Online Poker Tells

Online poker and live poker play very differently. Many live players will tell you they can have a difficult time adjusting to online games because of the differences in the way the games play and because of the different reads you can get on your opponents. Playing at a casino, you get the benefit of obtaining physical tells. If an amateur player who is not comfortably playing live is playing, you may notice they are nervously playing with their chips or their hands are shaking. These are things you would not pickup online, so you have to rely on other tells.

It’s very important to have a good understanding of online poker tells and to make sure you don’t misinterpret them and get the wrong read, because online tells will give you information about your opponents hand. If you don’t have history with a player, then you would be required to use tells to gain some information on your opponent, otherwise you would be completely read less.

Even though online poker lacks the physical component, there are reads you can get online, and it’s probably not what you are thinking. First of all, let me start out by saying some things you should ignore when it comes to online poker tells. Some players have said in the past that you should use player avatars and usernames to your advantage because they can tell you a lot about a player. I think this is ridiculous because good players will use the same avatars and names as bad players to be deceptive. A good player will use the name “BigDonk” or “INeverFold” just like a bad player would use the same name. Don’t rely on names or avatars to obtain a read.

But I’m sure you didn’t read this article to learn what online poker tools you shouldn’t use to your advantage. So what should you be observing at online tables?

Player chat! Some players will disable the chat box because they want to be focused on the game and couldn’t be bothered to chat during the games. This can be a costly mistake because players are always using the chat box, without even realizing the clues and information they are giving away every time they type something in the chat window. Trust me this is a huge tell when you are playing online, not necessarily during the hand, but in between hands when players are chatting. It’s not difficult to see how good or bad of a player someone is based on what they are talking about.

The next most useful online poker tell relates to timing. When you observe the speed of betting, calling, and raising, it can tell you a lot about your opponents hand. Generally, if a player quickly bets out you can be confident they have a strong hand. Similarly, if they are fast to call a bet, you can be confident they are on some type of draw if its a draw heavy board.

On the other hand, if they take some time before betting or calling, you know they have to think more about their hand, so it’s more then likely not a strong hand. Timing tells can sometimes be inaccurate because when you are playing online you can be busy with other stuff, however like all online poker tells, a specific tell should not be the only factor in making your decision, it is just one piece of the puzzle which you otherwise wouldn’t have had if you weren’t observant.

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