From Intimidation to Illumination
Last week, I finished off by explaining that even the strongest players leave clues when you're trying to hand-read.
While I understood this for reading hands/ranges, I didn't learn this lesson fast enough when it comes to physical tells.
Let me explain…
The Transition
In my early twenties, I was playing the biggest games available online – $200/$400 through $500/$1k NL Hold’em and PLO.
This was my bread and butter, but I also had a desire to make a name for myself in the live poker world. To that end, I spent every summer in Las Vegas to play the WSOP.
While I was there, I took a look at the cash games that were running – the biggest of which were usually played at Bellagio.
The high-stakes NL and PLO games were plentiful, and they looked good.
Those unfamiliar with online poker might assume what my parents did – that the games are easier there, and the real players come out to play in Las Vegas.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Online games were worlds more competitive than their live counterparts at similar stakes.
The Rule of Ten
This is a tangent, but I’ve seen many live players make this critical mistake when playing online, so I want to share it with you all.
When comparing live and online, I generally suggest a multiplier of ten – meaning you’d take whatever stakes online, multiply it by ten, and that would give you the stakes with similarly skilled players live.
The true number has fluctuated over the years, and depends on exactly where you’re playing live and where you’re playing online, but it will get you somewhat close. And the math is easy!
I’ve often seen players who play $2/$5 NL live deposit online and try out the $1/$2 NL tables online. This is a big mistake.
$1/$2 NL tables online are more similar to $10/$20 NL tables live.
A $2/$5 Live NL player should hop into $.25/.$50 NL games online, with just a $50 buy-in, if they want the same level of competition.
Now, if you play for fun, and buying in for $50 when your normal buy-in is $1k sounds incredibly boring – by all means, you do you. I just want you to know what to expect.
Back to Our Story
Due to the rule of ten, when I popped into the Bellagio and looked at the live $300/$600 NL table, I salivated over the competition.
I took a seat with my $60k, and got to it.
Now, while I was confident in my technical skills and hand-reading ability, I wasn’t entirely arrogant.
I knew that I was playing with players who had a lot of experience at the live poker tables. I knew that I was at risk of giving off tells, and I knew that I had near zero skills at reading other players' physicality
I was nervous about this element of the game, but I remained confident overall.
The Gameplan
The way I planned to “deal with” live tells in those early days was as follows:
I would try to move as little as possible, and not engage in conversation during hands.
I would avoid looking at my opponents.
I assumed that those stronger than me with live tells (aka everyone) would be picking up some reads on me.
I also assumed that I wouldn’t be able to pick up anything on them. That anything I thought I picked up would simply be them leveling me with reverse-tells – something they wanted me to see and interpret incorrectly.
So, I didn’t look at them, because there was no point for me, and I might’ve given more away if I tried.
The Results
I didn’t play too many live poker sessions over those first few years – I usually opted for WSOP tournaments or playing online (Anyone remember when we used to be free?) because you could put in so many more hands – but my results weren’t great.
Playing games averaging a $50k buy-in during those years, I lost around $600k.
Now, 12 buy-ins doesn’t mean much – I lost that in a single day online more times than I could count – but looking back, I wonder if I really had an edge, even with my significant technical skill advantage.
In hindsight, I handled the live environment worse than I expected to.
I let the fear of other players reading me lead me to play worse.
I bluffed less, especially when pots got big. I was nervous they’d see through me, so I shied away from the scary plays.
My Education
Over time, starting with amateur players in live WSOP events, I began to notice that I could make some reads.
This eventually led me to realize that I could pick up tells on stronger players, too.
Not often! But sometimes.
My biggest ah-ha moment, however, was about the other side of this – the intimidation and fear by other players reading me.
It came after facing the most intimidating stare in all of poker.
Sometime in my mid-twenties, I was playing a $10k buy-in WPT event, which, like my live early live cash experiences, was also at the Bellagio.
Face to Face With Fear
Late on day 2, I got moved to a new table. I looked across from me, and there he was.
Phil Ivey.
Now, fortunately, he and I had played online a number of times. And while he played incredibly well, I at least had the confidence of having sparred with him before.
Even with that experience, it was scary.
Betting the turn in a 3-bet pot with a thin value hand, looking up to see Phil Ivey’s eyes locked on you. I don’t need to explain the feeling – you can imagine it.
The hands that created my ah-ha moment were entirely uneventful.
Phil Ivey raised from late position. I had 8♠️6♠️ and decided to 3-bet bluff from the small blind.
He looked at me, and he quickly folded.
“Huh,” I thought, “I guess he can’t see through my cards.”
Two hands later, he raised from middle position, and I looked down at J❤️7❤️ in the CO.
I 3-bet again.
He took a moment. Looked me over.
And his cards hit the muck.
I picked up a few chips. Not a big deal.
But these two hands against the most intimidating and arguably best live reader in the world proved to me that tells were not magic.
They proved to me that I didn’t need to be afraid of my more experienced opponents seeing right through me.
They gave me the freedom to play my game.
The lesson came at a good time.
The next year, I found myself playing for over $817,781 and a WSOP bracelet at a final table full of the biggest stars in the game: Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, John Juanda, Brian Rast, David Benyamine.
I started the day with the chip lead, played my game without fear of being soul-read, held the lead for most of the day, and won my first bracelet.
What I’ve Learned
Looking back at those early live cash sessions, I can now evaluate my play and approach with a lot more experience.
My first assumption, that skilled live players would occasionally pick something up on me, was fair but overblown.
Tells aren’t like what you see in the movies.
You don’t often learn something like “he’s definitely bluffing.”
The information you pick up on is smaller and more nuanced, and it’s not coming to you often if the player knows what they’re doing. Moreover, the strongest tells come from countless hours of experience against the same players.
I should have played – and bluffed – with more confidence.
I also believe it was a mistake to avoid looking at other players.
By not looking, I let them be comfortable, and I robbed myself of the ability to pick up on tells and, more importantly, begin my live-reading education.
How would I learn to read players if I never looked at them?
The key problem here was my second assumption: That players more experienced than me wouldn’t give off any tells unless they wanted me to see them.
That’s not how it really works.
How it Really Works
Tells are not about who is superior. This is the big misunderstanding I had.
I thought that tells were a game of chess.
I was going to lose to a grandmaster 100 times out of 100. Any opening I think I had would be an illusion – I would fall right into their trap.
The reality of tells is different.
Your opponent is telling a story with each and every check, bet, call, and raise that they make.
Their physical actions are akin to the answers to an interrogation of that story. The small details.
Yes, an amateur interrogator is not often going to trip up a seasoned criminal.
But they might!
It’s much easier to tell a story in which all of the details add up if that story is the truth.
Your interrogation – looking for physical tells – is an opportunity for them to leak information. It’s an opportunity for a detail to come out that simply doesn’t fit with the rest of the story.
Even the best live readers will make missteps from time to time.
Sure, they could mislead you, but this is a lot harder than it sounds.
They don’t know what you’re looking for. They don’t know what you interpret as weakness. And they don’t know what they’re going to want to represent on the river when it’s their turn to act on the flop.
I Can Read You
I know what you’re thinking:
“Phil! Share some good tells! I want to know what my opponents have! I want to make money!”
The reality here is that, like the details of a story, the best tells tend to be specific to the person and the situation.
I can absolutely write another post on tells, but it won’t be the magic bullet you’re hoping for.
The way you get better isn’t by reading a few tricks. It’s by putting in the time observing.
Which is why I should’ve gotten started by opening my eyes all those years ago.
