When playing live, when do you look at your hole cards?

If you wait to look at your cards till its your turn, you have the advantage of seeing many peoples faces as they look at their cards. However, you are unable to see what people look like to you left (is he loading up to bet) by waiting till its your turn.

Thoughts?

i always wait til its my turn just in case i do give away anything and so i can watch the action to me. Also, if you aren't one of the first people to act, most people look right when they get them so you can watch everyone look at their cards before you even have to look down.

I think its best to wait till its your turn. If you look right away this may be in your mind "78 sooted, neat. I hope I flop a big draw or something." When really you should be focusing on everyone else now. Try and get a rough idea what they have and what they're doing, and what you'll need to have to play, before looking at your cards. I really don't think either way is much better than the other though, this is just my prefrence.

At most low limit games, I dont think it really matters as long as you dont miss other people looking at their cards. I can usually look at my cards and still watch everyone else.

How do you watch everyone else when it seems like most people want to look when they get their cards?

Do you basically just say, "I'll just watch these three guys because I can't really catch the other 4 to my left without totally turning my chair, etc"

T

the more you play, the more you can catch people. Some people don't have many tells preflop so you can learn which ones do and watch them more often. the biggest tell, IMO is if they look at their chips and what they do with their hands and chips, not the look in their eye when they see their cards but what they do after they see it. Some just hold their cards like they are folding, some actually start counting a raise or a call.