Poker Tells
One of the most intricate and yet exasperating parts of playing poker is having to deal with poker tells, both your own and those of other players. It's one thing to be able to read the poker tells of the other players and use them against the player, but quite another when you give yourself away by inadvertently using one of your own poker tells and have the other players catch on to you.
This is one of the main reasons why so many people prefer the online poker rooms, because they don't have to worry about their own poker tells or reading any of those belonging to the other players. This in itself is kind of sad, because half the fun and chemistry of the game of poker, revolves around being able to outwit and out smart the other players by using their poker tells against them.
Another factor that endears the online poker rooms to the average player is the fact that if you wanted to play poker in your underwear you could, or not bother to shower for several days, and no one would be any the wiser because they can't see you or have any contact with you physically.
That in itself is one of the strong points of the online poker rooms, plus the fact that you can let your guard down and rant and rave all you want about your hand without the fear of the other players eyeing your behavior and watching for any of your poker tells to come to the fore.
But sadly enough, just those reasons alone are eliminating one of the largest areas of the play of poker and that is the psychology of it all and how to interact with people and not give away your inner thoughts and strategies while all the time sizing them up and trying to figure out theirs.
But when you are playing with a real group of players around a real table, keep that in mind....that the large part of playing successfully is being able to keep your own poker tells under wraps and read the other players' poker tells like a book.
Then occasionally you run into the seasoned player who has a terrific poker face and can guard their emotions extremely well so you have no idea what is transpiring inside their head or whether or not they are even working up a sweat.
They are so experienced in the art of playing real poker, that you cannot tell what they are doing or have a clue as to their next move; or even if they are reading your poker tells so well that they are able to use your own poker tells against you.
Someone who is into absolute control of every one of their expressions and gestures throughout the game and never gives away very much body information can make a false poker tell to see where you are in scoping them out; and if you fall for their false poker tell, then they have you trapped. Here you are trying to use their poker tells against them and they are so good at what they do while playing, that your move backfires on you.
So there you have some of the pitfalls in trying to make a move to use other players' poker tells against them; and in situations like this, or to avoid situations like this....you need to study the player to see how consistent he is in his poker tells before you go to act on them.
Just keep in mind that nobody's perfect, and even the most experienced players at the table will find it a job to try and keep abreast of what poker tells they have been using during the game; so if you keep your wits about you and make sure your own poker tells are under control, you will find you get a lot more out of the play of the game by concentrating on other players' poker tells and using them to your own advantage as much as possible.