Swedish Tells: Tales from Stockholm

I slept for about 2 hours after arriving in Stockholm from San Francisco. I actually tried to play a little poker on the plane with some new fun friends from the city. Unfortunately, playing poker on a plane is not easy. I'll have to work on a portable table or something for next time.

Anyway, after my brief nap and and a shower I caught a cab to the Kroner Bar in the hip district of Stockholm. Danny and his friends were meeting there to watch an important soccer match. The top two teams in Stockholm were playing each other. We had frosty cold Czech beers and they ordered classic Swedish meatballs and potatoes for me. It was an excellent dinner and we had a great table at a sports type bar.

After dinner we headed to the Casino Cosmopol in Stockholm. We sat down at a 50/50 no limit table. I bought in for $800 US about 5,000 Swedish Crona. Early on I won a nice pot and then got AQ suited. The flop came out Q 4 9. I had raised preflop and decided to slow play top pair. The only guy left in the hand, made it 400 to go. I check raised him to 1200. He quickly called. The turn was a K. I cringed a little and weakly checked. He checked. The river was a 7. I was in weak mode. I checked again. He made it 2200 to go. I went into the tank. I didn’t think he had a K. Could he have QJ? Could he have AQ? He called a preflop raise, a check raise and then slowed down. He stuck his tongue out a little and I smelled weakness. I called and he flipped up J10 for a straight! I was crippled. I bought in for another 2000 crona and grinded my way back to about 4000. In the big blind I looked down at 55. Three guys made it 250 to go. I quickly called. The flop was K95 with two hearts. I thought about slow playing my set for a minute and then came to my senses. I put in 400 and two of the three guys folded. I actually just wanted to take the pot down right there. The turn was 8 of HEARTS. I thought for a moment and put in 500, not a big bet into the pot, a true probe bet. The Swedish guy went into the tank. Either he was a great actor or he had the flush. He went all in for about 1500 more and he stuck his tongue slightly out. I again smelled a little weakness. I thought for a long time and then decided I would try to confirm or deny a Swedish tell. I called and he turned over KQ with only one heart. The river was a blank and I won a nice pot. In general, sticking your tongue out is a “weak tell”. The other guy had stuck his tongue out even when he wasn’t in a hand I had noticed earlier or perhaps he WAS weak before the K made him a straight.

Moral: If you are going to play NL poker, you MUST pay attention and be willing to test your theories.

Great time to start my trip. Many thanks to Danny, Martin and their friends. I'll see you guys at next year's WSOP.

AM