Online poker tells...

Online Play tells
Table Talk: Most online poker rooms have chat boxes that allow players to talk to each other. You can make use of the chat boxes to determine the strength of your opponent’s hands. You can do this in the same way you would in a live casinos. Online opponents who hold strong hands will often try to coax you into calling. Don’t fall for it. Be less likely to call an opponent who is challenging you online.

Action Buttons: Many online poker rooms have action buttons that will allow players to state their intentions on a hand before the action actually gets to them. The computer will execute this decision as soon as it is the player’s turn. You can tell that a player has used an action button because there will be absolutely no pause between that players action and the previous players. Your opponents will most likely use the “call any” action button if they are on a draw and the “raise any” button if they have a solid hand. They will seldom use these buttons on a bluff, since a bluff is situation dependant. a result, be more likely to respect these types of bets.

Pauses: Pay attention to how long your opponent takes to call or raise you. If a player intentionally stalls and then raises you, they often have a very strong hand and are trying to lure you in. If they stall and then just call, they often have weak, marginal hands, or drawing hands.

I mostly observe who is overly active or tending towards being abusive on chat. These people are either immature (babes in the woods waiting to have their heads taken off) drunk, stoned, or dividing their attention between the game and the chat. All signs of vulnerability that I will exploit at the first opportunity.

I tend to turn off the chat.

my father said something smart about pokerstars last time i went to go visit him he said."In online poker peaple with good hands bet less and peaple with terrible hands bet more!" hence more is less and less is more!

The tell about how long a person takes before making a decision may be a bit misleading. Often it has to do with the player's connection speed to the internet. Back when I had dialup it would take forever for a site to acknowledge what I had clicked, after getting broadband there is never any delay.

singate said:

The tell about how long a person takes before making a decision may be a bit misleading. Often it has to do with the player's connection speed to the internet. Back when I had dialup it would take forever for a site to acknowledge what I had clicked, after getting broadband there is never any delay.

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I think it's like any other tell, live or online: you need to observe it a few times, and observe it in relation to the player's other actions, before you can start to read anything into it. If they're taking an especially long time when they're normally acting instantaneously, then maybe you've got something to think about. If it's just a once-off though, you don't have much to go on.

:dito:

I agree totally w/ you OzExorcist.

u can also learn alot watching their betting paterns on how much they throw on draws and when their just trying to string you along, ill pay it off alot to just be able to know what people are playing with sometimes, because so many people online are over aggressive.

tigertight said:

my father said something smart about pokerstars last time i went to go visit him he said."In online poker peaple with good hands bet less and peaple with terrible hands bet more!" hence more is less and less is more!

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It is true that, although I am just the opposite, I find betting my very strong hands works a treat, as no one beleives you will bet a set and so on.

Apart from you good people on here, who would obviously have notes on that

It is for the reasons given here that I vary my play constantly while playing online.
sometimes loose, sometimes reckless, but mostly tight.
A favorite of mine is to play a few hands recklessly when players are not betting large, let them see what i have (ie nothing) then go for the kill when i catch a hand.
Let them think you are a donk.
But only in freerolls where you have nothing to lose.

Searching for on line tells will certainly improve your game as it means you are focusing on the game rather than on the T.V., music on your stereo, or the book or newspaper in your lap. If you spend enough rounds at the table with a player(s) & practice taking notes, tells can be very helpful, but never as accurate as a live game because you don't know just what chaos your opponent is trying to deal with as he plays.

I was watching Kid Poker the other day on PS. He was messing around on the low limit cash tables at the time.

He was fielding questions and someone asked about reading other players when playing on Stars.

He said he really struggles on-line to get comfortable with what people may/may not be holding. His reasons are that as opposed to live play people are more inclined to chase/push with anything.

If the master struggles then not much hope for us

When I'm playing poker online i like to vary the amount of time between I hit each button (unless its pf folding then i just check fold) I just don't like a predictable pattern to emerge out of what i do. I'm not sure if it really helps at all, but i know i tend to look at the speed in which the opponent reacted to help judge where he stands (i'm not very good at it and the people playing the stakes i'm at probably don't even pay attention anyway but i like to think it can't hurt). Also, for example, if i hit my set on the flop and i decide to go for a check raise i try to check as quickly as possible esp if there are cards that might have hit the other guy with the 2nd best hand. I don't always check-raise with a set either though. Basically i try to avoid being overly predictable

i find that when people have a good hand, they tend to chat, so they try to distract you

Watch a players betting patterns; so many players online are as predictable as if they hung up a neon sign, if you watch them for awhile, you can pick up a wealth of info.

I picked this up from Helmuth.

When I have a big decision to make, I ask them how much they have left. And then, depending on how they type their answer, I can make my desicion. If they type well, with good grammar and punctation, I think they're a bit comfortable/confident with their hand and I'll fold. If they're say something rude or stupid, I might think they're trying to act strong and strong = weak, so I'll call.

Actually, I watch for patterns. Some things I look for are:

-Range of hands and betting size PF

-If they C-bet on the flop, how much they bet on the flop, and with what type of hand.
EX: they C-bet pot size on flush draws, but only half pot with TPTK.

-How they play their drawing hands.

-How they bet on the river if they miss. How they bet on the river if they hit.

philthy said:

I picked this up from Helmuth.

When I have a big decision to make, I ask them how much they have left. And then, depending on how they type their answer, I can make my desicion. If they type well, with good grammar and punctation, I think they're a bit comfortable/confident with their hand and I'll fold. If they're say something rude or stupid, I might think they're trying to act strong and strong = weak, so I'll call.

Actually, I watch for patterns. Some things I look for are:

-Range of hands and betting size PF

-If they C-bet on the flop, how much they bet on the flop, and with what type of hand.
EX: they C-bet pot size on flush draws, but only half pot with TPTK.

-How they play their drawing hands.

-How they bet on the river if they miss. How they bet on the river if they hit.

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Every online site I've ever played at displays everyones count for all to see. Only a donkey would answer such a question. smoothly or otherwise.

Use the Notes in Chat

I'm always observing, and making notes about players in the Notes section. Helps when you are at a table early with someone, then they reappear 3 hrs later with you at a final table ...
Plus, gives you something to do in the dead time, and keeps your head in the game instead of running to the fridge for snacks everytime you check the "fold to any bet" box .....

Yeah always pay attention when ya see me check really fast. That always means I have "fold to any bet" checked and you should move all-in on me. Buhaha

like many others know and think online tells are mainly based on betting styles so other than that that is the best way to me to tell if someone is bluffing or not due to the way they bet and on notes about how they bet before...

tigertight said:

my father said something smart about pokerstars last time i went to go visit him he said."In online poker peaple with good hands bet less and peaple with terrible hands bet more!" hence more is less and less is more!

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I don't think this can be said across the board for online poker any more than for "real world" poker; poker is a game of deception, and bet size is one of the tools that can be used to either deceive your opponents, or give the impression that you are trying to deceive them, when you really are not. . . .

(Btw, does your dad pronounce the word "people" in a very peculiar way, or are you just a bad speller?) :hmmmm2:

withawedge said:

If the master (ed. Daniel Negreanu) struggles then not much hope for us

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On the contrary, IMHO -- I think this puts everyone on a much more level playing field, plus the ability to take and keep notes online is a huge plus, I think.

philthy said:

I picked this up from Helmuth. When I have a big decision to make, I ask them how much they have left.

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Not that I would ever listen to anything PH says, anyway, but how in the heck does this make any sense?!?? One of the great advantages of playing online is that you can always see exactly how much everyone has left, so only a brain dead player would ask another in chat about how he/she has left. . . .

tbdbitl said:

Yeah always pay attention when ya see me check really fast. That always means I have "fold to any bet" checked and you should move all-in on me. Buhaha

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LOL

BillyTheBull said:

Not that I would ever listen to anything PH says, anyway, but how in the heck does this make any sense?!?? One of the great advantages of playing online is that you can always see exactly how much everyone has left, so only a brain dead player would ask another in chat about how he/she has left.

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Way to revive an old thread. LOL. Anyway, reread what I wrote but this time keep in mind that Im being sarcastic and is joking. Hmmm, I guess reglardave didnt get it either.

It was a joke, ha-ha.

The most important online tell (by the number of peolple using it) is this one:
A player says through the chat box that he wants to leave, have to leave, or that he is tired, and then push all-in, telling "call it i have to go" or something like that.
Most of the time those players have a big hand and just want to trap some credulous player.
When i hear those words i usually fold my hand and wait for someone else to fall into the trap.

The whole 'Online Tells' thing kind of bugs me.

At first I tried to follow the advice of all the 'button' usage theories.

Then I realised EVERYONE tries that.

Now I use it to the best of my advantage.