Breath

This is lifted verbatim from Roy West's column in the 9 April 2004 issue of Card Player. Obviously, this doesn't help with your online game, but if you regularly play in real casinos, you might find this helpful. I found it interesting, at least.

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Here's a refinement of a poker tell. After all of the cards are out, you notice a sudden, sharp, involuntary intake of breath by an opponent. What does it mean?

Several of us were talking about tells a few nights ago. One opinion was that this tell meant a big hand. Another was to suspect a bluff. Which one is right? Actually, both could be, but we had to add something to the tell. Then, we all agreed.

If the player takes the above-described breath as he looks at his last card, he is excited by what he sees and his adrenaline flow is the cause of the sudden, sharp intake of breath. However, if he bets and then takes a deep breath, figure a bluff. His fear of being caught sets his "fight or flight" mechanism into motion, which leads to the sharp breath intake. Wow! That is a cool tell, isn't it?

In a live game recently I sat right next to a guy who raised pre-flop, then re-raised after the flop. Flop had an Ace and small pair. The guy's hands were shaking so badly he could hardly pick up his chips. When he finally did, he put his hands on the rail and you could see them turning white from him trying to squeeze the rail to stop the shaking. I thought the table might come apart he was so excited.

I was already out, but a guy at the end of the table called and took a beating by this guy's pocket AA. Another guy looked at me, looked at the guy's shaking hands, smiled and threw in. What a strong and reliable tell!

He wasn't a bad player, and was getting superior cards, but he only lasted a couple of hours. He was up like $200 ( $4/$8 ) and then just busted out like that. I think others at the table picked up on his shaking, because after awhile everybody refused to play when he started vibrating.

I think the guy who threw down whispered to the guy next to him....etc., which is stupid in my book, if I get that info in a game, I'm thinking I better keep it to myself and keep the guy in the game!

There were a couple of hands where he raised, no shake and people just ate his lunch.

Now sometimes I wonder when I see bets like $6.75, or 4.50 or other odd numbers (ie, don't match the pot or a multiple) online if the guy on the other end isn't just shaking his mouse apart and can't quite settle on the round number.

Your breath thing had me thinking about this poor sucker. He's probably honed his playing on line and is trying to take it to the live game.

I'm wondering how many other people that are good on line have serious tells that would make them dead meat in a casino?

I'm also wondering about my own tells. Its like the old golf dig - "do you breath in when you swing, or breath out?." :shock:

I know what you mean, heatman.

Since I've been playing in brick-and-mortar casinos as well as home games and tourneys, I've become acutely aware of everything I do physically (though, I've never been quite as bad as this human vibrator you witnessed :lol: ) -- including my breathing patterns. I now control everything I do and don't believe that it is very easy to read me. But they say that everyone has a tell; you just have to be keen enough to notice the more difficult ones to see.

This blurb about the breath tell got me to be more aware. I practiced picking up on it at the last home tourney I played in. Sure enough, there were two instances when a player would take a deep breath as he put a big bet out on the river (not exactly after putting his bet out, as this article mentions, but I took it to mean the same thing). I was not involved in these hands, but after everyone else folded, I would call them out as bluffing. They wouldn't confirm right then and there, but they did confirm after the tourney that they were indeed bluffing.

Another friend involved in one of those hands in which he folded to a bluffer wanted to know I how knew. So I explained this breathing thing to him (and how important it is to notice when this sharp breath occurs -- upon first seeing a card on the board vs. while/after putting a bet out). He said, "Cool. I'll have to remember that." Of course, now, I'm going to use this knowledge he's gained against him next time. When I have a monster hand and want him to call, I will fake a deep breath (as genuinely as I can) while or after I bet. I might even try that in the next casino I visit.

Heheheh.. I love the mindgame aspect of real-life poker.

I keep looking for someone to look a their cards and exclaim "Oh my GOD, what great cards!!!" Shaking uncontrolably would be about the same. But until then, I'll just live with the tells that I CAN spot.

I too am very observant of everyone's ticks. I have gotten into the habit of not looking at my cards when they are delt, but looking at other people. I look at their eyes and their chests (for breathing) I have not gotten my hands on Caro's book of Tells to know about everything I'm looking for, but I'm getting pretty good at reading.

I'm also very observant of what I do when I have good cards. That is probably where my tells are. I bounce my knee a lot, just a habit (I'm doing it right now) but I usually think about this and stop when I have good cards. I need to start thinking about what I'm doing all the time rather than just when I have good cards.

Another quip I read was how you bet (again, this only applies in live games) If you call a big bet with your smallest denomination chips, that says that you are just putting in the chips that you are willing to lose. It's a big sign that you have a weaker hand (draw, second pair, etc) However, if they call with their larger denominations, they are pretty confident of their hand, watch out for slow plays here.

I have tried to trick people by smooth calling. First I start counting chips to see where I am in the game (am I up? How much? Can call with winnings?) That usually guarantees a maximum bet the next round. It(like all the other psych outs) don't work all the time, but they work enough.