[lork]

On the first round of betting before the flop, do you have to wait until your turn to look at your cards. I noticed they do this on the WPT but I figured it was just so the camera gets a look at them.

[pritz]

I thought it was because the players wanted to study the reactions of the other players looking at their hole cards.

[lork]

Yeah but is it a rule that you have to wait? And if so what happens if you look before your turn?

[razor]

they do it so they can look at others, and not give away tells before it's their turn

[chris]

You can give away some strong tells if you look at your cards right away before anyone else does anything.

If you see you have a good hand and instinctively reach for your chips and someone sees this they may fold as opposed to putting money in the pot. I know I have caught some people doing this and have saved myself some money.

Also if there is someone in early position who has a marginal hand and you are in late position they see you look at your cards and not reach for your chips next time they can assume you will fold and then they will have to worry about one less player in the pot and can act accordingly.

All that said I usually look at my cards right away. It is a habit I need to break.

[ThomasR]

I look when it's convenient to mix things up a little. They see me look at my cards and reach for my chips, so what? I want them to be intimidated from early on and I want a free pot.

It's important not to show yourself as overconfident, and a little nervousness can trick even the best players. My advice is to look straight away - when people look individually, all eyes are on them looking for tells. You sneak a quick peek whilst everyone else is positioning their cards on the table then they may just miss your reaction.