A tell in poker is a change in a player's behavior or demeanor that is claimed by some to give clues to that player's assessment of their hand. A player gains an advantage if they observe and understand the meaning of another player's tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable. Sometimes a player may fake a tell, hoping to induce their opponents to make poor judgments in response to the false tell. More often, people try to avoid giving out a tell, by maintaining a poker face regardless of how strong their hand is.

A tell may be common to a class of players or unique to a single player. Some possible tells include leaning forward or back, placing chips with more or less force, fidgeting, doing chip tricks, or making any changes in one's breathing, tone of voice, facial expressions, direction of gaze or in one's actions with the cards, chips, cigarettes or drinks.^{[citation needed]}

An underlying rule to many tells is: Weak means strong, strong means weak. Thus, players who hold weak poker hands attempt to convince other players at the table that they are strong: staring down an opponent, throwing chips down forcefully into the pot in an effort to discourage others from calling. Whereas, players who hold strong hands tend to try to disguise their hand as being weak. They attempt to fly under the radar by being a passive player at the table: not making direct eye contact, softly tossing the chips in, friendly and talkative. They are deliberately trying not to come across as intimidating, so as to entice a call.

A tell or tel, (from Hebrew: תֵּל‎‎, also tel or tell from Arabic: تلّ‎, tall) is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.

A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and rebuilding in the same spot. Over time, the level rises, forming a mound. Excavating a tell reveals buried structures such as government or military buildings, religious shrines and homes, located at different depths depending on their date of use. They often overlap, horizontally, vertically, or both. Archaeologists excavate tell sites to interpret architecture, purpose, and date of occupation. Since excavating a tell is a destructive process, physicists and geophysicists have developed non-destructive methods of mapping tell sites.

Pius Heinz (born May 4, 1989) is a German professional poker player from Bonn, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2011 World Series of Poker. He is the first German player to capture the Main Event bracelet.

He defeated Czech player Martin Staszko to win the event. On the final hand, Heinz's A♠ K♣ defeated Staszko's 10♣ 7♣, which did not improve on a board of 5♣ 2♦ 9♠ J♥ 4♦.

Heinz is a member of Team PokerStars.

Heinz was born in Bonn and raised in the village of Odendorf, Germany. He studied business psychology at the Hochschule Fresenius college in Cologne, which he put on hold in August 2011 to pursue his poker career as a part of Team Pokerstars. He is currently living in Vienna, Austria.

Heinz started playing poker after watching the Main Event and High Stakes Poker on German TV. After playing a few games with his friends, he decided that poker was a game of skill and immersed himself in studying the subject. He proceeded to win over $700,000 online.

Heinz won a Full Tilt Poker Sunday Mulligan in 2010 and a PokerStars $150K tournament in 2011.

Daniel Negreanu (pronounced /nɨˈɡrɑːnoʊ/; born July 26, 1974) is a Canadian professional poker player of Romanian origin. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles. He is currently ranked second in the all-time career earnings list and is the star of poker game show Million Dollar Challenge. He plays a big part in the Pokerstars.net Big Game.

Negreanu was born in Toronto, Ontario. In 1967, his parents, Annie and Constantin, emigrated from Communist Romania, hoping to start a new life in the United States. Instead, they ended up settling in Toronto, where Constantin worked as an electrician and sold confectionery. Daniel was born five years after his brother, and even at an early age was extremely ambitious. "From the age of four, I thought I’d be rich. I told my mom I’d build a house out of Popsicle sticks, and move to Cafornia (sic),” Daniel recalls in a 2009 interview.

Daniel Negreanu attended Pineway public middle school in North York, where the principal complained to his mother about Daniel's "poor manners or behavior" and threatened to expel him for "ignoring the school rules." While nursing dreams of a career as a professional snooker player, the now 15-year-old Daniel learned how to play poker. By 16, he was spending time in pool halls, hustling, sports betting, and playing cards. When he was several credits short of graduation Daniel dropped out of high school and began his life as a rounder playing at the local charity casinos, usually at Casino Country and Fundtime Games, and looking for illegal games around the city. While in Toronto, Daniel met and began dating Evelyn Ng, who would also become a well-known professional poker player. After building up his bankroll, he left for Las Vegas at the age of 22 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional poker player. However, "The Strip" got the better of him and he was forced to move back home to Toronto to rebuild his bankroll.

Phil Hellmuth (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality. He is also a member of the WSOP's Poker Hall of Fame.

Phillip Jerome Hellmuth, Jr. was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison for three years before dropping out to play poker full time. He now lives in Palo Alto, California with his wife Katherine Sanborn (a psychiatrist at Stanford University) and their two sons Philip III and Nicholas.

As of 2011, his total live tournament winnings exceed $13,000,000. He is ranked fourth on the All Time Money List, behind Erik Seidel, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. As a poker player, Hellmuth is known for taking his seat in tournaments hours after they begin.

In 1989, the 24-year-old Hellmuth became the youngest player to win the Main Event of the WSOP by defeating the two-time defending champion Johnny Chan in heads up play; his record has since been broken twice, when Peter Eastgate won in 2008 and Joe Cada won in 2009. Hellmuth holds the records for most WSOP cashes (85) and most WSOP final tables (45), overtaking T. J. Cloutier.