Finding A Tell In Everyone

Tells - noun

Behaviours or patterns of behaviour that reveal information about a player's intended actions or about a player's cards, especially when such behaviours are unconscious or unintended; clues about how an opponent will play or the cards an opponent is holding.

The Pokerzone Dictionary

So far in this journey, the most intriguing and interesting discoveries have been the way that people act without realising it. The subtle, subconscious differences in the way that somebody could say something but mean something else is something that I have been studying in my day to day life as well as at the poker table. I have been trying to look past what their words are telling me and listen to what their body language is saying, because people can lie easily with words, but their body language is a lot more truthful.

One of Aprils Goals was to find a tell in everybody. I wanted to look at the people closest to me, that I have known for years, and try to find a subconscious trait that they have in their body language that tells me what they are thinking when they talk.

I noticed quickly something that I used to my advantage at the table. When somebody is relaxed and casual, they are harder to read. But if you put someone under a small amount of pressure, like asking for details about the subject they are talking about, or simply asking them to repeat a key word in a sentence, their body language becomes easier to judge. I used this at a tournament this week by questioning a player about his hand. He calmly raised a lot of his chips on the river without giving me any kind of clue if he had me beat or not. I thought about it for a few seconds and just asked him if he hit his flush. He didn't use his words to tell me but his body language and particularly his eyes screamed that he hit it and hit it hard.

Another thing that I noticed is that when someone is lying or playing a prank on you they will smile when they think you have figured them out. I think this might be some kind of subconscious get out clause for them. By that I mean that they are smiling just before they get caught so that it lets me know that it was all a joke and not some kind of nasty lie. I am dying to try and spot this at a poker table especially if used with the questioning technique mentioned before.

One of my favourite posts on this blog was the post asking myself the question: can I spot the bluff? I love the video clip of Derren Brown spotting real life bluffs and pointing them out. I found out this month that I can practice this skill all the time, not just whilst playing poker and that is exactly what I am going to do.

But sometimes, you can't explain why you don't trust somebody, or why you think someone is lying, or why you think you should fold your hand. We can pick up on the signs even if we can't explain what they were. Here is a clip of one of the greatest poker players of all time, Johnny Chan, demonstrating that you can study someone all you want, but sometimes you just have to go with your instincts.