Nervous act to get a call? 240bb river jam

In my experience, some people get nervous when they're in a big hand, no matter what their hand strength is. I saw someone shaking just yesterday when in a big all in hand with the nuts. Maybe they think even though they have a strong hand, the other player could outdraw them, so I wouldn't assume if someone's shaking/appears nervous they have a weak hand. It's mostly because of the adrenalin and excitement of being in a big pot rather than their hand strength (and there are also people who try to look nervous with the nuts to get calls).

If you want to factor live tells into your decisions, you should be sure to study some live tells away from the table, but also pay close attention to your opponents at all times, especially when you're not involved in a hand.

In my personal observation, I find it hard to confidently identify when an opponent "looks nervous", and I don't know that I've been able to project that look when I was strong, or avoid it when I was weak.

There are lots of other tells which I've found to be more reliable. It's somewhat amazing how reliable they are, despite being written about more than 30 years ago.

Don't know if this helps, but when I'm contemplating a big bluff, before I bet, I try to remind myself to think about how I'd act if I had the hand I was repping, which is really just a long way around to telling myself to relax, because, hey, we've got the nuts (even though, we really don't). Once I bet, I just start shuffling my chips or re-engaging in table-talk while my opponent tanks.

Conversely, before I bet big for value, I try to think about how I'd act if I was bluffing. It sounds stupid, but I realized I tend to be more "frozen" when I'm bluffing, so it's a useful reminder for me to just freeze in place once I push my bet out.

I think there's a danger in trying to do more to act weak or strong, because those tend to be tells that backfire.

Yeah I think my long unhinged 5am rant was basically just saying to look nervous when we have the goods and confident when bluffing, like you say. And I was surprised to hear the one villain say I looked too nervous to not have a Q which made me rethink that a bit. Of course people do get nervous with big hands when they have it so maybe a more neutral always cool calm collected attitude is best long term

My thinking is that fake tells tend to look more forced than natural tells. Like, if someone wants to look like they're so nervous that they can't make their fingers work well enough to assemble a bet, they're likely to exaggerate that, and prolong it, to make sure I don't miss it. It's just so comical when someone tries it.

I see the "shaky hands" tell all the time, but more often than not it's just an old guy with hands that shake constantly, whether he has it or not.

Starting at a spot on the table is fine as a default posture with both bluffs and value, but I've found it's hard to maintain that if V is tanking for a long time. I've also found that when I'm the one tanking, V's will often break in some way if I tank a while longer, and give up a live tell.

So when I bet, freeze, and then V tanks longer than I can sit still and stare at a single spot, I'll start thinking about whether or not I want to give a fake / reverse tell, and go from there. If I'm not confident I can manipulate my opponent to do what I want him to do, I'll just take a sip of my drink, or look at one of the TV's on the wall, or look at the dealer, or wherever. I try not to look at my opponent at all.

I've occasionally been able to manipulate an opponent with a fake tell, but it's unusual for me to feel confident enough to even attempt it. I recently got a guy to make a big laydown by telling him he should fold, if he had me beat his money would be in the middle already, I'd show, etc. I'd been watching him for a few hours, and knew he was scared money.

But I tried to do the same thing once, when I actually had it, and was soft-playing a friend, yet he decided I was FOS and called when I had the nuts.

So...I dunno, seems like trying to fake-tell someone is as likely to backfire as it is to work, so I generally just look for other people's tells, and try to be just slightly off neutral (a little more relaxed when I'm bluffing, a little less when I have it) when they may be looking for mine.

I really can't emphasize enough how much info is overlooked when we're not paying attention to everyone else at the table, even when we're not in a hand. I've spotted some really odd and specific tells just sitting there observing. This one kid had a weird way of stacking chips to call or make a bet when he was weak, and would do something completely different when he was calling or making a bet with a strong hand. Like, it was insane how obviously different his two methods were, based solely on the strength of his hand.

The "mean mug" tell is usually very reliable, especially when it comes from older dudes. I've made a lot of correct hero calls after seeing an opponent trying to stare me down while I was tanking. It's gotten to the point where I'll sometimes insta-call when I see it.

Yeah I guess I was specifically talking about times when villain goes into the tank, you're right that the longer they tank the harder it is to stare blankly at one spot. I usually start off looking at one spot in a neutral position and if it seems like it's gonna be a tank I'll usually try to lean back some and shift my gaze between the cards, villains chips, and villain himself. I won't typically do a full on staredown or anything except some rare circumstances but I do find it makes villain uncomfortable when they look up to find me already staring back. Whether they read that as strength or weakness I think depends on any history with villain. In the hand I posted I opted to go for the nervous demeanour and before I realized what I was doing I had to roll with it. I think I will try to lean more towards a balanced approach of never looking nervous because it's just more intimidating and that intimidation leads them into leveling themselves out of a good decision.

Side note - I do the mean mug vs those older grumpy villains that hate folding and getting buffed and get paid in some sick spots bc they do not like being intimidated xD always villain dependant I suppose

PS - something I've caught myself doing, and wondering if it's worked in my favor...

Got the nuts, push out a big bet, and then make a face like I'm just waiting in line bored at the DMV - eyebrows up, pursed lips, just looking around. Sometimes I'll hum a little, and let myself make eye contact with my opponent, briefly, then look away. Not mean-mugging, just a look, like, "whenever you're ready, whatever you want to do, I don't even know if I want you to call or not."

I don't know if it tricks opponents into thinking I'm trying to look relaxed, but the more it seems like I DGAF, the more I get called.

Once or twice, I've called the clock on a guy who was tanking, if he's been doing it a lot. I think that's a good reverse tell, because logically, if we have value, we want our opponent to take as long as he wants, and don't want the floor to force him to fold. When I did it, it was mostly because I'd seen that most of their tanks ended up being tank-folds, so I figure I'm not losing value by calling clock. We're either getting to the fold sooner, or maybe getting him to make an "eff you" call.

Strong is weak and weak is strong. It is one of first tells documented over 50 years ago by Mike Caro. The better players at your table are reading you like a book. I'd stop trying to induce an action.