Timing Tells (3) - The Most Important Spots

» COLUMN

Timing Tells (3) - The Most Important Spots

by MiiWiin

Having looked at the basics of timing tells, in this article we'll get to know the spots in which they are most important. There are of situations in which you can give away a lot and others where you should avoid doing so.

Where are timing tells important

As mentioned in the previous part, your personal balancing ideally comes from taking the same amount of time over every action.

Although, you can have too much of a good thing and there's no need to overdo it. There are particular spots in which these tells are especially important (where you ideally won't make any).

Flat calls

A flat call appears insignificant, however it says a number of things. A fast call means, as ever, an easy decision.

The alternative to a call would be a fold or a 3-bet. In general, you can consider these options. If your opponent doesn't do one of these, then he'll call the hand, without question.

You always need to assume he's a regular player, it's not in his nature to call a lot preflop. He could also fold or 3-bet suited connectors. That's why a quick call often indicates a pocket pair.

That's why you should also be careful in these spots. Of course there are situations where only a call comes into question, but be careful not to call small pocket pairs a lot faster than suited hands/broadways, with which you would consider possible alternatives.

3-bets

3-Bets are an important part of No Limit Hold’em. They are always a mystery, as every player has his own 3-bet ranges. Here, every read can be an advantage.

It goes without saying here too that the cardinal rule here is to take your time, with every 3-bet.

With 3-bet calls as opposed to flat calls, you need to watch out for other players more.

$25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

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

Preflop: Hero is MP with X ; X
1 fold, Hero raises $0.75, CO raises $2.50,...

If, for example, your opponent is holding something marginal that he could 3-bet, but doesn't have to, he should really focus on the table.

You should do the same as well. If you've got a possible 3-bet hand (regardless of what), you should take a look at the open raiser first: how high is his PFR value, how often does he fold to 3-bets, how much does he 4-bet?

What could the button do? What might the blinds have at the ready? Are they more squeeze-happy or call-happy?

You've got to quickly gain an overview of the table in this situation, there's no way you can do it in one second. If you make a very quick decision here, you've not taken observations into account.

With hands such as aces or kings this may be logical, but ask yourself if you 3-bet faster with these hands than with AQo, for example, where you need to fathom out the situation first.

As you assume that your opponent is a thinking player, a very quick 3-bet usually means a very strong hand.

Calling 3-bets

$25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

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

Preflop: Hero is MP with X ; X
1 fold, Hero raises $0.75, CO raises $2.50, 3 folds, Hero...

The example is a little tenuous as you shouldn't really call many 3-bets out of position. Nonetheless, you need to think carefully as your open raise has already indicated that you're holding an acceptable hand. You need to basically sound out whether you want to fold or call for value, or 4-bet bluff.

With a lot of players, quick calls to 3-bets means standard plays such as pocket pairs (which can't really call to set value), good broadways (KQ+, AJ) or uncomfortable hands such as 99-JJ, which are somehow too good to fold, yet possibly too weak to 4-bet.

Here, too each player has his own preference, however hands such as QQ+ (traps) are mostly out, as Villain will have to take at least the alternative 4-bet/broke into account. Likewise, drawing hands are less likely, suited connectors/gappers/aces are certainly not a standard call, as you need to calculate a fold as well as a possible 4-bet bluff.

Therefore, fast calls are rarely strong hands or hands with drawing characteristics.

4-bets / 5-bets

This was the starting topic for the previous column, so we've already covered exhaustively. Of course, all the observations associated it can be applied in exactly the same way to 5-bets and shoves.

Continuation bet

No matter what the board looks like, a continuation bet should never be made automatically. From a statistical point of view, a normal TAG c-bets 60 - 75% of all flops, so on average, around two out of three boards.

Conspicuously: the faster a continuation bet is made, the more often it's a bluff.

On the following board, for example:

Now you can note that the preflop aggressor will contibet this board in most cases. However, you know yourself how often you consider things with the following sort of hands:

• Weak Ax hands
• KK-JJ
• Nuts such as AA/99/33

With 56s it's a quick bet. You have an ideal board, good fold equity (against most opponents), however hardly any equity behind you. A pure bluff.

However, with the other hands, you often consider whether a bet makes any sense. Is it possible to induce bluffs with a check, play way ahead - way behind or trap now and again with very strong hands?

That's why quick, automatic contibets are bluffs rather than really good hands.

Calling continuation bets

A player who calls quickly is playing way ahead - way behind. You need to keep an eye on the board, your own hand strength, your opponent and the pot, especially postflop. Thinking is key here. A quick reaction indiactes a plan. Otherwise your opponent will have to wait and see how much you bet, he'll have to assess whether it's worth a raise, either for value, as a bluff or as a semi-bluff, whether a fold would be better, whether he wants to prepare a float and what the chances are of this succeeding on the turn.

However, with a fast decision, he doesn't do this. This indicates a way ahead - way behind principle, based on the premise that he has an easy decision. On one hand, this probably means a marginal hand, on the other however, there's the clear possibility that Villain wants to go to the showdown.

You should rarely assume draws, floats or nuts.

2nd barrel

The same starting position applies here as with a continuation bet. Always consider, you can't make automatic decisions where 2nd barrels are concerned.

One small exception: you already know the board, you've had the time to get to know it. This means while very fast continuation bets on Axx flops are likely to be bluffs, it's not as easy to determine this with the 2nd barrel.

The tendency is more towards it being value heavy, as it simply looks like barreling through.

However, should something change on the turn (some draws show up, overcards fall on lowcard flops etc.), a quick 2nd barrel indicates nuts or nothing, as otherwise your opponent would have to work out the new situation.

Calling the 2nd barrel

See "Calling continuation bets": this indicates the way ahead - way behind principle.

Put simply: a player who calls your bets quickly on the flop and the turn, will only very rarely be able to separate himself from his hand on the river.

The check

Finally, I want to reiterate that you can give away timing tells with every action. Not only with bets, raises or calls, but also with checks. That's why you should neither propagate your wa/wb principle in this way, nor insta check/fold too regularly. You could give away valuable reads cheaply by doing that and the same applies to simple check/folds on the flop in unraised pots, in particular for raised or even 3-betted pots.

Important: always take thinking time!

LINKS
Related articles: Timing Tells (1) - Introduction Timing Tells (2) - Basics Timing Tells (4) - The Block Check