COMMON POKER TELL #2. THEY SUDDENLY STOP DOING WHATEVER THEY WERE DOING
“People aren’t animated when they’re bluffing because they realize anything they do might make you suspicious,” Caro says. “Sometimes players who are bluffing will barely breathe.” One tip is to check out your opponents’ legs. No, not like that, perv. Just give them a glance to see if you spot jittery knees. “Say they made a big bet and you make a motion toward calling, if that jittering-leg motion stops, they’re probably bluffing,” he explains. “If it continues, it probably means they have a pretty strong hand.” Use the same logic when a player is chewing gum, tapping the table, or humming the theme song to Three’s Company; if they quit doing whatever they were doing, it’s a red flag.
COMMON POKER TELL # 3. THEIR HAND SHAKES WHEN THEY BET
You might expect someone who’s bluffing to have a nervous tick or to be all giddy and pump a fist into the air (just us?). But that’s not always the case. “If a person who is fairly steady gets a shaky hand when they bet, they’ve got a strong hand,” Caro explains. “Bluffers never display tremors; they become rigid because they force themselves into a state of mind where they’re not shaky. If they are shaky, it’s a release of tension.”