Tip of the Week: Don't give anything away

In recent weeks, I've written about showing your cards (or not) and how your table image can greatly affect your success, and Joe Navarro discussed concealing (not revealing). Each of these ideas, I hope, should have influenced your actions at the table and have limited what you give away.

All those aside, I've never delved into the certain things players do at the poker table that give away information. I'm not going to go into depth on tells, but just scratch the surface with the following tips.

Talkie. Talkie. No more talkie.

Poker is a very social game, but there are times when turning your mouth off is a necessity. Players give away an immeasurable amount of information when they start talking at the poker table.

Irrelevant of whether a player is in a hand or not, he can still give away everything about his game through a couple words, so even if you're not involved in a hand, keep the topic away from the action.

One of the best examples I've seen of talking giving away a player's hand comes courtesy of Jamie Gold. On Daniel Negreanu's video blog of a hand that Gold played with Prahlad Friedman at the WSOP, Negreanu points out that the very talkative Gold closed up shop after Friedman was debating calling his bet. Gold made a huge bluff, and instead of the chatty Gold we've seen on television begging for his opponent to call, we saw a couple words at best mumbled through his hands as the action progressed.

Gold's mannerisms completely changed during this hand, and if you get a chance, watch one of the billion reruns of the WSOP and try to see if you can pick up the same tell on him that Negreanu did.

So what does all this mean? Well, if you're at a table with Gold, you're set and know how to play against him. Unfortunately, chances are, that's not happening anytime soon. Sorry, but you can still use this information anywhere you play.

To start, test it out with your home game. If a player talks a lot and all of a sudden stops during a hand, take that into consideration. The same thing can be said if a quiet player starts running his mouth nonstop.

To avoid giving your hand away through talking, try to keep it simple. When you're involved in a pot, make it a point that you don't talk. The less you say, the less you can give away.

It's been shown over and over again on televised poker tournaments that as soon as a player opens his mouth and even says one word, a pro will make a decision on the hand immediately. Their goal is to try and get you to talk, so do your best to keep them guessing.

Watch the eyes:

I'm going to back up for one second and give you one other tip for the moment, when the flop comes down, watch your opponent.

Don't watch the flop.

It will still be there when you're ready to look at it. Watch your opponent and see if they react to the flop positively or negatively. Their immediate reaction will give you a lot of information about the strength of his hand.

There are two things about the eyes that you can look for. One is pupil dilation, I'm not even going to attempt because it's almost impossible to observe, but the next time the flop comes out, watch your opponent's eyes. If his pupils dilate, he likes what he had just seen. OK, that's too much about that, let's get back to the easiest eye tell out there: the look down.

You're staring down your opponent as the flop comes down, as you've now learned, and he gives the look down. What's the look down? As soon as the cards hit the board, your opponent looks down at his chips as if to say, how can I get these into the pot? This is a clear sign that your opponent likes his hand and that he's ready for some action.

As clear as this indication of strength may be, there are many who also use this as a fake tell to induce a check from their opponent so they can pick up the pot. Make sure that you gauge the timing of the reaction. If it's immediate, chances are, it's true and they want action. If it's delayed, it's not as genuine as it may appear.