The Weekly PokerNews Strategy Quiz: Can You Spot the Tell?

02-27-2016 76428 responses Top results

Tells in poker are a popular subject, partly because of the way tells often receive a lot of attention in cultural depictions of poker.

For example, movies featuring poker scenes love to highlight poker tells as a way of increasing suspense. From Paul Newman’s emotionless raising street after street (“kick a buck”) in Cool Hand Luke to Teddy KGB’s fiddling with Oreo cookies in Rounders to Le Chiffre’s weeping eye in Casino Royale, tells often receive a lot of attention in such portrayals of the game.

In reality, understanding the significance of tells in poker is only a small part of learning strategy, and indeed tells often only become meaningful in certain, special situations. The subject did come up a few times, though, during this week’s strategy articles on PokerNews, and so for that reason we’re highlighting tells as the theme of a new installment of “The Weekly PokerNews Strategy Quiz.”

What follows are eight multiple choice questions, all having to do with the subject of tells (including some derived from this week’s articles). Answering six or more correctly will earn a passing grade, and if you happen to miss any you’ll be shown the right answer along with an explanation. And of course you can always look back through the week’s Strategy articles if you need any help along the way.

You look confident. Does that mean you’re strong on this subject? Or is it a false tell...?

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Start Quiz

Question 1

The term “poker face” is related to the topic of tells. Traditionally, a “poker face” refers to...

Question 2

In his “Book of Poker Tells,” Mike Caro made famous the idea that “when players go out of their way to act weak, it’s because they ____________.”

Question 3

True or False: Tells are only relevant to live poker and are of no significance in online poker.

Question 4

For beginning players, which is more important?

Question 5

You notice a novice player’s hands are shaking as he gathers chips to make a big river bet. Many would agree that such behavior likely means...

Question 6

In “A Multi-Street Bluff Made Simple: Using Tells and Board Texture,” Nate Meyvis discusses how “physical information” given off by an opponent helped him decide how to play a hand. Following the turn, his opponent “checked and stared at me,” behavior which Nate says often indicates...

Question 7

The article “Straight Talk: When Players Tell You What They Have” includes a quote from Zachary Elwood’s book “Verbal Poker Tells” having to do with players talking about their own hands. “When a player makes a significant bet and discusses what his own hand might be,” he writes, “it’s usually a sign of...”

Question 8

Finally, in a new article concerning players shuffling their hole cards while in a hand, Zachary Elwood discusses how such behavior often indicates the player has a weak hand, showing video examples. As one of his caveats, he adds that “as with all tells, you’d be _______ likely to act on this behavior the more experienced an opponent is.”