Online Tells – Part 1

Some players believe that playing online means you can’t pick up “tells” from other players. Well, it is true that most of the usual tells that a player can pick up on in a brick-and-mortar casino aren’t available to the online player to pick up on, but there are some. Knowing what these tells are and being on the lookout for them can help you size up your opponents.

Knowing what they are can also help you avoid making them yourself!

Waiting for the Big Blind

When you (or anyone else for that matter) first sit down at a Hold ‘em table, you’ll have the option of “waiting” for the big blind to come around to you, or you can post a matching big blind and start playing immediately.  This a good tell on how patient an online player will be.  If he is not patient enough to wait on the big blind to get around to him, he might not be very patient about waiting on good starting hands either.  This tip is not 100% fool proof but expect him to be somewhat of a loose player.

The opposite is true for players who do wait on the big blind.  Either they are patient or cheap.  Both are very good qualities to have when playing online poker.  Cheap players, even when they are not especially skilled, will tend to wait on better hands since they hate to bet with weak hands and risk losing their chips.

When you sit down at a table, wait for the big blind to get around to you. During that down time, watch the other players and try to get a feel for the type of personalities you have at your table. Many sites offer little “Notes” boxes where you can actually jot down your thoughts on any or all players. It’s a good idea to use them.

Use of Check Boxes/Auto Plays

If you have been to any of the online casinos, you know they use check boxes such as Fold, Raise Any, or Call Any, etc. These are designed as a convenience for players, but they can hurt you if you use them. How? You can tell when a player has used one of these boxes because his action hits the table at lightening speed. You can use this to your advantage.  When a player has checked “raise any” it should be obvious that he has a strong hand.  If a player uses the check box to “check” then you can probably surmise that his hand is weak.  If a player uses the check box to “call any”, then maybe you can assume that he has a draw hand that he has not completed, but is definitely not ready to fold just yet.  While these are not 100% accurate, you can with time and careful observation learn or at least come up with a very good hunch what strength of hand a “check box” player has.

As for you, don’t use them unless you want to Fold.

Speed of Play

Often enough, the speed of play can be a good “tell.”  This, too, is not 100% accurate but, in general, a very quick bet can be a sign of weakness, while a delayed action bet can be a sign of strength. It is a good idea to watch how much time the other players usually take to make their action, and mentally keep a note of it. Then, if they suddenly act faster or slower and you get a chance to see their cards at showdown, you can try to determine what strength of hand they slow bet with, and what strength of hand they fast bet with.

For you, a very good strategy is to take the same amount of time for every action that you play.

Chat Box

Chattiness can be a very obvious tell.  Generally, if a player who is constantly yakking all of a sudden gets quiet, you can bet he is playing a set of good cards.  Now, instead of boring the table with his stupid stories, he is focused on playing his cards.
On the other hand, if a player is betting and suddenly becomes antagonistic in the chat box, he may be bluffing, hoping his loudness will scare you out of the hand.  Another group of players you want to watch for are those who are steaming or on tilt.  A player who is suddenly using lots of abusive language is probably emotionally unable to play good poker until he or she calms down, and there is nothing wrong with you taking advantage of that.

Folding Percentage

Over the course of several games you should try to get a sense of whether or not the player folds a lot of trash hands or if he is staying in almost every pot.  This “tell” can be used both online and offline, to help you determine the strength of a player’s overall game.  If he folds a lot and then suddenly is in the game, watch out.  If he stays in almost every pot, he’s asking for trouble and you can probably win from him if you have decent cards.

Stack size

When you first enter an online poker room, even before you sit down, check the stack size of ALL of your opponents. If the maximum limit of money to bring to the table is 50$, and player #1 has $153, player #2 has $37 and player #3 has $3, you can safely draw the following conclusions:

Player #1 is a strong player since he has more than doubled his stack. This is the player you want to watch out for. You may not want to bluff him too often either, since he has the cash to call you even if he only has an average hand.

Player #2 you cannot draw any conclusions about just yet. It could be he had a couple of bad beats or perhaps he did not bring the maximum amount to the table.

Player #3, however, is probably a weak player since he has such a low stack. Yes, you could argue that he showed up with $10 but that, too, is a sign of either inexperience or desperation. On the good side (for you that is) he will probably go all-in on any average hand or even an Ace high. If you can call his bet with your own solid hand, you might wipe him out.

The biggest tell for this player is he is probably playing tilted.

These are just a few of the online tells that you can learn to watch for and then use to your advantage. There are many more and the more you play, the more of them you can pick up. But remember to keep both eyes open for your own tells!

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Robert Partain writes for LayTheOdds Poker (http://www.laytheodds.com/poker), the premier resource for online Poker tutorials, informative articles, poker rules, game strategy, poker room reviews and tournaments.