Online Poker Tells

In real life bricks and mortar casinos it is possible to get clues or "tells" about the strength of your opponents hand from their expressions and body language.In online poker rooms this is much more difficult as the only features that you have to look at are the pixalated images on your PC screen.

Nonetheless although poker tells are a less important feature of online poker than the offline game, it is possible to ascertain some information about your fellow competitors from the way they play and the betting patterns that they display......online poker tells.

It is worth studying the style of play that your fellow players use so that you have a well informed opinion of the sort of players that you are facing. Be aware that your competitors may well also be taking notes about you, for this reason it can be a good idea to have a different name for each online poker room that you use so that your online opponents do not recognise you in different games. Wherever possible try and get your opponents to show you their winning hand, this will give you insights into the way that they play. Likewise players who have just suffered a bad beating may reveal their hand, providing similarly useful information. Just as you should be keen to encourage others to gift you information about their playing styles you should be reticent to share information about your own playing style and withhold any useful information.

Time spent making a bet can be an indicator as to the hand that they hold, Players with strong hands will often hesitate before betting to give the impression that they are holding a weak hand. Conversely people who place their bets very quickly may be trying to give the impression that the hand they hold is stronger than it really is.

However, these time based online poker tells must be treated with caution in online poker. Clever and confidant players can manipulate these signals to their own advantage. Time based signals can also be misread, a slow betting decision, maybe due to the fact that your opponenent is genuinely considering there position, or has had a disruption to their internet connection.

Advance action tick boxes can give clues to the position of your opponents hand, lets say that you have a good hand and you decide to raise and check the advance action box that says "raise any" this can lead to an instantaneous action from you that signals to you fellow online poker players that you have a good hand. This could impact you potential to optimise your position.