Timing Tells (2) - Basics

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Timing Tells (2) - Basics

by MiiWiin

We've already covered how to recognise timing tells and how important they can be in part 1.

The focus now is on transferring this knowledge to other areas. Who makes these tells, how can they be recognised and what can they reveal? How can you protect yourself from making tells, even on a subconscious level?

Overview:

As mentioned in the last part, there's a lot to explore with this topic. However, you should try to concentrate on the essential things.

Bearing this in mind, there are four important questions to ask yourself:

• Does my opponent make timing tells?
• Do I make timing tells?
• How far does my opponent think?
• In which situations are timing tells particularly important?

How far does my opponent think? Does he make timing tells?

You should ask yourself this question all the time, timing tells or not.

People often talk about a levels battle, that is who's a step ahead of their opponent.

Here's an example. You're playing at an NL25 table and you know your opponent really well, he's a regular, thinking player with a solid game. You arrive at the following spot:

$25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
BU ($25)
SB ($25)
Hero ($25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with X ; X
3 folds, BU raises $0.75, 1 fold, Hero raises $2.50, BU raises $5.75, Hero...

Your opponent thinks for a long time, let's say ten seconds and then 4-bets. What does this tell you?

Do you say to yourself: "he took a long time thinking, so he must have had a tough decision; he can't have aces or kings!"

Generally, probably not. Eyebrows raise, something is afoot here. You can't get information about his hand that easily.

In theory, Villain has the following options:

• He really does have a weak hand/bluff and had to think about it
• He knows that you know it looks weak and that's why he plays strong hands in this way
• He knows it looks weak and so plays a weak hand like this, so you actually think it's strong
• He knows...

You could go on like this forever. He can even play it perfecly by simply thinking for ten seconds every time he has to make this decision. If that's the case, you can't read anything from this.

So, there's always a danger of falsely interpreting certain actions from your opponent. The question is: what level is your opponent on?

We've already established in part 1 that even weak players are already at level 2.

Level 1 is the basic: quick decision = strong hand, slow decision = weak hand.

However, even with players that tend to be weaker you can assume they want to play hands as trickily as they can. AK gets shoved quickly: it should look strong. If it's aces, they try to trap as it should look weak.

The interpretation here is clear: even these players have reached level 2 and tries to mask his hand strength in the simplest way. The advantage here is: they'll rarely get off this level.

The opponents

It becomes clear then that you can assume weak players will always play the same. They don't move from level 2: strong should look weak, weak should look strong. Sorted.

This is usually the case. What's more, you can assume that they won't be watching out for your tells. They play their own hand and won't pay a lot of attention to your bet sizes or possible timing tells.

Things start to get interesting against a good player, that is regular, thinking players whom you often play against.

Here, you need to find reads about possible timing tells. Do you want to make a strong hand look strong so you then place it as weak?

How often have you lightly called over exaggerated all-in pushes with a smile on your face ("a bad, cheap bluff"), only to run into aces? Was your opponent in this case already a level ahead of you?

The levels can be played in any way. You can only recognise which timing tell is worth something by paying attention and gather reads. Nonetheless, below are some standard situations.

You can also already develop your own adaption: if you take the same amount of time to make every decision then your opponent can't read anything. That's a crucial point which you should always bear in mind.

Do I give away timing tells?

I'm fairly confident I know the answer here and it's a yes.

You make timing tells, even if only subconsciously. Up to now we've only looked at the straightforward 4-bet example, however this is just a fraction of the possibilities.

Now consider the following example:

$25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)

Preflop: Hero is BU with
3 folds, Hero raises $0.75, 1 fold, BB calls $0.75

Flop: ($1.60) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.25, BB calls $1.25

Turn: ($4.10) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.00, BB calls $3.00

River: ($10.10) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

The hand looks fairly straightforward. Raise preflop, contibet, 2nd barrel for value and protection, check behind on the river after the queen paired and a flush turns up.

Why is this so special?

In an ideal hand analysis it would be nice to know how much time you need to make your decision.

This affects bets on the flop and the turn but it mainly influences the simplest of all decisions: your check on the river.

The decision is clear at the table. On the turn, the tendency is towards bet/fold for a free showdown. With the river card, you clearly don't have a value bet anymore. As you're last to act anyway you can quickly check behind, you won't give away any timing tells. Actually, this isn't quite true.

Now imagine you check behind straight away, almost without thinking. A short time later, this happens:

$25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)

Preflop: Hero is BU with
3 folds, Hero raises $0.75, 1 fold, BB calls $0.75

Flop: ($1.60) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.25, BB calls $1.25

Turn: ($4.10) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.00, BB calls $3.00

River: ($10.10) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero???

You think. You need a couple of seconds to consider if you should fire a 3-barrel and how big it should be.

What can your opponent see? He knows that you don't even think about betting with marginal hands. What have you learned from part 1? Simple decision = fast decision.

Here, however, you think. You're not holding something marginal, rather the nuts or nothing. Either you consider if you should bluff and if so, how high, or you're holding a very good hand and are thinking about how you can extract the highest EV from your bet.

In example 2, you've shown your opponent that if you have an easy decision, you just check behind. In the example here alone, nothing can happen to you if you do this, however you've given your opponent a read for the following hand.

What can you do about this? It's necessary to make a value bet in example 3 and reconsider the size, or consider a bluff with hands which really haven't hit anything. You have to think about it.

The adaption is simple: in example 2 you should think for a couple of seconds, despite the easy decision. Even here, Villain will have to think again: "Does he want to bet again? Can he bet so loosely, does he think I'll call something worse?"

Your opponent has to really think and you aren't giving away any reads, basically, it's perfect. And your oppenents are doing exactly the same thing:

$25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)

Preflop: Hero is BU with
3 folds, Hero raises $0.75, 1 fold, BB calls $0.75

Flop: ($1.60) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.25, BB calls $1.25

Turn: ($4.10) (2 players)
BB checks...

If your opponent were to check straight away on the turn, almost without thinking, it says a lot about his hand. Nonetheless, there's an overcard and a straight draw. Under normal circumstances, Villain would certainly have to consider how he continues to play out of position.

Does he want to bluff or value bet? If he checks straight away, his way ahead - way behind game is obvious. In most cases here you're running against a marginal hand such as Tx, 9x, 88- here.

That's why you should take care in this kind of spot not to give away any timing tells. Even if your check/call is decided because you want to play way ahead - way behind, you shouldn't make it so clear to your opponent.

LINKS
Related articles: Timing Tells (1) - Introduction Timing Tells (3) - The Most Important Spots Timing Tells (4) - The Block Check