Timing Tells (1) - Introduction

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Timing Tells (1) - Introduction

by MiiWiin

Timing tells are an important part of playing poker, regardless of the variant. They say a number of things, if you think you can estimate your opponent and know he's a "thinking player".

It involves being able to read something about your opponent, based on his bet and raise times, whilst at the same time staying unreadable yourself.

What are timing tells?

A timing tell means that you can learn something about your opponent's hand strength from their betting or raising "speed".

You try to give your opponent a range each time and try to limit the amount of unavailable information about your opponent.

You've got lots of opportunities to do this. On one hand stats and reads, which should give you an overall impression of your opponent, on the other the actual conditions in current and previous hands:

• Is there a history?
• What position is Villain playing from?
• How much does Villain bet?

You try to get as much information as possible. In this spirit, the speed with which your opponent makes a bet or raises can also give a read.

First experiences

It's not so easy to generalise now about whether a slow or fast bet pace really gives a clear read about Villain's hand strength. Just as the bet size doesn't have to be an indication of this either.

Below are two examples which you may be familiar with. Right at the start of a career these examples represent the idea of timing tells (and bet sizes), however, most players try eliminate them, albeit subconsciously.

$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 raises $2.50, Hero...

The standard example: you act in position, holding aces and get a 3-bet from the blinds, something every player likes to see.

What's to be done now? You continue to play the hand, no question, you consider it may be a trap, that is a call in position. However, this isn't important here, your decision is a clear 4-bet.

This raises two questions: how much do you 4-bet? How long do you need for this move? You know question one, you want to place a 4-bet which will perform a few functions:

• It shouldn't be too small, so as not to give Villain good odds with speculative hands
• It shouldn't be too big and scare Villain off or to openly commit you
• In this case it should always be the same size, regardless of whether you're holding aces, a weaker hand or even bluffing, in order not to be readable

Nonetheless, most players have another thought: "slowly does it."

There's deep consideration here, as if it's a life or death decision. After endless toing and froing there's a 4-bet...

With a weaker player you can also assume that the 4-bet will be very small, almost a min 4-bet. After all, you don't want to push away any potential customers.

You'll certainly have the right 4-bet size ready (in this case a 10BB size 3-bet in the rough range between 22BB and 28BB, that is $5.50 and $7.00), but how quickly are you prepared to bet?

The brain generally begins to think intuitively about timing tells here. You have the feeling that a really quick 4-bet looks stronger and you certainly don't want to do that with your aces.

You think about it a bit longer and that this makes your hand and your range look weaker. Why is that the case?

Before you think any more, about why the long decision period makes you look weaker, here's the counter example first:

$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 raises $2.50, Hero...

Now the story looks different. At the start of your career the following thought may have passed through your mind:

"push all-in straight away and generate maximum fold equity."

It's equivalent to going against your opponent with a clenched fist, demonstrating strength of steel with an insta-shove: "come on then, if you think you're hard enough."

It's often said in the hand evaluation forum that a push is better as you won't have to potentially play a 4-bet pot without a hit. These thoughts fly through your head when you've considered balancing and deception, that is, you've tried to make your hand unreadable to the entire table.

Only here it's also about the thinking time as well as the raise size. Here too you need to consider that a quick 4-bet is felt to appear stronger than a 4-bet after lengthy consideration. For this reason you almost allow yourself to be read with aces, however with AK, it can't go quickly enough for you.

Once more the question: why is this?

Basic interpretation

Timing tells can be interpreted in different ways. Let's start with the premise:

Quick decision = strong hand. Slow decision = weak hand.

This initial thought stems from the following logic. The length of time a person has to make a decision depends on his options. If he has lots of options, he needs to begin by assessing these. He needs to place his hand strength, see who's in the hand, then check his options. Fold? Call? Or raise?

Then the size of the bet or raise can be considered carefully and the decision taken and put into action.

In the moment where a decision is taken promptly, there doesn't appear to be any other option. It's very clear that only a 4-bet is an option. There's no assessment necessary, so the thinking time is a lot briefer.

The question rarely occurs with aces (excluding the option "call as a trap"). However, if you want to 4-bet bluff, your opponents, then you need to start by scrutinising the stats. What does he raise, how does he react to 4-bets, could the 3-bet be called? You need time.

At the start of your poker career you won't be having these thoughts yet, however your intuition tells you that a very fast 4-bet with aces could mean that you've got a strong hand. You don't need to think about whether a 4-bet is appropriate and you already have the feeling that your opponent has noticed this.

However, in practice it generally goes wrong, as the adaptation can't be to think for ages with very strong hands but to bet straight away with AK to show strength.

Clearly it's a very cheap adaptation: every hand you 4-bet should be with the same size 4-bet (relative to the spot) and should be made at the same speed.

Opponent's first tells

Even without any poker experience you can realise this timing tell as the premise "fast decision = easy decision" can be found everywhere in life.

Even in the small hand evaluation forums which principally deal with the basics of the game, these kind of interpretations occur straight away:

$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 $4.25

"Villain thinks for a long time then min-raises: looks a lot like aces."

$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 $24.25 all-in)

“Villain insta-shoved all-in, that must be an AK or a bluff, right!?"

There's already an interpretation of bet sizes and timing tells going on here, even if more subconsciously. One could write whole theses on the topic of "interpreting bet sizes and raise speeds," especially given the wide variety of opponents.

It's not only that beginners interpret this kind of move, they even go a step further and try to hide their timing tells by thinking longer about strong hands than weak ones. This isn't ideal, but it's a good start.

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Related articles: Timing Tells (2) - Basics Timing Tells (3) - The Most Important Spots Timing Tells (4) - The Block Check