Why You Should Never Ignore Your Instincts at a Poker Table

How often have you just “known” a player was bluffing or is holding the only hand that could beat you, but poker strategy dictated that you had to call, or fold, in that situation? Well, if you are like most players, this happens to you at least once a session, and often more. What you are experiencing is what is known as a micro-tell -most people would know it as a gut-feeling.

Micro-tells, are extremely subtle movements; in fact, they are so subtle that you really don’t even register that anything happened; but your brain does register these micro-tells, and you are therefore subconsciously aware of them.

Not only are they difficult to register, but in order to have any chance at all of noticing a micro-tell you have to be paying very careful attention to everything going on in the game.

You see your brain works like a sponge, always absorbing information. And a lot of the information is so imperceptible, and mostly unimportant, that your brain doesn’t bother your conscious mind with it -your brain may register that the temperature has gone from 84˚ to 83˚ but it will not trouble you too much with this meaningless detail: You may realize it has gotten slightly warmer, but you quickly dismiss it as inconsequential, or a figment of your imagination. However, in a poker game where hundreds or thousands of dollars could be at stake, these micro-tells can be extremely beneficial.

Micro-tells are that funny feeling you have, and you’re not sure why, and they happen throughout your life. Like when you know someone is staring at you, and have no idea how you knew: Well, something very minute happened to tip you off, and although you don’t realize what happened your brain did and sent out the appropriate signals -perhaps there was a slight change in shadows, or the person doing the ogling made some subtle noises.

Think of the difference between a tell and a micro-tell this way: A tell is like Jason from the Friday the Thirteenth movies, a maniac in a hockey mask with a machete: Upon seeing him, the victims immediately know, “something is really, REALLY wrong here!” On the other hand, a micro-tell is someone like Hannibal Lecter: For all intents and purposes he seems totally normal, but there is always that quick, passing moment where the victim thinks, “Something doesn’t seem right.”

Now, in normal life we usually trust our instincts, and if we feel someone is following us or staring at us we stop and turn around, and most of the time our “gut feeling” turns out to be correct: But at a poker table people often suppress this intuition, and simply ignore it. Instead they prefer to just ‘do what the book says’. But, in very borderline situations these micro-tells can be all the difference.

Let me set the record straight, I’m not advocating going with your gut for every decision, but when something smells fishy, take a moment and reexamine the evidence: You may have picked up a micro-tell -well your brain may have picked up a micro-tell!