Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategy - Online Poker Tells
Are You Using These? Are They Being Used Against You? Let's have a closer look at online poker tells in online games like Texas Holdem. These online tells differ quite a bit from traditional ones, as we'll soon see. If you don't know about these particular poker secrets and you play online poker, then you're at a significant disadvantage vs. your competition. Chances are, experienced online players have been using these against you for quite some time without you ever even knowing it... What is a "tell"? A traditional poker tell is any habit, behavior, or physical reaction that gives other players more information about your hand. In offline poker, a shaking, nervous hand is often an indication of a player with a strong hand. Another common poker tell would be looking down at my chips when I first see my pocket cards or the flop - a sign that I'm thinking about betting and have a good hand, so I'm seeing how many chips I have to work with. Several of the poker tells listed here are useful for both online and offline poker. However, since we lack the ability to read opponents physical expressions and reactions when playing online, the number and type online poker tells actually available to us are much more limited, and so the ones we do have available become that much more important to be aware of and recognize. Caro's Book of Poker Tells is the classic treatise on the subject. Most of the poker tells that work in offline games rely upon physical observations of how a player reacts or behaves, so these kinds of tells don't help online since we can't observe the player physically. So when playing online, there are other telltale signals that we can watch for that give us an edge. According to a recent survey, the top three online poker tells are: * Quickness to respond, reported by 76% of respondents - a very fast check can indicate a weak hand, quick bets on the turn or river can often indicate a strong hand. * Slowness to respond, reported by 73% of respondents - a pause followed by a check can often indicate weakness, while a delay followed by a raise often indicates strength. * Automatic play, reported by 68% of respondents - a lazy approach to the auto buttons lets a player slip into a set pattern of play. Any breaks in this pattern are clear tells. So, what can we actually use as online tells? Using Check Boxes to Gain Information Online poker rooms offer the use of check boxes for actions such as "Fold", "Check/Fold", "Raise", or "Raise Any", etc. While convenient for those of us who lack the patience to focus on the game for extended periods of time, the use of checkboxes can be very damaging to your overall winnings. You can determine when a player has used a check box, because their action comes immediately after the player before them acts. You can use this knowledge to your advantage if a player consistently uses checkboxes. When a player has pre-selected "Check" or "Check/Fold", it should be obvious that he doesn't have a strong hand that he cares much about, and is likely on a draw or just waiting to fold, so you can determine the player likely has no hand or a weak hand. If their hand is immediately folded after the prior player acts, you know they are using checkboxes and can begin watching this more closely. When they don't use a checkbox, then they're taking more time to consider how to play a better hand... Similarly, a player who uses the "Call Any" check box is likely to be on a draw and not yet made a good enough hand to bet or raise with, but is definitely not ready to fold at this point. Poker tells are not 100% accurate, yet they often provide us with enough additional information to help us confirm what we may already suspect. Over time you can get a sense for how these players use checkboxes and begin to draw conclusions about your opponents hand strength and mode of operation as a result. If you detect that someone is on a draw, for example, you can often bet or raise the pot a bit and push them right out, since it'd be too expensive to continue with their draw without free cards or calling minimum bets. The fact that a player feels so strongly about a hand (good or bad) to make a decision before even seeing the how other players will bet or act is a poker tell about this person's inexperience with online play and often about their hand strength. If you use checkboxes, be highly self-aware of how they'll be perceived by the other players and use them to your advantage. If you have a good hand that you're wanting to slow-play, use a check-box to quickly "Check" or "Call" with, feigning weakness. If you have a weaker hand, are on a draw, avoid using the checkbox altogether and act like you're really thinking about how to play that hand. If you're bluffing, make a raise quickly and confidently (using a checkbox, if applicable), to signal confidence in your hand. Of course, it's always best to mix things up a bit so players can't predict your actions. The idea is to keep opponents guessing or throw them off in the wrong direction so you can profit from their mistake - that's how winners operate, through carefully orchestrated deception and mixing things up constantly. Speed of Play Online poker rooms limt the amount of time each player has to take action. Often, the speed at which a player responds can be a good poker tell. Generally, a quick bet is a sign of weakness. A delayed bet or action can be a sign of strength since the player is spending time calculating how best to play what is perceived to be a good or strong hand, how much to bet, etc. Keep an eye on how much time it takes players to make their decision and take action and remember it at the end of a hand. Then, when you get a chance to see their cards in a showdown, verify what kinds of hands they act on slowly and what kinds of hands they act quickly upon. Speed of play is the most common and easiest online poker tell to spot. The instant call after you bet: Most players who call your bet immediately have a weak calling hand. These players want you to believe they have a stronger hand and hope that you will not bet into them again. The delayed check: Most players who take longer than normal before checking to you do not want you to bet. They are attempting to display strength because they want to see the next card for free. The delayed bet: When an opponent thinks for a long time and then bets, they will usually be holding a strong hand. The instant bet/raise on the river: The player who utilizes this move will usually be holding a very strong hand, often times it'll be trips. By raising or betting so quickly, they are trying to make you think they are bluffing. This move can also be used on the turn and generally, though not as frequently, denotes strength. The bet into on the turn: When a player has checked and called on the flop and then bets into you on the turn, it can indicate weakness or that they've made their hand. This type of bet often means that they picked up their draw or that they are semi-bluffing with a draw they picked up on the flop. Strongly consider raising if you have a decent hand. What about your online play style? Do you exhibit these kinds of online poker tell play behaviors and patterns? If so, be aware of it and deliberately mix things up so that you're decision-making processes aren't so easy to spot and lock onto, or simply take a similar amount of time for each action you make, preventing people from drawing any kind of conclusions at all based upon timing. Opponents Starting Hand Fold-to-Flop Ratio Keep an eye on whether or not a player folds a lot of garbage starting hands (a 'tight' player) or is playing at just about every pot that comes along - a 'loose' player. This information can be used to help determine the strength of a players overall game. If the players folds most of the time, beware since this player is pretty tight or solid and only plays good hands. If the opponent plays most every hand, then you can probably take advantage of this and win if you play good cards consistently against such a player. These kinds of loose players like to gamble, and sometimes they'll get lucky and pick up some cards. It's best to just remain patient and wait for your opportunity. You're better off just playing the odds and good hands in order to take advantage of this player's aggressive, loose style when you land a good, solid hand. Chatting Just like in offline games, the "chattiness" of a player can be used as a tell. Generally, a player who is highly chatty that suddenly goes quiet is now busy thinking about playing some good cards, figuring out how best to play the hand. Alternatively, a player who suddently becomes antagonistic may be bluffing and hoping this demonstration of exhuberance will add to the strength of his bluff and cause you to fold. When you recognize a tell, generally do the opposite of what you think the player is trying to cause you to do. Self-Awareness It's important for you to remain aware of your play style and table image at all times. It's best to keep everyone off balance by mixing things up. Become suddenly aggressive and play looser (and risk the minimum amount you can, usually early in the game before blinds go up if it's a tournament), then become tight again. Keep everyone guessing. Being aware of how you use check-boxes, the timing of your decision-making and action-taking, and controlling your play style deliberately instead of going into "auto-pilot" repeatitive mode will help you avoid providing others with the advantages of the tells discussed here. I hope these insights into online poker tells have been helpful. Keep them in mind as you play in your next online game or tournament. Until next time - - - Good luck! Rick Rick Braddy is an avid writer, Texas Holdem player and professional software developer and marketer for over 25 years. His websites and Texas Holdem poker software helps people become better Texas Holdem players. If you're a poker player, be sure to visit his Texas Holdem poker poker today and learn how you can play better Texas Holdem poker, too. |
Other Online Poker Articles
3 Card Poker Strategy When you break out the 52-card deck and deal a hand of 3-card poker, the first strategy you need is a firm understanding of the rules. Rather than competing against other players, you are competing against the dealer. You need a better hand than the dealer (and at least a pair) to win. Each of you is dealt three cards, and the cards are shuffled ...How and Where to Buy Poker Chips Inexpensive, plastic poker chips are available just about anywhere. Higher end chips can be purchased at gaming stores and from a variety of online sources such as these:PokerShopping.com www.pokershopping.com PokerShopping.com specializes in high quality, affordable poker chips and poker chip sets, with fast and cheap shipping. ...Casino Games - Slots Nothing conjures the mental image of a casino quite like the slot machine. The one-armed bandit is the first love for experienced gamblers and newcomers alike. What many experienced gambling fans already know, newcomers often learn the hard way; all slot machines are not created equal.Nickel slots are by far the most inexpensive way for a ...How To Win With Online Sports Betting To win with sports betting online, you have to bet. Take a chance! If you can do this, you are on your way to winning. Study all the teams, bet, and hope the favor falls with you. Sports’ betting online is like anything you do, it is a gamble. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you do not. You have to have faith in whoever you are betting on or go ...You Can Find an Online Poker Card Game Anytime You Want There are few things as challenging as poker. It used to be that people would gather on a weekend evening and sit around and play poker until the early hours of the morning. This was when they had their poker time and they took full advantage of it. However, times have changed and with the rise of the Internet so has poker. Now, porker can b ...The Legalities of Online Poker Although gambling is decidedly legal in the United States, not all websites that offer online gambling have legal permits. Besides, gambling especially casinos are strictly regulated in the US, perhaps even more so than in other countries in the world.The same cannot be said of online gambling. Unlike countries in Europe and in the United ...Winning Poker Hands: Aces Full and Full House Poker has very interesting terms for some of its many combinations of hands. For the beginner, sometimes these terms simply don’t make any sense, and most times as not, they have names which are easily confused. That’s because some of the named hands will have actual names of the cards in them, such as the hand ‘Aces Full’.Naturally with ...Top Sportsbook After reading several comments made to some of the worlds most respected top sportsbook sites, I made a list of what many satisfied customers have agreed, makes a top sportsbook.1 - Who doesn’t like to be attended by a nice, intelligent, capable, english speaking customer service representative? Some one who is able to deal with all you q ...Capitalizing on Road Favorites in Game 4 of a Series We saw in my Home Field Advantage articles that home field advantage in baseball decreases as the series progresses to the point that by game 4, it is as if the game was played on a neutral field. Since the Vegas odds have yet to take this into account, we can capitalize on a small system playing on road favorites.Favorites are defined ...Benin Casinos The search for Benin casinos starts and ends in Cotonou, the vibrant coastal city on the Gulf of Benin, which, although it is not the official capital, is the seat of government. Benin shares a coastline with its two major neighbors, Nigeria and Togo. Like many of the countries of West Africa, it has a relatively small coast and a vast hinterlan ...Gambling in Monte Carlo Along the French Riviera, the Principality of Monaco Houses the small city of Monte Carlo. The city clings to the shore of the Mediterranean in beautiful sprawls of secluded bays and the small port of Monte Carlo.Casinos of Monte Carlo make for a large part of the place's history. In the latter half of the 1800's the first casino, Casino ...NBA Basketball Betting Professional basketball gets more exciting to watch every year. Of course, the excitement is even greater if you’re into nba basketball betting. If you like nba basketball betting you know there is much more to successful betting than just putting money on your favorite team to win every game. You also know that sometimes the information you nee ...Online Gambling Rules If you are considering online gambling, you will want to know the basic rules associated with online gambling casinos. The rules for gambling casinos are fairly simple and once you understand how online gambling works, you can begin to gamble right from the comfort of your own home! There are several common online gambling rules you will need ...What Makes a Great Online Sportsbook All sportsbooks were not created equal. The Internet has given us unprecedented choice when it comes to betting on sports online. I am going to list a few of my must-have items for online sportsbooks. Does your current sportsbook have these features? If not, perhaps it's time to check around for a new sportsbook.Feature One: Security ...Online Casino: Now and Then With thousands of ways to generate revenue on the internet, there is no surprise that online gambling would be one of them. For decades gambling has been one of the most popular forms of entertainment, not to mention a great money maker. With the advancement of online games, thousands of online casinos now have a place to call home.Online ...Vegas News and Notes Promises are made to be broken.That appears to be the stance of 2006 World Series of Poker champion Jamie Gold, who is being sued for half his $12 million winnings.While he admits to having a verbal agreement with Bruce Crispin Leyser to share his winnings, Gold seems to be backpedaling on certain aspects of it, although Leyser has ...The Growing Popularity of Internet Sports Gambling Do you love to gamble? Maybe you like to play card games, or bet on racehorses. A lot of people are captivated by the art of gambling. I consider gambling an art because I realize that gambling is not all about being lucky. I observed that professional gamblers have become so skilled that they don’t have to rely on luck. Take for instance those ...How to Spot the Bluff When Playing Online Poker This article is strictly referring to online poker games. It has nothing to do with reading the players. You can read here about some moments in the game when it is likely for others to bluff.1. When they are still betting after a bad flopWatch other player. Let’s say they already did bet pre-flop and their position was not that go ...
|
