Live tells have been given some bad press in recent years with many poker players saying they are vastly overrated and too much emphasis is put into them and their accuracy. The online poker community still argue that betting patterns, hand ranges and stack sizes are more important but it is possible to get reads and tells in the live environment and some of them are quite accurate indeed.

If you are playing in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event there will be a huge array of player types taking part alongside you. Although the saying goes, “never judge a book by its cover,” nothing could be further for the truth when it comes the poker players. If your opponent is a 40-something dressed in a shirt and jeans he will most likely be a tight-passive player whilst your Bose headphone wearing, hooded jumper sporting villain will generally be adopting a loose-aggressive playing style. There are obvious exemptions to this rule but it is usually quite accurate.

How your opponents handle their chips is also a major clue into how experienced they in the world of poker, someone who fiddles awkwardly whenever they have to move chips around is likely to be either an online poker player or someone completely new to live poker whilst that player sat riffling his chips and cutting them into tidy piles quickly has almost certainly played dozens of live tournaments. Also linked to chips is how your opponents put them into the pot. If they do so aggressively by slamming down the chips or tossing them towards you or another opponent they will generally be weak but be wary of shaking hands as this usually means your opponent is strong, not the common misconception that he or she is bluffing.

Try to use all the information you have at your disposal and make an educated decision based on it all. Also, try to apply it to the poker variant that you are playing because certain games attract different people in that Texas Holdem Poker is played by all sorts of people around the world but a game like pot-limit Omaha is one that is extremely popular in European countries and by players who love to see flops and play loosely.