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Radar is a magnificent planning aid. By giving us advance notice of potential problems, it allows us more time and information to overcome those difficulties successfully. Could you imagine a major international airport without radar? I can assure you; it would be an air traffic controller’s worst nightmare. Air traffic controllers need information about what’s going on around them: They need to know where the pilots are and what they intend to do if air safety is to be maintained.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we had radar at the poker table? Imagine how helpful it would be if you could get advance notice on where the players are in a hand and what they intend to do when it’s their turn to act. That would certainly do wonders for your financial safety.
Well, the good news is that you do have a personal radar at the poker table… you just have to turn it on. This involves continual scanning of your opponents, knowing what tells to look for that provide advance notice of their intentions – called, appropriately, intention (or engagement) cues – and then using that information to play your own hand more effectively. Last month we discussed two of these tells: naral wing dilation (“nose flare”) and the torso shift. In this second of three columns on the topic we’re going to suggest some additional tells of intention that can help you determine if a player is going to get involved in a pot… before he actually makes such a commitment.
Our hands are a good source of intention tells. When we’re ready to join the action, we tend to move more of our hands onto the table. We also tend to fidget more because we’re waiting for the action to come around to us. Fidgeting with chips is not a real good tell, because many people do this as a stress releaser. However, if you see players strumming their thumbs or wiggling them up and down, this is usually a sign of engagement, a gesture that says, “I’m impatient to make my bet.” Conversely, if you see a player begin to withdraw her hand from the table as additional cards are dealt, or, perhaps, distance herself from her cards, her chips, and/or the table, you can assume that these are signs of disengagement – that, for some reason (probably a poor flop or other unfavorable card), she is planning to drop out of the hand. Again, knowing this information in advance of it actually happening can be very advantageous in helping you determine the best way to play your cards.
The position of our palms also provides an interesting tell. Some players sit with their hands palm up, the so-called rogatory position (rogatory is Latin for “prayer”). This is not a ready position; a ready position is palms down. So, if a player sits habitually with his palms up and all of a sudden – usually after seeing a card(s) for the first time – he puts his palms down, chances are he’s getting ready to play his hand.
The position of a person’s feet can also be an accurate predictor of playing intentions. People who are getting ready to engage in a hand will shift their feet like a runner getting ready to go into the blocks; their heel(s) will go from being flat on the floor to a raised position, and their toes will be pointed forward.
Postural cues can also signal intentions to get involved in play. When an opponent who has been slouching or resting comfortably in his seat looks at his cards and suddenly snaps to attention and sits up straight in his chair, don’t be surprised to see him get involved in the hand. What you’re looking for are changes in sitting behavior. If someone is always sitting up straight and leaning slightly forward, it shouldn’t be taken as intention to engage; that is his normal posture – unlike the young man who went suddenly from a slouch to an upright position. Now, if the person who always sat up straight and leaned slightly forward suddenly leaned back and away from the table, that might well be taken as an intention not to get involved – or to end involvement – in the hand currently being played.
One of the classic tells of engagement – it’s been discussed for decades – also reveals an individual’s intention to participate in a hand, usually quite aggressively. It involves a player looking at his cards and then immediately (1) looking at his chips and/or (2) reaching for his chips. One would think that all the publicity surrounding this tell would discourage the vast majority of players from displaying it, yet it continues to be seen at the tables, reminding us once again that it is difficult to disguise or eliminate behavior that has been hardwired into us by our limbic brain.
Overprotection of the cards is another engagement tell. When you see a player look at her cards and then “protect” them or “get closer” to them, particularly when that behavior increases as additional cards are dealt, it is pretty certain that she will be an active participant in the hand. Conversely, if the player suddenly distances herself from the cards or abandons them altogether, it is a strong indication that it won’t take much for her to quit (or get bet out of) the hand. The same holds true for chip behavior. Although many players toy with their chips, you should be alert to any opponent who suddenly protects or withdraws from his chips more than he has been doing when not involved in a hand. This is because sudden changes in chip-handling behavior can reflect the person’s assessment of how well the hand is playing out from card to card. Of interest is the intention cue to fold, which hardly anyone capitalizes on to prevent an early fold. Watch players who hold their hole cards between the thumb and middle finger as they shuttle them back and forth. When you see this, they are going to fold. If you want them to do this, then that is fine. But if you have a good hand and want them to stay in the game, why not try interacting with your opponent to see if you can get him to commit more chips to the pot? It’s worth a try!
Watching for intention tells can help you develop a better fight plan, just as an air traffic controller can watch his radarscope to develop a better flight plan. Use your personal radar to gain advance knowledge of what your opponents intend to do, and I suspect you’ll be cleared for final-table play in no time at all. And remember, if you see an opponent across the table suddenly sit up with his torso leaning forward, his arms on the table, his feet in a ready position, his thumbs wiggling, his palms down and his nostrils flaring, you should realize what he is about to do. Unless you have a super hand, fold!
Joe Navarro served as a Special Agent with the FBI for 25 years. You can read his book Phil Hellmuth Presents Read ’em and Reap (HarperCollins), available at all major online and brick and mortar booksellers. Joe welcomes readers’ questions at his navarropoker. com website. Dr. Marvin Karlins holds a PhD in Psychology from Princeton University and is currently Professor of Management at the University of South Florida’s School of Business Administration. An avid poker player, Professor Karlins enjoys answering inquiries at mkarlins@aol.com.
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