The Importance Of Tells

August 15, 2005

One of the most overly discussed subjects, at least in my opinion, that I see about poker is tells. So of course this column is about tells, but not the classic discussion of how to spot and use tells, but the importance of them.

While I won't argue that at the level of poker that we often see on television, tells are an important, almost vital, part of the game. I will argue that the level of poker that most of us enjoy on a day-to-day basis doesn't require any knowledge of tells beyond normal observation. My argument is based not on your abilities to decipher tells, as of course I have no idea about your abilities, but on the abilities of your opponents. I have seen many times players turn over their cards at the showdown and they don't even realize what they have. This is especially true if you play Omaha or Omaha/8. What good is a tell on an opponent if he/she doesn't even know what they have? Let's take a look at tells in a tournament. As most tournaments are no-limit holdem, any mistake may knock you out of the tournament. Even the best players at reading opponents will tell you that the science of tells is an inexact one, so why risk your entire tournament on a tell? In addition, there are players capable of giving false tells.

All of this is not to say that you shouldn't take advantage of a tell if you see one, just don't count on tells making you much money, especially at the lower levels. The best strategy at lower levels is to play solid poker and play the cards and your opponent's tendencies. Concentrate on building your poker skills, especially if you are a fairly new player, and everything else will fall into place. As you progress up the poker ladder to higher limits and stronger competition, you will need to learn more and more about not only how to read tells, but also how to not give any.

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