Every aspiring poker player attempts to try and not give off 'tells' while they play. If you don't know what a tell is, it's best described as "giving away the strength of your hand, inadvertently". Tells can be anything, the way the chips are thrown into the pot, the way someone replies to a question, or even how they are postured at the table. A tell is not a sure fire way of knowing that someone is strong, or weak. Often times, players send out 'fake tells' to confuse you.

At the level I'm playing at now, I don't think the majority of people I play cards with are well educated on these things. I've recently started on trying to get a better read on players.  I've been reading books, watching professional player videos, and just trying to improve my game. I recently watched a video by Annie Duke (she used to live right here in Portland, but moved to Las Vegas recently).

The video mentioned something interesting that I had never considered. Annie Duke encouraged poker players to read FBI journals available at most public libraries. Well, I don't have the time to go find, and read these journals, so the information I was able to glean from her video seemed good.

Tonight, I was focused on trying to read players in pots against me. I did not expect to be put to the test on the very first hand of the night.

The blinds were $100 / $ 200 (tournament chips, not a cash game). I was dealt 'under the gun' (the first position after the big blind). I raised the pot to $800. I had one caller, and both blinds folded.

The flop came down, . I had totally missed the flop. I was first to act, and I had a feeling that this flop had completely missed my opponent. So I made a continuation bet of $600.

He instantly called, this worried me. The turn produced the . I had put almost 1/2 of my chips into the pot. I decided to check, I knew he'd probably move his remaining chips in, and I knew I'd have to fold, or risk the rest of my chips to see the last card. Like I expected, he moved all his chips in, and for a second, I considered folding. I decided to wait, draw it out and see if I picked up something.

My opponent was starring me directly in the eye, generally appearing to be strong, means you're weak. From his behavior, I was pretty sure that my ace high was the best hand. I watched him a bit more. I said call, and turned up my cards.

He turned up his, and with a disgusted face, he asked me, "how could you call?" I said, you did something that made me call. The river was a blank, and I doubled up.

Annie Duke's video mentioned that people that are uncomfortable about their situation (i.e. lying or bluffing in this case) tend to unconsciously blink more often than people that are telling the truth. When my opponent moved his chips in, he must have blinked about 20 times in thirty seconds or so.

Everyone at the table gasped, they all wanted to know how I could make the call. I replied I picked up a huge tell on him, they all bugged me to tell what it was... I didn't. :)