Online Poker Tells

Playing online you don’t obviously get the face to face interaction. Some say that this is taking some of the skill out of the game. Though this is part true, there is some tells you can get online, you just need to know where to look. The more you look, the more you see. The main three are.

Playing the bingo caller. This happens in live games too but with the amount of traffic between tables with online poker it happens more online. A player who plays virtually every hand is classed as a bingo caller. They will call the blinds virtually every hand if not all, these players are hoping to hit something with their rubbish. If the board comes down middle, low with straight or even flush options then be very careful and watch them like a hawk. The best way to get these people off hands is to raise pre-flop. A rule of the thumb when playing poker is, you’re either in the hand or not! Once you raise pre-flop you then ask them the question “have you really got a hand or are you that stupid you’re waiting to hit four corners?” These people will lose most of the time. However some of them really are stupid and lucky so be aware and make sure you’re not bluffing. Don’t be afraid to ask the question by raising the flop or re-raising them if they make a continuation bet. You’ll know where you are then.

The chat box.As a general rule of thumb, the more a person chats the worse they are at poker. Also those who abuse other players through the chat box tend to be very poor players. Why would a good player abuse a fish as all this will achieve is getting the fish to leave the table? Often these players are so poor they actually tell you what they have in the chat box.

Time between actions .This is probably one of the best tells you can get online. Just like live poker, the time it takes another player to act may reveal something about the strength of their hand. A long pause and a bet is usually a sign of strength. Whereas a long pause, then a check tends to show a sign of weakness.

Online poker has the feature that you can click what your next action is to be before it’s your turn. You can choose to check, fold, bet or bet raise then when it comes to your turn the computer automatically does it for you. From this you can deduce a considerable amount of information concerning the strength of their hand, by observing if they used the advanced click option. If someone checks instantly they probably have a poor hand and you betting in a future hand will probably get them to fold more often than not. Equally if you bet and someone raises instantly, then they are trying to steal a pot by insinuating their hand is that big that they will raise anyone and commit to an all-in in an instant. Please also take into consideration that there are players who will always use most of the time bar to act, this could mean several things like, they are playing several games, otherwise engaged (surfing the net) or acting at the exact same time so as to conceal their tells.

Though the above main three tells are generally true, more advanced players will vary their game in order to help conceal their online tells.

Also don’t forget, just as you make constant notes on other players, you will be playing someone who has notes on you.

Online Poker Tells

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