this with a good hand and left the cards in front of the stack so it would be easier to fold bad hands.

[dubiousdrift]

I had a lot of trouble assimilating Caro's information as well. Much of it read (to me anyway) like "This tell means this - unless it doesn't because they are faking." I spent a lot of time looking for specific things that I had read about, only to observe a tell that did not mean what I thought it should mean.

For example, Bill looks really strong right now and since strong means weak, I call. Oh, look - Bill turned a boat. I guess when Bill looks strong, he's really strong. It only cost my stack to find out... Thanks Mike.

I had a much better time with Joe Navarro's book. It does a much better job of giving you a scientifically based framework for interpreting someones behavior. I can see something I've never seen before, and be able to interpret it's meaning correctly with much better accuracy - even for someone I've never met before. Your experience may not be the same as mine, but for me, Navarro's book is the better investment.

- dubiousdrift

[Erik.R]

i have read it three months ago but didn't play much poker because, the people i play with where on vacation. After we all came back i read it again.
And i can tell you. It has easily helpt increase my profits. As Taso and other posters said, it does give you a tell with what kind of action you should take. But players can do different things so even tough the book tells that you where right you where beat in the end.
But compare it to any other pokerbook wich teaches you how to play for example AA and you can do it exactly how the book explains how you should do it. But you end op losing the hand.
I say it is a great book it has tought me to pay way more attention to other players like another poster said. Even when i am not in a pot. And the generall tells will often be spot on.

[mrjetguy]

I didn't find it very applicable to real life. People don't all act the same, so no book of tells will ever be horribly useful.

[Lucere]

I found this book in tandem with Navarro's Read Em and Reap book to be very helpful. I think the way Navarro groups tells together really helps you get the bigger picture at the table more, and hence, you're able to spot tells more quickly and more accurately.

[jeffnc]

[ QUOTE ]
I've purchased this book recently and have read half of it but i dont see many tells when i play, no matter how observant I am during play. Does it take long to start picking up some of the things opponets do?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know. I read Caro on my first plane trip to Vegas, expecting it to open a whole new world to me. The whole trip, I never saw one reliable tell. I'm fairly observant also.

I'm not an idiot, but it could be I'm just not getting it. I do see some of the tells, but there are so many alternative reasons they could be happening that they weren't reliable. They often meant the opposite of what they should, because the cocktail waitress came by, a big play happened on the ball game on the TV, a spouse came by and said something that made them happy, or upset, etc etc.

[jeffnc]

[ QUOTE ]
I had a much better time with Joe Navarro's book. It does a much better job of giving you a scientifically based framework for interpreting someones behavior. I can see something I've never seen before, and be able to interpret it's meaning correctly with much better accuracy - even for someone I've never met before. Your experience may not be the same as mine, but for me, Navarro's book is the better investment.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed - the book makes more sense and seems more modern and relevant.

Having said that, never picked up a reliable tell from that book either [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]