Common Tells - Chapter II: Postflop Tells Part 1

1) You and one other player call a preflop raise from a loose-agressive player in middle position. You are eyeing the raiser as the flop comes and once the dealer flips the flop, you notice the raiser quickly glances at his chips before looking up at you and checking. You look down and see the flop came J-4-4. You called him with AK preflop, what do you do?

2) Your opponent in this hand is someone who has been hyper-agressive most of the night. He’s been making big bets all night and forcing people out of hands slowly building his chips along the way. You’ve been lucky enough to hit a few big hands against him and have built up a decent stack yourself. He raises from early postion and you call with 8♣7♣. One other player calls as well and the flop comes K♥J♣4♣. This time the raiser only bets about a third of the pot. What do you do?

3) There is a small raise from middle postion and a couple limpers to you on the button. You make a loose call with KJ offsuit, and the big blind calls. 5 of you see the flop which comes J♠5♦6♥. The preflop raiser bets about 3/4 of the pot and one person calls. The player to your left quietly counts the pot before calling. What do you do?

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1) Check and fold when it comes back to you after the turn. The glance at his chips after seeing the flop is a dead giveaway, the preflop raiser hit a big hand and is looking to trap. He’s either got a 4, or pocket jacks, so you’re looking at needing runner-runner to win the pot. Even if an Ace or King comes on the turn, you’re probably still behind. This is an extremely common tell that often gets missed because you are looking at the flop when it comes instead of other players. It gets said a lot, but the flop is going to be there later, don’t miss a chance to pick up an extremely reliable tell because you weren’t looking.

2) Fold and wait for a better spot. You’ve got to ask yourself why would someone who’s been betting big and forcing people out of the pot all night suddenly change and make a small bet. While you’ve got pot odds to call with a flush draw, given the situation it seems likely that he has a hand like K♣J♥ or pocket 4s which would have you crushed, and you don't generally want to chase a flush against two pair or better.

3) Make a decent sized raise. The player counting the pot was determining his pot odds to call, meaning he’s got either a flush draw or a straight draw. If you put the intial raiser on a strong hand, you can fold here, but calling isn’t the right move. You don’t want to give someone pot odds to call with their draws.