Online Poker Tells
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Even though you are not able to see the players you are up against in real live when playing online there are still a couple of tells that you will be able to use to your advantage when you play online poker.
- Fast Bet
- Fast Check
- Betting Patterns
- Wait and Bet
- Telling Their Hand
Fast Bet
You can almost always be certain that when someone is betting fast they are trying to scare you away from the pot. When you want someone to fold you should bet fast since it looks scary to your opponents as it makes you look strong.
Fast Check
This is a really good tell in online poker. When a player has a weak hand he will sometimes click the check/fold button which means that he will instantly check if it is checked to him. When you see a player instantly checking like this you can be fairly sure that he is not sitting on a huge hand. If you bet here you will be able to take down the pot 9 times out of 10. But be aware that some players use this tactic to fool you and make them look weak when in fact they are holding the nuts. So you need to get the feel for the player before you try to make a move against him.
Betting Patterns
It is very important to pay attention to the betting patterns of your opponents at the table as this will give you a good idea of what kind of hand they have. Some players are raising their aces a lot harder pre flop than is they would be holding a hand like AK as they don’t want too many callers. It is always a good idea to notice these betting patterns and to take notes of how the different players are betting with different hands.
Wait and Bet
When you see a player at the table who is waiting longer than normal to make his bet is safe to make the assumption that he is holding a decent hand and trying to decide how much to bet into the pot. If you pay attention to the time each of the players at the table take to bet in their hands you will get a good idea of when they are holding a good hand and when they are not. If the player takes a lot of time to think and then just checks then he is most likely just out to scary you and make you think that he holds a big hand.
Telling Their Hand
A lot of players will tell you their hand in the chat after the hand is over and they have mucked a winning or losing hand. When they do this they are lying 99% of the time. Just think about it, why would they first muck their hand and then 5 seconds later tell you their hand. The only reason they are doing this is to play with your head and make you think that you made the wrong decision, don’t let them get to you and don’t fall for this trick.