Online Poker » Online Poker Advice

Online poker has become a blockbuster success in the last couple years. Everyone is playing online whether it is for free or for money. There are so many places to choose from and no matter which you choose there are some differences from offline play and your strategy and the way you approach the game is a little different.

When you play poker everyone knows that tells are a major part of the game and in online play this is no different. You can’t actually see your players however you can get tells from certain ways that players are betting. The timing and amounts of bets can give you an idea of what kind of hand your opponent holds.

The first tell we’re going to look at is when a player takes a long pause before raising. Usually this means that your opponent has a very strong hand. Usually they only do this when there is a big hand on the table. They are trying to make you think that they have a pair when there is a flush or straight possibility. Sometimes, a player may just think you’re bluffing and raise you to try to get you to fold, but usually this is a good tell that is a sign of a very good hand.

The next tell we’ll look at is the automatic raise. This means that there is a bet and a player raises instantaneously or in other words so fast that they must’ve clicked the bet/raise any button. This is almost always a sign of a very good hand. This play should raise a red flag to at least consider the possibilities.

If you see a player who does the instant/automatic check, meaning they have clicked the check button this is usually a sign of a very weak hand or a hand they would usually fold if they weren’t in the big blind. It’s rare that a person would check-raise using the automatic check button. Often this is a sign that a bet or raise would force the person out and in a small table you can take the pot with a raise or bet.

When your opponent quickly calls your bet you can assume that they have a decent hand but not likely anything really strong. They try to bet quickly without waiting long to show a strong hand, but you know that if they really did have a strong hand in reality they would be raising you not calling. If this situation comes up you can bet as normal or consider a bigger raise if you have a good hand because checking or small betting will allow these players to see more cards and possibly catch something on the turn/river.

If a player in late position or on the button makes a small bet often it is a sign of a weak hand or possibly a monster. Consider a $20 pot that is checked around after the flop when the player on the button or last to act bets a small amount like $2 or $4. Often this is just an attempt to steal the pot and you should consider calling with a decent hand. However you have to be careful because really good players will do this try and get others to call and become pot committed when they have already flopped the nuts or close to it.

Massive bets or all in bets are difficult to read because it can depend on the quality of the player making the bets. Often weak players will have a good hand go all-in hoping that someone is stupid enough to call, where a strong player would’ve strung someone along until the final round of betting. You have to be careful though, because sometimes all-ins are a bluff and you can tell this because good players will usually try to string players along as mentioned above. These bets are hard to read and you have to consider your hand vs. what is out on the flop and decide whether it is worth the risk. In tournaments, players with small stacks will go all in often with poor hands to try and pick up some blinds.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 17th, 2006 at 10:12 am and is filed under Poker Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.