Main Idea of the Chapter
This chapter focuses on behaviors players show while they’re waiting for someone else to act that tend to indicate a strong hand. These are the “mirror image” of the weakness tells you’ve already seen: where fearful players watch you closely and defend themselves, confident players often try not to scare you off and accidentally reveal their strength in different ways.
As always, Elwood stresses: these patterns are player-dependent; you should rely on them only after you’ve correlated them with that specific opponent’s past behavior.
1. Avoiding Eye Contact / Looking Away
One of the most important strength tells in this category:
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Some players with strong hands avoid looking at you when it’s your turn to act.
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With weak hands, the same player might watch you closely (threat monitoring).
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With strong hands, they may:
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Look down at the felt
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Stare at the TV, the room, or a random spot
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Glance in your general direction but not at your eyes
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Have a distant, unfocused “far away” look
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Two main reasons behind it:
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They don’t want to scare you off.
Even unconsciously, they may tone down their presence so you’ll be more likely to bet or call. -
They don’t need information.
A very strong hand plays itself, so there’s less motivation to carefully study you.
This tell only applies to some players; others might always look at you, or even stare more when strong. That’s why prior observation is crucial.
2. Looking Disappointed or “Small” With a Big Hand
Another frequent strength pattern is fake (or semi-fake) disappointment when someone is actually happy with their hand:
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Obvious version: exaggerated sighing, head-shaking, theatrically “unhappy” faces.
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Subtle version: slight slouch, lowered head, lips stretched in a mild “too bad” expression, a generally downcast vibe.
Elwood notes this can be:
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Partly acting, especially for beginners.
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Partly instinctive, like a predator shrinking down to appear less threatening.
The posture often shrinks — shoulders roll forward, body compresses a bit, the player looks smaller and less dangerous. That “poor me” body language, especially when the player is waiting for you to act, frequently conceals real strength.
He also reminds you to consider:
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Baseline expression – some people naturally look grumpy or sad, so you must compare to their usual look.
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Context – in multi-way pots or when morale is low, genuine disappointment is more common, especially from inexperienced players who have mentally given up on the hand.
3. Looking Away From Helpful Cards
This is a more specific visual reaction to good cards, both on the board and in the hand.
Board cards
When new board cards arrive:
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Some players will instantly look away when the board smashes their hand.
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After that first “look away,” they may force themselves to look back at the board, but with a distant, not-really-studying-it gaze.
This behavior fits a natural instinct: when you find something valuable that others would want, your first reaction is not to stare at it and give it away.
Hole cards
The same instinct can apply to starting hands:
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Weak players may snap their cards face-down very quickly after seeing a premium hand.
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The contrast: spending extra time staring at hole cards often indicates weak or marginal holdings (covered in the “staring at weak hole cards” section earlier).
The hole-card “look away quickly = strength” tell is real but usually weaker than the “long stare = weakness” tell.
4. Pre-loading Chips (Early Intention to Bet or Raise)
In many multi-way pots, especially pre-flop, some players set up their chips in advance when they plan to bet or raise:
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Stacking or arranging chips before it’s their turn.
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Subtly building a betting stack while action is elsewhere.
Key points:
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This happens more in multi-way, small pots, where players feel less pressure to hide their intentions.
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In heads-up or short-handed pots, early chip movements are more often defensive (indicating weakness) rather than aggressive intent.
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Pre-loading tends to be subtle compared to defensive chip-grabbing, which is usually more dramatic and tense.
By pausing a second and watching the players behind you, you can often pick up who is preparing to enter the pot aggressively and adjust your own action accordingly.
5. Real Smiles as Strength Signals
In meaningful pots:
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Genuine, relaxed smiles tend to show comfort and lack of fear.
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A player who truly isn’t worried about your bet (because they’re strong) is more likely to smile naturally, joke, or seem genuinely amused.
This works as the flip side of “fake smiles” from anxious players; the key is being able to distinguish real warmth from forced politeness or nervous grinning.
6. Acting “Strange” Early in the Hand
If someone behaves out of character very early in a hand—before big bets go in—it often leans toward strength, not bluffing:
Examples:
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A normally focused player suddenly looks off into the distance right after seeing a monster.
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A talkative player hits a big hand on the flop and suddenly goes quiet.
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Someone looks sheepish or oddly shy right when a strong board card hits for them.
Because the pot is still small and the situation doesn’t feel “serious” yet, players’ defenses are lower and genuine emotion leaks out more easily. This kind of out-of-pattern behavior is more common in multi-way pots where people are less guarded.
The common mistake: seeing weird early-hand behavior and assuming it signals a bluff. Often, it’s the opposite.
7. Relaxed Eyes as a Strength Indicator
Some opponents always look at you when you’re deciding—no matter what. With them, you can’t use “looking at you vs. looking away” as a tell. But you can sometimes read how relaxed their eyes are:
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With strong hands, their eyelids may be slightly lower, gaze looser, blinking more natural, eye movement freer.
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With weak hands, their eyes may:
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Open slightly wider
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Blink less
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Lock into a more rigid, controlled stare
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This stuff is subtle and very player-specific. The method is always the same: compare how their eyes look in spots where you later see a showdown and know they were strong vs. when they were weak. If you find a consistent pattern, you can use it.
Elwood notes that “relaxed” can look many different ways, but “anxious” tends to compress behavior into a narrow, tight range. You’re looking for that looseness versus tension.
8. Quick Glance at Chips After Improving
A classic beginner-level tell:
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A player hits a strong hand and immediately looks down at their chip stack, as if subconsciously checking how much they can win.
This is usually:
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Instinctive, not planned.
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Rare at higher stakes.
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Most useful in very soft games where players are still easily excited by big hands.
Because it’s less common in serious games, Elwood ranks it lower in importance, but it’s still worth knowing.
Overall Takeaways
In this chapter, Elwood shows how waiting-for-action strength tells often stem from:
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Not wanting to scare opponents away (shrinking, looking harmless, avoiding eye contact).
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Feeling so comfortable that players become less observant and more natural.
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Emotion slipping through in early, low-pressure spots.
Used correctly—and always backed by correlation with that specific opponent—these cues help you avoid value-owning yourself, sniff out traps, and fold or check in spots where your opponent clearly wants you to put more money in.