Betting Tells- help

[JJNJustin]

I have this problem when I play, that I call "willingness to bet" stemming from anxiousness or "unwillingness to bet" stemming from fear that I have been outdrawn.

Players pick up on these tells and use them to their advantage when they want to c/r or want a free card.

For example, I raise four limpers with QQ, the flop comes AK6, and everybody starts making all these false fake-out betting and checking motions to try to illicit whether I will bet, check, c/c, raise, etc. It gets annoying. But they usually are figuring out what I will do before it is my turn to act, and I figure this to be a terrible disadvantage for me.

I am getting better at recognizing if someone has hit the turn or river and is trying to c/r, but still players very often get a read on whether I will bet or not and take appropriate action. Especially players that have played with me before.

Obviously this is a terrible weakness in my game that I am trying to overcome. One thing I have come up with is to close my eyes underneath my sunglasses until my turn to act. This way I, myself, have no idea what I am going to do so players can not get any information from my tells or feelings or whatever.

This, however, can be confusing as I am constantly opening and closing my eyes during each stage of the hand.

I have noticed some players are very good at not giving away what they will do. Is this a beginner problem? What can I do to stop this? Are there exercises?

It sometimes gets to the point where I play more passively so that I wont draw attention to myself. That way I can position raise an EP better, protect my hand, etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

-J

[elmo]

You should be able to fix this with some effort, but if you really think its a problem, an extreme solution is to not look at the board untill its your turn to act.

[danderso8]

I recently started wearing a hat sometimes when i play, and i think it helps. Prior to the flop (or other card) coming out, I move my head so that i can see the board, and the other players hands, but so they can't see my eyes. Unfortunately, I can't see their eyes this way, but i figure it gains me more than I lose from that, cause I'm not very good at reading people's tells yet anyhow.

Another thing to do to hide your intended action is to count out a bet & raise prior to the hand. (Obv, this works better in limit than NL) That way, you have the chips sitting there and just choose which stack to move out mentally...no fiddling with the chips to give anything away. (a side benefit of this is it speeds the game.)

Put a chip on your cards and leave it there until your turn to muck.

If you do that, hopefully you will have most of your tells under control. Beyond that, I'd say try to keep your hands still and maybe focus on your breathing.

I don't recommend not looking at the board till your turn, because if you do that, not only does it delay the game, but it guarantees that everyone will be looking at you when you react to the board.

good luck,
dan