Online Poker Tells

In online poker you can’t rely on spotting if someone is sweating on a good hand, nor can you work out what kind of hand someone has by looking at their eyes.

The flip side to this is of course that you don’t need to wear sunglasses anymore or worry that you can’t stop your shaking or a flushed face revealing that you have the nuts!

In online poker, there are a whole new set of tells that you can use to your advantage:

Betting Different Amounts Depending On Strength Of Hand

Always bet according to how early or late your position is. If you vary it when you have a bad hand e.g. risking less, and bet more on a good hand then others will work you out easily.

Auto-Check

Most poker rooms provide a facility to auto-check. In fact, this option is usually set to check/fold. This is used by a lot of people, fish especially, when they have a poor hand but can’t be bothered to have to keep hitting a button until the hand is finished and the next one starts.

So they click this check box instead.

Usually, this means they have a poor hand and you can take advantage when you see a player quickly check - this means that this is often switched on.

Beware though, because some rooms have different switches.

Long Delay Implies Indecision

When it is someone’s turn to act and you see a long delay then it usually means one of two things. With fish, it tends to mean that they are unsure of what to do. This means that they probably have a marginal or good hand. If their hand was poor then they would dump it.

On the other hand, because a long delay is perceived as being indecisive on a not-bad hand, then sometimes people will try to fool you and act in this way deliberately.