In order to become a winner at the game of poker, you need to master the common poker tells. A "tell" is any kind of behavior or reaction by someone that you're playing with that can tip you off about their hand. You may also have "tells" of your own that tip off your opponents. There are even online poker tells.

When you are sitting with people for a while, you can start to get to know their habits that may be their unique tells. But you can use knowledge of common poker tells to even be able to pick up on online poker tells without needing to see the other person, because some of these can come through even online.

First, whenever a player acts like he has a weak hand, he probably has a strong hand. The opposite is also true: acting as if you have a strong hand probably means you have junk. This is behavior that can come through even as online poker tells, because you can pick it up from the betting patterns of the online players. One thing to keep in mind, however: experienced poker players know how to deliberately give off false tells, and they may use false tells to their great advantage and really burn you in moves like the Squeeze Play.

Common poker tells that you can pick up on when playing in person with people that tell you that a player probably has a good hand include: acting disinterested in or despairing of a hand but staying in; nervous behaviors like heavy breathing or shaking hands (these probably have a very, very strong hand); and looking at chips just after looking at hole cards (they're figuring out how much they should bet because they have good stuff).

Once again, knowing common poker tells gives you a competitive edge--and it can teach you how to really fake out your opponents as you gain experience. One of the best poker books for learning about poker tells is 'Caro's Book of Poker Tells' by Mike Caro. Pick up your copy and become a Texas Holdem master of the tell-tale signs.

For more detailed information you can visit common poker tells or you can purchase Caro's Book of Tells from our best poker books.