How to Hide Poker Tells

Greeting again from Perfessser Tony the Texas Turtle! Today I am going to tell you how to hide poker tells. If you haven't already done so, you can start to learn about tells by reading through a list of poker tells in live poker games. If you play poker online, you may also want to read about basic online poker tells and learn how to read Internet poker tells.

The Texas Turtle's Method of Hiding Poker Tells

Stick with a Routine: If you always do exactly the same things (make the same movements, check and bet at the same speed, handle your chips, etc.) every hand, you will appear to be an emotionless turtle on the outside. Turtles are very hard to read, except of course by other turtles.

The (Alternate) River Turtle Strategy: Like a meandering river turtle, you could also develop a technique in which the way that you bet your chips is uncorrelated with what you have. Effective use of this technique requires substantal experience and therefore is not recommended for hatchling turtles.

Watch What You Say and How You Say It: When playing for serious money, players' words become tools (weapons). If you are a turtle, you can't talk. Therefore, you strip them of their power.

The (Alternate) Snapping Turtle Strategy: There are other, more offensive strategies for hiding your tells. For example, if you "talk loose" but "play tight" you create cognitive dissonance for people that makes them call you when they shouldn't. You can't do that all the time, but it can be very effective, especially if you are, let's say, psychologically stronger than your opponent. However, to make this technique really effective you need to mix it up.

Wear Shades and a Pork Pie Hat: It's tough to hide what your eyes are telling the other players. So if you haven't perfected your poker face, you can always hide it. Plus, this will help you craft a trademarked look for when you turn pro.

Wear a Shell: Imagine that you are encased in a shell. Think of the Tin Man (before he realized that he had a heart the whole time). Well, this might be inconvenient, so you could. . .

Play Poker Online: By playing online, you automatically hide all of your visual tells, leaving your opponents with a much more limited set of poker tells to nail you on. And if you don't chat during the game and always check and bet at the same speed, you will be very hard to read (but you still may give away your general playing style and betting habits).

♣ Back to the index of articles about tells in poker.