Exploit a Tell

In the 2005 World Series Of Poker Tournament Poker Star Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow noticed a key tell in a great online poker player called Dustin Woolf whos nickname at  UltimateBet.com was ''Neverwin''. Although he had won millions of dollars playing online poker he was new to playing face to face in Tournaments. Online there is obviously less chance of giving away a tell and so it is not an area of the game that online players bother to develop. Afterall in online poker players are alone at there PC with no one eyeballing them when they try to bluff the other players and steal the pot.
 
 
What Woolf ended up doing without realising that he had slipped into the habit of doing was splashing his chips into the pot when he had a good hand. Although normally considered rude because the other players are denied the opportunity to count that the correct bet has been placed , this was a gift to the other players who soon picked up on it.

When Wolff's hand was poor he did the opposite, he would meekly place the stack in the pot in a careful manner and say ''I raise''.
Matusow picked up on both the strong and the week tells and filed them away until he could take full advantage of what he knew about Woolf's game.
After several more hands one of the players called a $10,000 bet, Mike also called holding QH and JH Woolf then made his play, a big raise of $80,000 placed his chips carefully into the pot and said 'I raise' giving away that his hand was poor and that he was bluffing with his weak tell.
This was the point at which Mike decided to use his knowledge and exploit a tell to devastating effect but not by pouncing but by drawing Woolf further into the hand to make the maximum profit from the situation. Instead of re-raising straight away to take the pot of over $100,000  Mike simply called hoping that Woolf would bet beyond the flop.  The Flop was a great one for Mike , it was a K 10 and 4 giving a open ended straight Draw.  Woolf's next play was a big one, placing $250,000 carefully into the pot he said ''I bet'' again giving a tell that he was bluffing and not confident in his hand. Mike still waited to pull the trigger hoping to get Woolf to put yet more money into the pot and just checked. The Turn card was a 6 and Woolf checked. Mike decided to make his play and abruptly declared ''I'm All-In'', Woolf immediately folded his cards, leaving Mike to scoop up his winnings $330,000 of which was earned by exploiting a
tell to maximum effect not just by noticing it by carefully watching the other players but by waiting until that piece of knowledge could be used for the maximum profit.

The important thing to realise here is not just to watch out for tells that the other players are giving away but to monitor your own play for any tells you are giving off. If you start getting burned by the same player all the time have they spotted a tell you give away? Think about it, if you were maybe you could turn the tables by bluffing and if you were giving off a strong tell, use it with a weak hand or give off your weak tell when you have a strong hand to draw your victim further into the pot at the Flop, Turn and River.

If you are thinking of making the switch to a real Card Room from online poker get together with friends first who may be thinking along the same lines and advise each other of the tells you are all giving away. Don't give away information about your hands for free!