Using Online Tells to Your
Advantage
written by BeatTheFish.com
...Fishy
says, "Let them think that you're the drawing fish. It's
quite a talent, actually. Have you ever seen my art? Each print is
only $39.95 on sale right... What? Oh, poker - right! Read on!"
With online poker
becoming commonplace these days, it was inevitable before poker
authors and amateurs started coming up with their own rules about
online tells. Most poker books that include a section on online
poker will instruct you to pay attention to the time that a player
takes to make a decision or if they wait for the big blind to come
around before getting in the action. I place little importance on
such tells for a few reasons.
Firstly, I know
that I don’t follow the pattern of what a tell is supposed to mean.
For example, when I’m sitting down at a table sometimes I’ll just
immediately post the blind if I sat down near the button. Why? I
want to get involved in the action. It doesn’t mean that I’m an
impatient player. It means that posting one extra minimum bet isn’t
a big price for me to see 7 or 8 extra hands. If I’m in late
position, I’ve got control of the hand, anyway. I’ll welcome the
misread of impatience from that move. It just means that I’ll get
extra action from players who think they’re being observant.
Next, I know that
lots of people play multiple tables, may be slow with the mouse, or
are just in the kitchen fixing a sandwich. I’m not going to try to
analyze the psychology of someone’s betting times. If your opponent
is playing on 4 tables, he’s not going to be too sharp on
responding. Unfortunately, many players believe they can use this to
their advantage by believing that this means a player is distracted.
Even if you know that a player is playing multiple tables,
how do you know that he’s not excellent at playing multiple tables?
Another problem is
that many fail to account for the good poker players who just aren’t
fast with the computer. I have a friend who’s been playing poker for
over 50 years. He knows his stuff, but he’s not the most computer
savvy. Sometimes he takes a long time to get his mouse over the
right button. When he plays, he plays well and usually crushes his
opponents. Do you want to take that risk because of a supposed tell?
Fortunately for
you, you can manipulate the online tells. You can even create your
own online table presence. Start off my immediately posting the big
blind when you sit down at a new table. This may give off the
presence of an impatient player and will set you up nicely when you
pick up pocket Aces. Throughout your session, you can try things to
switch it up, so as taking a long time to make a bet or betting
instantaneously. Either one of these can have the desired effect.
On
sites that have a “Bet Pot” button, you can try hovering over it and
clicking it instantly when it’s your turn to act. You’ll often pick
up the pot with this bluff because you’re supposed to have a hand to
bet so quickly. On the converse, when you are holding a
monster, hesitate about betting and then throw in just a few chips.
That hesitation could make your opponent suspicious enough to call
you.
There are much
better aspects of your online poker game that you can concentrate on
such as game selection, hand selection, and calculating the pot
odds. Don’t find yourself in the trap of online poker tells, but at
times you should use them to your advantage against players who are
already caught in it.
Back to Online Poker Strategy
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