Online Poker Tells
Can you spot poker tells online?
Now despite what some old timers say about online poker not being 'real' because
you can't see tells, the truth is that you really can. Whilst it's true that there
many not be quite as many to spot as in a live situation, there is still a lot to
look out for.
What online poker tells to look for
Timing Tells
There is no generic timing tell in as much as fast means strong and slow means weak (or vice versa).
But more often than not your opponent will have a pattern of play that they
don't even realize their falling into where one speed will directly correlate with
strength or weakness.
How do you spot a timing tell, what kind of situation will give you that information?
There are many situations where timing tells will be presented to you, you just need to be keeping an eye out for them.
Imagine that you're in a hand with a player and you decide to check to him and he then super quickly checks back, let's also say that you have a hand and so decide to bet the turn value (you believe you likely have the best hand). You bet and your opponent quickly folds.
Now you have learnt that it's very possible that when your opponent checks back really fast that he is in fact weak and when you bet the turn that he folds, so what have you just learnt?
That you don't need to have a hand to bet in this situation as if he's folding you can take advantage of this as a good chance to bluff and pick up chips when you know your opponent is weak.
There will be many other situations where you can spot online timing tells but the main thing is to take a moment before you act and just watch what your opponent does. This may sound like an obvious thing to do but the plain fact is that 95% of players just don't take the time to observe what's going on.
Bet Sizing Tells
Similar to the timing tell, online bet sizing tells are not a one size fits all answer (i.e big is a hand and small is a bluff). However the same logic applies in as much as players often are unaware of the patterns that fall in to and unwittingly give away free information (tells) that you can use.
The information is picked up in much the same way by you. Let us assume you have a have that you are going to check/ call down with such as a weak top pair (that you don't maybe want to check raise with) or a strong middle pair. You notice that your opponent is only making small, half pot bets each time you check to him. It's a good idea to pay attention to all of subtle bits of information and make sure you make the most out of seeing show downs. So back to the hand. You've called down to the river and then you see that your opponent has been betting with nothing.
This is just a hypothetical situation, it could be the case that you played the hand the same and he was making pot size bets which turned out to be bluffs but in either case when you spot something, make sure you write it down or remember it. On the flip side you may be more wary of different size bets in future situations.
Now if you're really on your A game then you will hopefully be combining timing tells and bet sizing tells to develop even stronger reads making life much easier when in the heat of battle.
Now you can spot some tells these next pages will take you the next step further
There is so much information on Tagpoker to make you a winning poker player that some people are not sure where to start. If heads up poker is where you want to begin then you need to check out:
The beginners guide to beating heads up poker.
Tagpoker's free poker training videos
Brokerstar's full heads up sit and go poker course
6 Max Cash Training
Tagpoker students forum
