I recently played a hand at 2-5 NL where physical tells, betting patterns and meta game played a factor into my decision. This decision led to me winning a pot over 2k. I developed my basic skills from playing online professionally. Betting patterns and timing tells were all I had to go on. I have come a long way since the online grind and black Friday. The hand played out as follows…

I was about 5 hours into a session at a South FL Casino and was about even. I had been playing relatively tight until I got a rush of cards. The two hands prior I was dealt Kings. I three bet both times one time getting called & winning a medium size pot without going to showdown after that hand I was sitting with a little over 1k in front of me. The villain in this hand was on my immediate right. He just moved tables and had been sitting in about one rotation.

Stacks are about 1k effective
The villain in the hand is an older middle eastern gentleman.

I pick up QhQc in the cut off
One player limps utg +2

Villain opens to $25 from HJ
Hero 3 bet to $80
Folds to Villain he snap calls

(when a player snap calls this usually represents weakness. I could tell he was irritated with me 3 betting the previous 2 hands)

Pot $165

Flop come 9h3h6s
Villain snap leads for $125

(The quick bet again gave me a clue my opponent was weak)

Hero calls $125

Pot $415

Turn is 6h
Villain snap leads $125

(From my experience, the speed and bet sizing on the turn represented weakness)

(At this point I felt my opponents range was a high heart and or a over pair with a heart)

Hero raises it to $280

(I decided to put in a smallish raise here to set up a shove on a non heart board)

Villain snap calls.

Pot $955

River J c
Villain snap shoves $470

Hero tanks calls

(As I was tanking, the hero lifted his cards up and showed his neighbor to his left it seemed as if he was acting confident. When a player acts strong he is usually weak. His body language had shifted away from me. All these tells added up and in correlation to previous tells and his betting patterns led to my call)

Pot $1905

Villain shows A9 with no heart.

Hero wins pot. Although my read was not 100% accurate it was close enough. Remember to always take your time when making a decision, do not allow your opponents quick play to throw you off your game.

Next post we will take a look at technical skills.