Who is better at reading live tells — the current generation or “old school” players? 
There is a misconception that “old school” players are better at reading live tells than the current generation.
It is not true.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite at the highest levels.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 18, 2021
Is the new generation better than the “old school” players?
According to Daniel Negreanu, it is obvious that “old school” is not as good as the new generation when it comes to reading live tells. Even though it has been one of the strongest arguments for a generation of players who grew up playing mainly live poker, he disagrees with that assumption.
Therefore, it is not surprising that multiple poker players replied to this highly controversial tweet. Phil Hellmuth was amongst the first ones to express his opinion:
😂😂 you “Know it to be true?” Like you “Know” lots of other things?
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) September 19, 2021
Daniel Negreanu has experienced both: some best live poker players of all time and some of the best online poker pros. He has been playing live poker for more than 20 years and feels like that’s more than enough experience to make such an assumption.
I have personal experience playing from the late 90’s to today, and based on that experience, it is to me, absolutely yes.
You don’t play them, so you don’t have that same experience obviously.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 19, 2021
Patrik Antonius discussing live tells with Daniel Negreanu
Patrik Antonius stepped into the discussion before things might get to heated between Hellmuth and Negreanu.
Strong statement and depends on the player obviously. I don’t see lots of new stars making many strong plays based on their reads. When your mind is thinking really mathematically it’s hard to overrule that strategy in a hand based on your read
— Patrik Antonius (@Patrik_Antonius) September 19, 2021
He argues that it is difficult for a player to make a strong play at the table if he is mainly thinking in a mathematical way.
Many of the regulars in the high rollers combine theoretical knowledge with live reads.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 19, 2021
Negreanu replied and stated that there are multiple poker pros who can actually do both: combining mathematical knowledge and live tells.
That goes without saying that every poker player should combine those two skills. What comes to pure reading abilities I would not want to put my money on most of the high roller tournament GTO robots
— Patrik Antonius (@Patrik_Antonius) September 19, 2021
Antonius was certainly not fully convinced by Daniel’s arguments and Negreanu replied:
I’m not sure which guys you are playing with, and I haven’t seen you much in the PokerGO studio playing, but that’s not how it looks in Vegas.
Maybe it is over there, but not what I see when I’m playing here.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 19, 2021
Mike McDonald also had something to add to the discussion…
Is exactly what you'd say if far better at reading tells than the current generation
— Mike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89) September 18, 2021
and tweeted an epic bluff in a 5bet pot against Negreanu:
Fellow poker pro Martin Jacobsen was impressed by Negreanu’s tweet and asked him about the player who has impressed him most:
Might as well give credit where credit is due, who’s impressed you lately to warrant this tweet?
— Martin Jacobson (@Martin_Jacobson) September 19, 2021
Many come to mind, but for sure Jake Schindler and Ali Imsirovic
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 19, 2021
It is obvious that Negreanu’s tweet has huge discussions amongst poker players. Many players of the “old” generation were certainly not really agreeing with him, however, there were also many younger professionals who agreed with I’m.
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