Switching From Online To B&M Poker

You probably ignored body language because it was irrelevant online, but it’s critically important in live games. I’ve got four goals:

• Convincing you to work hard on both skills.
• Defining the types of body language.
• Teaching you how to develop them.
• Describing my system for learning individuals’ body language.

Working Hard

Unless you can read and control body language, you probably can’t beat anything but weak live games. You may understand poker theory and math, but many live players will read you better than you read them.

If you won’t work hard, nothing else matters. Body language is too subtle and ambiguous to develop these skills without working hard.

Defining The Types Of Body Language

Most people call all body language “tells,” but there are two types.

Tells suggest a player’s perception of his cards’ strength. Does he think he has the winner? Is he unsure of his strength? Is he bluffing? Perceptions are all you can learn. He may think he’s strong when he’s actually beaten.

Telegraphs suggest what he intends to do. Will he fold, check, bet, or raise? Intentions aren’t the same as perceptions. For example, he may intend to raise because he thinks his hand is stronger, wants a free card, or is bluffing. Regardless of his reasons, knowing his intentions creates a huge edge.

Controlling Your Own Body Language

I’ll keep it short and simple: Don’t move, and don’t show your cards unnecessarily. If you don’t change your facial expressions, hand movements, posture, etc., most opponents can’t read your body language.

You’re not a great actor. If you try to deceive them by frowning, sighing, smiling, betting forcefully or timidly, or doing anything else, you’ll give away information. You may fool the weaker players, but you’re helping the stronger ones to read you. They may see through your act immediately. If not, they will slowly correlate your body language, bets, and cards to decipher your signals.

Developing Your Reading Skills

To develop this skill, take two steps:
• Learn the theory.
• Practice and get feedback on your performance.

Learn The Theory: Study (not just read) one or both of the books by Mike Caro and Joe Navarro. They and others have written many articles, but the books are more comprehensive and better organized. Studying them will make your learning curve much steeper.

Mike’s The Book Of Tells was written many years ago, and it’s been reissued with varying titles and an excellent video. Joe Navarro’s Read ‘em And Reap is much newer. Buy the one you prefer. Better yet, buy both.

Get Practice And Feedback: You can have immense knowledge and little skill because you can’t develop a skill without practice and feedback. You can read books and watch videos on golf, then ace an exam on golf theory, but you can’t develop the skill without hitting hundreds of balls and watching where they go.

Reading An Individual’s Body Language

Nearly everything written about body language discusses general principles and the meaning of specific tells. For example, Joe Navarro wrote, “Always assume that when anyone stops moving, freezes, or otherwise overcontrols (restrains) himself, he’s bluffing.” (P. 30)

Although I liked his book, “always” is an inexcusable mistake. Freezing may mean bluffing 80 or 90 percent of the time, but people freeze for other reasons, and the meaning of any signal depends upon the individual and situation. You can’t be sure of any signal without observing it repeatedly and seeing which cards this player has or what he does next.

Although far more has been written about tells, it’s immeasurably easier to develop telegraph-reading skill. You can get accurate feedback about tells only when you see the cards. Since you see relatively few hands (especially in no limit), you may never learn what a particular action means for a specific player.

The telegraph feedback cycle is much shorter and more reliable. You see an action (such as holding his cards in his left hand), and a few seconds later you learn what he does (such as folding). The next time he holds his cards in his left hand, you learn whether he folds. You quickly realize that certain actions are 100% reliable telegraphs that this person will fold, etc., others are meaningless, and others are 10, 20, or 30% reliable.

I mentioned which hand holds the cards because it’s a generally reliable telegraph. Hand movements are much more reliable than facial expressions. People learn to control their facial expressions, but rarely think about controlling their hands. Most people usually bet with the same hand. If that hand is holding their cards, it frequently means they will fold. But you can’t be sure.

You have to watch the way he holds his cards several times and see what happens when he holds them in either hand and how he holds them. For example, if he holds them in his betting hand, and that hand is above his stack, he will bet. If he holds them in the same hand an inch above the felt and six inches in front of his stack, he will fold. The most reliable hand telegraphs are for folding preflop because many players don’t care what happens next.

To accelerate your learning curve, take detailed notes. Write down how this player holds his cards, bets his chips, sits, etc., and compare it to the cards he shows down and his actions. You’ll slowly learn the meaning of certain actions by certain individuals in certain situations.

When we were discussing note-taking, a friend asked, “Aren’t you afraid that someone will see your notes?”

“Nope, because they wouldn’t know what my notes mean.” I showed him a typical note: “C/LH-BHF=F/BF.”

He couldn’t understand it, so I explained, “If he holds his cards in his left hand, ready to make a backhanded flip, he will fold before the flop.” He doesn’t have this telegraph postflop because, when he calls preflop, he puts a chip on his cards. That note was so detailed because I want to remember exactly what specific actions mean in specific situations.

By knowing the telegraphs of folding preflop, I often change my effective position. If I’m in middle position and know that everyone behind me will fold, I’m effectively the button.

If you take good notes and compare them to players’ cards and actions, you’ll slowly develop profiles for most opponents. You’ll also develop your general body language reading skills. Since you’ll know more about your opponents than they know about you, you’ve got a huge edge.

Final Remarks

You’ve got a strategic and mathematical edge over most B&M players, but they have a body language edge over you. You may prefer to work on your strengths, but you can make much faster progress on your weaknesses. So emphasize controlling your own and reading your opponents’ body language. ♠

Do you often wonder, “Why are my results so disappointing?” Ask Dr. Al, alan[email protected]. He’s David Sklansky’s co-author for DUCY? and the sole author of four poker psychology books._