An interview with professional poker player Dara O’Kearney (twitter @daraokearney) on the subject of poker tells (poker behavioral patterns). Dara is also the co-host of The Chip Race, a very popular poker podcast. We talk about how important poker tells are versus strategy, about how Dara’s thoughts on poker tells have changed over time, and talk about some interesting poker hands where tells have played a role for us. (See the bottom of this post for more topics and resources.) Podcast links:
Other topics discussed include:
- How some players (especially beginners) over-estimate the role of tells and some players underestimate them.
- Some ways that poker players can get information from opponents, like insulting them or being nice to them.
- How some well known players, like Phil Hellmuth, Andy Black, and Daniel Negreanu, use their celebrity and personalities to their advantage.
- How early-hand tells, when the pot is small, are some of the most meaningful tells (with the big bet spots often not being as behaviorally interesting as many might think).
- The complexity of poker, and how it’s a more complex game than chess.
Related resources:
- Dara O’Kearney’s poker books
- Interview of Brian Rast about poker tells
- Other game-related podcast episodes, including Secret Hitler and Rock Paper Scissors
- Zach Elwood’s poker tells products
- Zach appearing on The Chip Race (first of two appearances)
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