Read About Common Poker Tells (#7): Table Talk

Common Poker Tells (#7): Table Talk

My first poker teacher told me that poker players will tell you how they play, sometimes they will even tell you what they have in their hand; all you have to do is listen.

Table talk is the most common source of information you can get at a poker table. Its free, it never stops and some players are just unable to control themselves. Every word spoken at a poker table potentially can give you information about a player. Here are some examples:

You have been playing a cash game for several hours when two of the players ask the floor to change the channel on the television to their team’s World Cup match. They even bring out the team colored scarves. How closely do you think these players will be paying attention to the poker for the next three hours? They are going to sit at your table, with their money and play distracted. Thank them after the match is over.

This is a very common table talk tell. A player at the other end of the table makes a questionable play and a couple of players at “your end” quietly talk about it. Not only do they tell you what a bad play it was and why…. They also tell you how they would have played the hand. Be sure to nod and agree with them but don’t thank them out loud for the free information about how they play the game.

The after-the-hand chatter is another good source of information. Players (OK bad players) like to show how smart they are by analyzing the hand after it is over. Listen up, they are telling you how they read the other players and how they would have played the hand themselves. Isn’t this exactly the information you are constantly trying to infer from the play, why not take it when it is offered for free?

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #108