Texas Holdem Player Behaviour

Chip Handling

Players will often put their small denomination chips into the pot when they have a marginal or perhaps a drawing poker hand. Subconsciously, they may consider that they are not breaking into their pile of valuable chips, so they can do no real damage and can afford to speculate on this occasion.

When the same poker players ignore their low denomination chips and go straight for the large, then beware - there is a high percentage chance that they have a strong hand. Their subconscious reasoning may be that 'I will be getting these chips back anyway when I win the pot, therefore I don't need to worry about which chips I stake'.

When a poker player arranges their chips into amounts which match the current blinds, this gives you an idea about their game. They are likely to be the type of player that calls much more often than they should, a 'calling-station' in poker terminology.

Attempts at stealing pots and bluffing are not advised here as the percentage chance of being called is high. Conversely, if you have a reasonable hand you can try a bet because they are likely to call with a lesser hand.

Sometimes a poker player will call a bet, or more often a raise, in such a way that there will be a cracking or snapping made by the chips as they bang them into the pot.

This behaviour is almost always a sign of a medium-strength hand and seems to be a non-verbal statement meaning 'I have a good hand and I am going to make a stand' or 'you are not going to get away with a bluff against me'. This type of player may also dislike being check-raised and so use this observation advantageously when you are confident against only medium-strength hands.

Of course, sophisticated players will exercise the behaviour mentioned above as part of their general deception, and it is always a good laugh watching someone giving it all the dramatics when you are on to them.

Card Handling

Often the flop in Texas Hold'em will contain three cards of the same suit. When this happens one or more poker players may look at their hands again. The reason for this is that the player may have one card of the suit and has looked for the second time to make sure. It is equally likely that the player has an ace but has forgotten what suit it is.

It is almost never the case that a player will pick up and look at their cards a second time if they already have the flush made. This is because a player usually remembers if they have two cards of the same suit, and what the suit is.

There are a great number of tells out there and especially if you play with the same opponents regularly, it is certainly very profitable to work them out - this is of course easier said than done!