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Given his illustrious resume, Fedor Holz knows how to win. Having crushed on both the live and online felt he's learned a thing or two in addition to poker game theory to ensure he's always able to maximise his win-rate whilst exploiting his opponents. Having covered this topic in his Pokercode Masterclass, Fedor decided to pull together a video for our Youtube Channel talking about how to exploit live poker tells!
When getting to a high level in poker, the edges get smaller as the player pool shrinks whilst becoming better. Having the ability to draw on live tells and information adds to your arsenal of weapons at the poker table.
The only way to grow your knowledge in this regard is volume. Fedor alludes to having played tens of thousands of opponents. Patterns repeat, and the only way to grasp these patterns is by putting in the work to see them repeat at scale.
There isn't one thing you can see and make a corresponding action. Someone isn't necessarily bluffing when betting the River whilst looking hot and sweaty.
Context is king, and there are situations where all of the information can push you firmly in one direction, believing your opponent is very strong or very weak. Whilst this isn't finite, it is something we should be paying attention to, is essential to take into consideration as it will help aid us in making better decisions in the long run (so long as our interpretation is somewhat accurate)
With so much hidden information before you begin playing poker with other people, you can't know it all before you sit down.
For example, in the WSOP main event, there is no way for us to know the other 7000 plus people in the field, yet we can understand tendencies or reads for all of them.
We know this by understanding that there are population reads we can use, telling us what the opponent is not in terms of player type.
For example, a 50-year-old American who won his seat at a home game will not be an online professional. That already provides us with a wealth of information on what this player isn't going to be doing.
We try to pinpoint who the opponent is, but there is just as much to be understood by knowing who they are not. So if this 50-year-old American player is over-betting, they are doubtful to have studied this spot and know they should have bluffs, so they most likely have a strong hand and are looking to extract value.
We can also see tells in how our opponents are playing the game. We've broken these down into two categories.
Bet Sizing
People are more thoughtful about sizes and selecting the chips they put into the middle when they have a stronger hand. Inversely, people use smaller chip denominations when placing a bet instead of bigger chips. Generally, this is a sign of weakness instead of strength.
Look at precisely what people are betting as a percentage of the pot. Playing online, people have buttons to assist in their bet sizing. People aren't able to do this playing live. So you'll see people deviate from their expected behaviour when you know they'd typically have a set bet size.
Generally, when they're stronger, they may go a little bigger than expected, and when weaker, they'll go a little smaller. Paying attention to what can appear to be tiny details can play a massive part in making a more informed decision.
When we're talking about non-professionals, especially in spots like river bets, this is a crucial piece of information to have available if you're not sure whether you're leaning one way or another in a tough decision.
Stacking Chips
To put it simply, people who pull their chips in nice tidy piles are often of the tighter, more passive disposition. They don't like to give their chips away and want to keep them close.
The reverse is often true if someone's stack is haphazardly pulled together and spread out. The player is looser and more aggressive as they regularly put chips into the middle, re-stacking etc. The expectation again becomes more amplified when looking at recreational players.
There are so many body-related tells that we can take into consideration. The below three Fedor has highlighted as those he feels have made him and can make us the most money at the table.
Pulse
Pulse is considered the most important. Finding out how to use it comes back to the volume of play again. Fedor outlines he's been able to get pretty good at knowing an opponent's base pulse purely from watching people.
Seeing pulses change after a decision isn't necessarily the critical piece of information; however, Fedor outlines it's the time to start understanding what is going on.
The example Fedor uses is a player going all-in on the River:
A player with the nuts. After the initial excitement and increase in pulse, they will become more relaxed as they know it's impossible to lose, waiting on a call. Their pulse will slowly decrease over time as they know there is no negative outcome. They can't bust. They can't lose money.
However, a player making a pure bluff will not see this slow, gradual reduction. As time goes on, the fear may intensify, and their high pulse will remain constant as they think about losing the hand or busting the tournament.
Eyes
Eyes can play so much context by themselves and all the other information available to us. Whilst there isn't anything finite, people generally have tendencies on what their eyes are doing when they're strong vs when they're weak.
Fedor explains this subtlety in the video, pinpointing how some people shut down and stare defensively vs locking onto a position with their eyes to give nothing away.
Blinking is another immense subtlety, and personally, dependant tell. There is no one size fits all, but when you play with the same person enough, you will spot the differences between when they're blinking a lot or not enough when their eyes are relaxed vs when they're strained.
Posture
The key one here is understanding when people are thinking. There is a big difference between a brain working and a brain already aware of the decision but a player taking time not to give away information relating to a timing tell.
Knowing if someone needs to think means you can rule out hands when there is a default action. On the flip side, knowing they don't need to think lets you rule out needles at the other end of the scale.
We've only touched on the key points Fedor raised around exploring Live Poker Tells in this video. For a deeper understanding and explanation of these points have, watch the video below. Trust us. You won't regret it!
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