Picking up tells

I played in the Saturday morning tourney at Bay 101. I made my exit near the end of the 2nd hour when I went all-in as a continuation bet and unfortunately ran into a pocket set. I don't feel too bad about making that play, I just ran into a wall. Oh well.

More interesting was an opportunity I had to try and use some of the techniques from "Read 'Em And Reap," a book that Crispin suggested. At one point I called a raise with T9s and the flop came T67 rainbow. The only other fellow in the pot led out with a really big bet. Was he bluffing? Did he have 89? AT? Was my top pair good? I had a bad kicker, but I felt that with top pair and the inside straight draw the decision could go either way. So I decided to pause and try and see if I could get a read on him. I noticed that he was seated neutrally enough and was looking at the pot without much of an expression.... but he had one of his hands on his cards. That told me what I needed to know. I tossed my top pair and straight draw into the muck face-up hoping that he would return the favor. He did.... showing pocket 6s. Whew!

There was another hand that was a bit easier. I was on the button. UTG raised, 2nd to act went all-in, then the cut-off went all-in. I looked down at pocket 5s. I agonized for a minute or so, but the decided out loud that I couldn't play it 4 handed. The UTG had everybody covered and called. He had pocket aces. The 2nd seat had pocket 7s, the third seat had QJs. The flop was nothing, but then the turn came a 5! I let out a loud groan and rolled my eyes... but then the river came an Ace! Whew!