Poker Strategy - Poker Tells

The ability to read your opponent's tells is a crucial poker skill. Unfortunately many players mistakenly believe that it is impossible to read tells in the online world. While you cannot stare into an opponent's eyes when playing online, this does not mean online players do not show tells. The tells are there, you just have to know how to spot them.

Speed of Bet

You can tell a lot about your opponent's hand strength based on how fast they make their bets. Here are some of the most obvious betting speed tells:

• The Quick Check

A quick check by a player usually indicates a weak hand. If you are on the button and all the players before you checked quickly, you can probably take down the pot with a strong bet.

However, be very careful if a player re-raises after checking quickly. In this situation, your opponent's early quick check was probably an attempt to trap you into betting into his strong hand (check-raise).

• Pause and Check

A player who pauses a long time before checking is trying to scare others into checking as well. The "pause and check" player hopes the pause will convince others that he is holding a monster hand, and that he is taking his time to decide whether he should bet or check-raise. In reality, this player usually has a drawing hand and is using the pause to get a free card.

• Pause and Bet

A player who thinks for a long time before betting usually has a monster hand. He hopes other players will read the pause as weakness and bet into him.

• Quick Raise or Re-Raise on the River

A player who raises quickly on the river generally has a good hand. He thinks you will interpret his raise as a last desperate bluff.

The Auto Call

As the bets go around the table, each player takes a moment and calls, but one player's call action moves much more quickly than everyone else's. You recognize this because it's the website's auto call feature at work. If you have a strong hand, you know that no matter what anyone bets, you will call. Instead of waiting to play in turn, you click the auto call button. The use of the auto feature does nothing but give away information about your hand. Watch for the use of this feature and never use it yourself.

Table Chat Tells

Some players like to disable player chat because they find the chatting distracting, but by doing this you are potentially cutting off a source of information from which you can gain insight into other players.

Here's a few common examples of what the chat at the table could mean:

• The Chatter Box

Generally, if a player who has been very chatty suddenly becomes quiet, he's probably got a monster hand. Afraid of revealing the strength of his hand, he decides to be quiet.

• The Know-it-all

There's one of these at every at every table. This player will give unwanted advice on every hand. They have most likely just finished reading a stack load of poker books with a fine tooth comb and they feel it�s their obligation to share their knowledge with everyone.

Use this to your advantage by feeding his ego and asking him for advice. Always happy to help, he may reveal his entire strategy to you unreservedly. If he doesn't you cln always use a touch of good old British sarcasm to attempt to tilt them.

Waiting for the Big Blind

When you sit down at a Hold'em table, you have the option of waiting for the big blind to get to you, or you can post a matching big blind and start playing immediately.

A player who does not wait for the big blind is probably an impatient player. He is probably more interested in having fun than playing serious poker. You can expect him to play a lot of bad starting hands and generally play looser than others at the table.

On the other hand, a player who waits for the big blind is probably a tight and cautious player. He is more selective about his starting hands and will not bet a lot of money unless he has a monster hand.

Avoid Giving Off Tells

Since most tells are based on a player's betting speed, there are two simple ways to confound your opponents. One way is to randomly mix up your betting speed. This method is not 100% reliable, because even when you think you are betting randomly, you may still be subconsciously betting to a pattern.

The other option is to always bet at the same speed, regardless of whether you are hold 2-7 unsuited or the "nuts".