Online Poker Tells

Playing online doesn't mean that you aren't going to be able to read your opponents anymore. It simply means that you're going to have to start looking for slightly different reads than you would look for in a live game. Though many of these reads are quite as fun as watching for a player hold their breath, they still get the job done in that they can give you key insight into the contents of your opponents hand. In this article I will bypass the most important tell of them all though, that being betting patterns, so we can move on to some of the more interesting tells.

One of the tells that you can use online as opposed to live play is the use of automatic betting features by your opponents. If you've ever played online before you should know exactly what I'm talking about. These are the little boxes that you click on that make your next bet automatically for you. For instance, if someone is using the automatic check feature then they probably don't have a very strong hand or are just looking to see another free card because they are on a drawing hand. I almost always attack in this situation and try to push them out. If someone uses the automatic call feature then they may have a solid hand considering your bet size doesn't matter to them, they're going to call either way.

Another thing you can look for is rate of play. Rate of play really becomes a good tell when your opponent deviates from their normal rate of play. The rule is that if they take a really long time to make their decision then theyíve probably got a strong hand and if they make almost an immediate bet they're probably in a position of weakness and are just trying to put on a show of confidence.

You should also always keep an eye on the chat boxes at these online poker tables. I really wouldnít suggest talking on them but some other players will give away hints as to the contents of their hands using this technique. If a player that is usually pretty quite suddenly becomes chatty it is probably because they have a bad hand and don't want you to call. If a normally chatty player becomes silent it probably means they have something good and are trying to figure out how they can extract maximum value.