Beginner: poker tells

Hi everyone!
I've just started playing texas hold'em with friends about a year ago. I really like the game and ever since I've tried to read a few books about them to improve my game. We always play home ring games with about 6 players for about 5 euros (= 8 dollars) and we occasionally go to the casino ourselves to play to lowest no-limit tournament games in the Netherlands. Now the reason I joined this forum is off course to improve my game.
I've just read "Mike Caro's book of Poker Tells" but I'm finding it very hard to really pick up on tells in the home games. I know all the theory, but in real life it's very hard to make it work.
Can anyone give me some basic advice?
I know it sounds like a really dumb question that can simply be answered by "just keep trying, you'll get there eventually" but I could really use some guidelines.
E.g.: If a player goes all-in, how can I see he's bluffing or not...
Tips like that.
Thanks in Advance!

If it was as easy as you're trying to make it, there would be no game at all as we'd all know what everyone was doing all the time.

Live tells can be really subtle, and not everyone is going to have the tells that Mike Caro is talking about. People react in different ways to different situations and its about noticing these player specific reactions and drawing to conclusions from them.

I think you've already answered your own question. Keep trying and you'll probably get there eventually. This isn't something you can read in a book and execute flawlessly the next time you try and play poker.

It's mostly in the betting patterns. At your home game, sounds like they're all really bad (pretty standard) just wait for good cards to call-allins. There's going to be variance.

Tells are subtle. When I was playing in Vegas (first time live vs "real" opponents who were still really bad). I was going to 1/2 PSB dry turn with overpair, noticed he was already picking up chips, so I made it full pot and he snap called (TPWK).

Another guy would 1/2 PSB with draws into weakness, and would snap his wrist/splash giving it some flair. This is still mostly a betting trend tell, than a person tell.

Tells are any deviations from normal behavior. Definitely follow betting patterns. A player's posture can also be a huge tell. So is hand and foot placement (yes, I said feet!) and verbal cues. Pay attention to how each player normally acts and be observant to any changes in their behavior. But then you'll need to learn whether it means strong or weak. Some players are extremely easy to pick up on, some are almost impossible.

Tells are way overrated by the beginner or non poker player. You need to learn the game first. Without knowledge of other game factors and the ability to read boards and hand ranges how can you tell what they are saying in ther manerisms. For example, a bad player may think his 2 pair is great and be showing a tell of strength, but if you have 15 out draw to the nuts, how strong is he? Learn the game first.

Originally Posted by jyms

Learn the game first.

Probably the best advice right here. Gotta learn to play your own cards before you learn to play someone else's.

Tells are hard to follow, however some things worth paying attention to
1. Only look at your cards when it is your turn to act, look at the players who are going to act after you, very often you will see them either throwing their cards away or getting ready to bet.

2. Talk to players, ask them questions, in my home game I can often pick some information when I talk with players during the hand

3. When the flop/turn/river are dealt dont look at the board, look at the players in the hand

4. It is much easier to notice tells if you look at people when you are not involved in the hand, so you are more focused on the people

5. In the next session pick one or two players and always look at them, try to learn one player for the entire evening

6. Tells are overrated

Originally Posted by TLR

Tells are hard to follow, however some things worth paying attention to
1. Only look at your cards when it is your turn to act, look at the players who are going to act after you, very often you will see them either throwing their cards away or getting ready to bet.

2. Talk to players, ask them questions, in my home game I can often pick some information when I talk with players during the hand

3. When the flop/turn/river are dealt dont look at the board, look at the players in the hand

4. It is much easier to notice tells if you look at people when you are not involved in the hand, so you are more focused on the people

5. In the next session pick one or two players and always look at them, try to learn one player for the entire evening

6. Tells are overrated

Thanks for the good tips all, now I wanted to ask you, what kind of questions do you usually ask at your home games? (how deep are you and stuff?) or are they more subtle?

Originally Posted by maxifle6

Originally Posted by TLR

Tells are hard to follow, however some things worth paying attention to
1. Only look at your cards when it is your turn to act, look at the players who are going to act after you, very often you will see them either throwing their cards away or getting ready to bet.

2. Talk to players, ask them questions, in my home game I can often pick some information when I talk with players during the hand

3. When the flop/turn/river are dealt dont look at the board, look at the players in the hand

4. It is much easier to notice tells if you look at people when you are not involved in the hand, so you are more focused on the people

5. In the next session pick one or two players and always look at them, try to learn one player for the entire evening

6. Tells are overrated

Thanks for the good tips all, now I wanted to ask you, what kind of questions do you usually ask at your home games? (how deep are you and stuff?) or are they more subtle?

Our home games are very liberal in what can be discussed on the table, especially if the pot is heads up, so I usually ask questions like 'Do you want me to call', 'Will you fold if I come over the top', Can you beat (specific hand), Do you have (specific hand) etc.. because I know the people I can often pick up enough info from their answer or from the way they answer to be able to narrow down their hand range

Thanks!
I'll try that