Bluffing in live games

When many players bluff in live games they go to great lengths to try and be as serious and still as possible. They will sit motionless, hold their breath, avoid eye contact, anything to try and give off the gravity of the play they have made. They want you to believe they have a big hand (to go with their big bet) and to display the seriousness of the situation and the power of their holding.

This is typical human behaviour when trying to deceive people. The ‘mad genius’ of poker - Mike Caro has frequently talked about how humans try and disguise their actions by behaving in the opposite manner to their true cards.
People seem to associate seriousness with strength for obvious reasons; many of the most powerful institutions in the world maintain an aura of seriousness at all times-the royal family, the police, the government, the tax man - the list goes on and on. If a player seems to be exuding serious behaviours they will often be bluffing - it is an instinctual cultural behave when trying to show your power over somebody.

Compare this with when a player is holding the stone cold nuts - it is very hard to act in a serious manner when you are holding an unbeatable hand. There are two simple reasons for this; firstly, the hand is already won, the player feels no stress about how to win the actual pot; secondly, the player is no longer trying to dominate their opponent; they simply want to influence them into getting more money in the pot.
Influencing people looks like it requires some kind of stimulation (think of basic propaganda techniques) and leads people to think that by moving, talking, laughing, or using an object (a cigarette for example) that they will persuade the player threat they are lying about their hand and that their bet is a bluff. If a weak player is doing any of these things often they will not be bluffing.

Remember that these sort of behaviours are not fool proof. Many of the top pros go into the tank with both big hands and bluffs alike (Phil Hellmuth or Phil Laak are good examples of this), while others will talk and move with both bluffs and hands (Tony G or Mike Caro, for example). Any player doing well in a game will probably not be giving off consistent tells - try and focus on the more predictable behaviour of the losers in a game and punish them accordingly.

* a great article by Philip Tuck