The frequency with which you find players who exhibit numerous telegraphs is alarming.  Even in a $30/$60 game in Las Vegas, which is a fairly high stakes game, you will often find that more than half of the table routinely telegraphs their next action.  The most common one you see is people who look at their hand preflop then get ready to throw it away.  They seem to be anxiously waiting their turn to pitch their junk hand, oblivious to the fact that their consistently doing so makes it very easy for you to tell when they do have a hand that they consider worth playing. 

                It is for this reason that I and many other poker authors advocate looking to your left.  You don’t want to be too blatant about it because you don’t want people realizing that you are on to them.  Just casually glance over at the next few players hands before making your move, especially preflop.

                At first take note of how their telegraph relates to their actions.  If a player always bets when he grabs a bunch of chips before it is his turn to act then you have a great telegraph.  If whether they grab chips has no relation to what they do then you have nothing.  Also look at how they hold their cards; that is another very common way in which a lot of people telegraph their next action.  There are certainly others as well, so be on the lookout for them but those two comprise the vast majority of telegraphs..

                Telegraphs are actually fairly useful when you spot them.  Preflop they can give you a good idea of what is going to happen.  If you are three or four spots from the button but everyone behind you telegraphs a fold you should treat your position as if it were the button.  If, on the flop, an opponent behind you grabs chips to bet with, you can consider check-raising a hand you might otherwise have bet with.

                Do be sure though to avoid falling for false telegraphs.  These are fairly common as well. Some are made intentionally, some unintentionally.  A lot of players who want an opponent to check might grab a lot of chips as if to say that they are going to raise if bet into.  If you are observant you will spot when players do such thing and know what it means in the future.

                Avoid telegraphing your own hand much the same way you avoid tell-by always doing the same thing.  When you get dealt your first two cards always hold them in the same manner.  Never touch your chips until it is your turn to act, or if you do then always hold the same amount and hold them in the same way. If you were shuffling chips before the round, keep shuffling them until it is your turn to act.

                Remember that table image can sometimes be inaccurate.  If a player sits at your table and raises the first five hands and pounds them all the way you may think he is a maniac, especially if he didn’t show them. It is, however entirely possible that he just got five consecutive monster hands.  He couldn’t in fact be a very weak tight player who just picked up big pairs five hands in a row, and if that is the case chances are people will have a very inaccurate perception of him.

                Determining what people think of how you play is often hard. It has a lot to do with how you have played recently.  Many people don’t pay attention to hands they aren’t involved in, so their perception of you will be dominated more by hands in which you and they were both involved.  If there were a lot of hands like that they may think of as a loose player, if not, they may think you a tight player.  If you were raising a lot in those hands they will likely think you an aggressive player, if not, they may think you passive. 

                Players who pay more attention will have a much better idea of how you really play.  Even they will ten to heavily weight your recent play, which is not necessarily a bad idea either.  As the night draws on tight players who are having bad luck often turn  into lose ones and vice versa.  People’s emotional states often change and their play follows.  So be aware of how you have been playing recently.

                That being said, many people form one image of you and are reluctant to change it.  Don’t fall into this trap.  As I said earlier if a player comes in and is aggressive with his first five hands he may seem to be a maniac.  Chances are he is, but if he proceeds to fold every hand for the next hour be sure to update your opinion of him. 

                Also be aware that how a player plays preflop and post-flop are very different.  Some popel play very tight pre flop but then never seem to fold once the flop comes.  Some people are the opposite, raising every hand before the flop and then playing very well after.  Those players can be deadly.  Be sure to think in terms of how each player plays on each street, not just how they play preflop.

                Your table image is also greatly impacted by your appearances. They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but that doesn’t stop most people from trying.  If you are a young white male, people are going to be much more likely to peg you as an aggressive player.  A young white female whose game is identical to that young white male’s might be considered a calling station or weak-tight(playing few hands and doing so meekly).  People’s preconception often dominate their image of other players.  Be aware of them and use them to your advantage.

                The exception to this is when everyone has folded.  IN that case you should probably play it just like you were on the button and everyone had folded to you, raising any hand worth playing.  You are going to be out of position the whole way so if a hand is worth seeing a flop you might as well try to take it right there.

                If the small blind is 2/3 of the big blind, then you should call with any two cards in  a pot that hasn’t been raised.  Here your implied odds are far too great to fold any hand.  If there has oly been one limper you are getting 8-1 immediately but your implied odds are fantastic because the bet on the flop is three times the size of the bet you must call.  Following his advice will have you seeing some flops with seriously bad hands like J6 off suit. Be very careful not to get carried away with a hand like that if you flop top pair or something.  When you put in that 1/3 bet you are hoping to flop at least two pair or preferably trips, but if you don’t and there is any heat at all then get out of the hand quickly.

                If the hand has been raised you are going to want to tight up a bit.  If there are a couple of limpers or cold callers then you will probably want to call most hands that you would call out of middle position with for no raise.  If there aren’t any limpers you are going to want to tighten up a bit, maybe throw away the poorer suited connectors and smaller pairs in that range.

                Semi-bluffing can be done by betting or by check-raising.  You should do most of it by simply betting, since that is what you will do with most of your made hands as well, but you must also do small amount  of semi-bluff check raising just to keep your opponents guessing.  Flush draws, straight draws, and even over cards can all be excellent hands to semi-bluff with.  Remember that the more outs you have, the less chance you need to steal immediately for a semi bluff to be profitable.

                Of course, the few opponents in the pot, the greater your odds of stealing, so the more you should semi-bluff.  Also the lower the board cards are, the less likely it is that one of your opponents will call. The exception to this is certain times when an ace flops. Often your opponents preflop actions will indicate to you that they have a weak hand.  Maybe they just limp in a middle position after everyone folded to them or maybe they limped in late position with only one limper already.  Strong players would probably have raised an ace in either of those positions.

                Furthermore, the ace makes it very hard for opponents to call with weak holdings; if they don’t have a pair, they know that they will have to get tow pair or better to beat anyone who does have an ace.  Even if they have a smaller pair, an ace is very scary to them because a lot of people see flops with an ace in their hand.  So you might want to semi=bluff in certain situations where you flop an open –end or four-flush and there is an ace on the board and someone lets you know that they have an ace, at least you have outs.

                When a mannerism gives away some information about a player’s hand, that is a tell.  Some tells are very obvious, such as players swearing when a card they don’t like hits the table.  Some tells are very subtle, such as a guy who puts his chips in the pot all in one tall stack when he has a hand and puts his chips in by making two equal sized stacks when he doesn’t.

                Entire books have been written on tells in poker, most notably by Mike Caro.  There are many different common tells, all of which can mean different things when exhibited by different people.  Whereas one guy might sigh when he is bluffing another might let out the same sigh when is betting the nuts.  To truly cover individual tells would require another book,  but since Mike Caro has done such a fine job of it I will not delve too deeply into them here.

                I will say that the best time to spot tells is when cards are dealt.  Looking at people, instead of the board when the flop, turn, or river is placed on the table will give you a lot of clues as to what they have.  You will be surprised how many people jump a little when they hit a big hand or give a very small frown when a card they dislike appears. 

                Tells can be extremely valuable, so you should watch for them.  You will notice that all world class players have intense focus.  They are constantly staring at their opponents trying to find anything useful.  Of course top players also rarely exhibit tells so at the highest levels it actually becomes a very small part of the game, but at the lowest limits just trying to spot tells can turn a break-even player into a small winner and a small winner into a strong one.

                Since tells can give away very valuable information you should seek to eliminate your own tells.  There is a very simple basic theory on how to avoid exhibiting any tells of your own.  Plainly put if you always bet in the exact same manner than that manner could not possibly give an opponent any information as to what you hold.  Sounds pretty simple right?  It is and it isn’t. It is a hard thing to get used to, controlling where you look, your breathing, and all of the other factors but once you do get used to it will become second nature.

                So when playing in a casino (and this, of course has no relevance at all when playing online) always try to stack your chips in the pot the same way using the same hand. Try to control your breathing your posture, where you look (I recommend always keeping your eyes focused on the chips in the center of the table and not looking at your opponent), or anything else you can think of.  And try to make it always the same.

                A lot of players like to wear sunglasses, and this isn’t a bad idea.  I don’t do it because it strains my eyes, which in turn makes me tired.  I just look right down at the center of the felt every time I bet.  If you don’t think you can restrain yourself, go ahead and put on some shades.

                The only exception to this is if you hit a card that makes your draw and might make someone else a better one. For instance, if the turn card gives you a flush but pairs the board.  In that case if the pot gets jammed you have to make tough decision about whether or not you are beat.  Just because you hit a good hand doesn’t mean you have to call a lot of bets with it.  If it looks pretty sure to be beat, now is the time to lay it down.

                If your drawing hand from the flop misses the turn now you will have to make another decision.  Again, consider your pot odds and the odds against your hitting on the river.  Be sure to factor in any bets you expect to receive should you hit your hand as well.  Count partial outs the same way that you did on the flop.

                Many times a hand that has the odds to draw on the flop does not have the odds on the turn.  This happens often with hands like gut shot straight draws that just barely have the odds to call on the flop.  It can also happen with a flush or straight draw as well, though it will usually take a raise make you fold it.  Don’t be afraid to let go of a drawing hand if the odds just aren’t there anymore.  Sure, sometimes you will fold it and the draw will hit, but pay attention only to your Expected Value and ignore short term results.

                Also be careful when drawing at hands like straight or flushes on a paired board.  If the pot gets jammed it might often be correct to fold even if you think you have the odds to call just because of the chance that you make your hand and don’t win.  If someone has three of a kind on a paired board then as many as three of your flush outs might also make them a full house (two that pair the board and one that pairs their kicker) and you might not know what one of them is.  Also, if you think that there is a good chance someone already has a full house then you are drawing dead, and that is very expensive on the turn. 

                When evaluation what to do you should consider a few things.  First of all you have to consider that you are going to be out of position for the rest of the hand.  Your relative position may actually be good if the first person in the pot raised though, so keep that in mind as well.  Remember that the more people in the pot the less important position becomes but it always has some value. 

                You also have to consider the increased odds that you are getting. The money you have already put in the pot counts towards your calling, so if you post a $15 blind and it is raised once you only have to call $15 more whereas someone in the middle position would have to call $30 cold.  This greatly increases your implied odds as well, so you could be more inclined to call out of the blinds than you would to call in other positions.

                If there is a raise, you have to consider where it came from. A raise under the gun generally means a much stronger hand than a raise form a late position, especially if there were no limpers.  A lot of people will raise the majority of their hands on the button or cutoff if it has been mucked around to them.  You should be much more inclined to call a blind-stealing type raise than one from an earlier position, since you are far less likely to be dominated.

                As far as value raising there you need a pretty strong hand to do it.  The bettor bet into two players.  The more opponents a bettor has, the more likely he feels he is to be called, and therefore, the better his hand probably is.  This will be true of your own betting as well. A pot with more than two players is said to be protected for this reason, since the odds of a steal are greatly reduced. 

                So if a player bets with a high expectation of a call and another player calls then that caller should also have a fairly good hand.  This means that you should be much more inclined to fold your weaker hands.  Whereas Ace High might sometimes snap off a bluff it will rarely pick up a pot that is bet and called on the river.  The same is true of small pairs as well.

                Notice that I say the caller “should” have a decent hand, not will.  Remember to play your opponents.  Some people bluff every river and some players will call with as little as ace high routinely, even with players left to act behind them.  If you were against a very liberal bettor and a very liberal caller with a good sized pot you may still want to give it a shot with a junky middle pair or something.  Remember that you only need it to work a small portion of the time, and the larger the pot the less frequency your call must win to be profitable.

                It is best, when in doubt, to check and/or call the river.  Value betting is very tough since you are giving your opponents an overlay by doing so, but if a good chance comes up, you should take it.  Good value betting comes with experience and is part of what separates a strong winner from a mediocre winner, but isn’t a big enough factor to turn a significant loser into a winner.  And if your previous actions help to sell a bluff on the river, then give it a shot.  The pot is usually large enough that the bluff need not be successful very often to show a profit, and even when it fails it has some deception value. And most importantly don’t try to make strong lay downs on the river, save those for the turn.

                On the flop you can take a lot of speculative holdings to the next round because the bet is so cheap and if you make a strong hand you have two rounds of double bets to get paid on it.  On the river you probably only have to call one big bet to see if you hand is good and are getting great odds to do so. On the turn, however, it is a much different story.  You are facing a big bet, which makes your direct pot odds often worse than they were on the flop.

                Also your implied odds are often much worse since you might have to call a big bet on both the turn and the river. Furthermore, you only have one round of betting left to capitalize if you make a big hand.  Because there are no more cards to come on the river (meaning that knocking people out has much less value), people tend to play much more passively there as well; you become less likely to get a lot of bets out of someone.

                So the turn is the one street in Texas hold’em where we often must give folding some serious thought if we have a good hand.  Preflop you pretty much know what to play and what not to play; the decisions are mostly fairly easy.  On the flop the decisions become a bit tougher, but as long as you aren’t drawing dead even a bad call is generally a big mistake.  Your decision on the river is fairly easy as well.

                Of course good turn play, like every other part of the game, comes with experience.  Just keep in mind your odds, both direct and implied, and how they are affected by the double bet.  And remember that there is no prize in Hold’em for having had the best hand on the flop.  If the turn comes bad for your hand and it appears to have you beat, then there is no sense putting in more money, unless of course you have the odds to draw for an even better hand on the river.

1. What do you have? This is the simplest level; you merely look at your hand and the board and figure out how strong your hand is.
2. What does your opponent have?  This is a bit more complicated as you have to try to pin them down to as narrow a range of holdings as you can.
3. What does your opponent think that you have?  This is even more complicated as you have to evaluate your own play from the standpoint of a player who hasn’t seen your hole cards which can  be hard to do since you have seen your hold cards.  Your table image and the way you have played so far in the current hand factor in highly here.
4. What does your opponent think that you think that he has?  Here you are trying to figure out his level  3 thought process.  Of course if you opponent doesn’t think that deep it will be less important  but still not unimportant because though he may not pay that much mind consciously he is definitely doing so subconsciously.  His subconscious thought may manifest itself in his play so it can still be helpful to be aware of it even though you would give it less weight than you would against a player who can think on that level consciously. 

                As you can imagine the levels could theoretically go on forever but anything much beyond level four is too complicated to worry about.  Trust me when I say that you can go pretty far up the poker chain and not run into many people who even think clearly on that level, let alone above it.

                Nonetheless it is hard to win at any significant stakes without incorporating the first three levels into your thought process since so many players will be thinking either consciously or subconsciously on level three.  Like everything else in life your ability to think on these higher levels will row as you gain experience.  You should be able to think on at least level 2 fright from the beginning and level 3 after a little experience.  Beyond that things start to get a bit murky and it may take you some time to get to level 4.  Don’t worry though, there is plenty of money to be made before you can truly think like that.