Tell (poker)

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In poker, a tell is a detectable change in a player's behavior or demeanor that gives clues to that player's assessment of their hand. Behaviors that may exhibit tells include leaning forward or back, placing chips with more or less force, fidgeting, changes in breathing or tone of voice, facial expressions, direction of gaze or actions with the cards, chips and any cigarettes or drinks. A player gains an advantage if he observes another player's tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable. Some players may fake tells, hoping to induce their opponents into making mistakes based on the false tell.

A player's tells only give information about that player's own assessment of their cards, and thus is only reliable in the context of a player who has accurately assessed their own hand. An unskillful player may reliably give information in a tell, but that information may be an unreliable guide to the player's hand if the player cannot assess the strength of a hand in a particular game.

Tells may be common to a class of players or unique to a single player. Examples of well known tells include:

A player who believes his hand to be weak, hoping to bluff, may throw his chips into the pot forcefully and with a direct gaze at a player he hopes to discourage from calling.
Shaking hands, flush face or racing pulse may be the result of adrenaline caused by a player's excitement about a strong hand.
A player with a strong hand will often subconsiously keep his hand over his cards and look back at them often. This is attributed to a natural tendency to "protect" that which one considers valuable.
Disinterest, leaning back, casual conversation or otherwise acting meek or mild may mean the player is attempting to disguise a strong hand.
Forceful, aggressive, or loud demeanors or otherwise acting with confidence may mean the player is attempting to disguise a weak hand.

David Mamet's 1987 movie House of Games includes an interesting discussion and visual reference to tells as an essential part of the plot. The movie Rounders contains an even more subtle use of strategy: at one point, "Mike" discovers a tell in his opponent (that he eats cookies in a particular way after he has bet a very strong hand), and after using it once, he reveals to the opponent that he has this tell; although this eliminates the usefulness of the tell itself, it upsets his opponent so much that it affects his later play. A popular reference to poker tells also occurred in the episode "Casino Night" of the US TV-series "The Office". Dwight believes that Jim coughs every time that he has a strong hand. Jim, however, coughs to make Dwight fold because he has realized that Dwight believes to have discovered a tell of Jim's.