Online Poker: The Player 'Tells'
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 12.04.2005 03:26 PM
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PLAYER TELLS IN THE ONLINE GAME
When you're at a "physical" poker table, you have a real opportunity to zero in on player tells. Maybe there's one guy sitting to your right who scratches his nose when he's got a live hand, pondering a decision about moving all his chips in. Or someone over to your left is looking away, rather than at the other players, when he has a pocket pair. There's someone across from you who makes his decision on raising rather quickly when he has a good hand, but hesitates a little bit when he's unsure of his hand's value. You get a chance to look into someone's eyes, to observe the state of nervousness, to detect the false confidence.
However, when you're playing in an online poker room you've got a different story altogether. You're not able to see your opponent or catch those subconscious idiosyncrasies you're able to observe in person.
Does that take something away from your game?
Well, yes and no. Probably more on the side of yes, since in person you can capture more of the "senses" going at once.
But poker players are poker players, so you're going to find something sooner or later.
Like, for example, someone who demonstrates a proclivity to fold his hands all time, then gets involved very aggressively in a pot all of a sudden - and with impunity. This would seem a big indicator that he has a strong hand. He is, of course, telegraphing himself. You can stay out of that hand, because there will always be another one to play. For the guy who fold his cards all the time, however, the chances will be few and far between. If his strategy isn't successful at drawing more money into the pot, he'll wind up eventually getting into more pots with lesser hands and even lesser confidence.
That's one end of the spectrum. But you've also got those players who are so hungry for action that they also hang in for the flop. You can probably figure this one out without too much trouble. Players like this are going to waste a lot of bankroll, because they'll fold somewhere between the initial three-card flop and the river, throwing lots of gratuitous money into the middle. You need to be there to take some of that money. Since staying in the game is not necessarily a barometer for the quality of his hand, you can chase him here and there by raising when you have something that is relatively strong. You really want to get these people into heads-up situations, because if someone exhibits this pattern, it is generally difficult for them to resist.
Look out for players who, at the outset, raise when everyone checks, because it could be one of those cases where they're trying to do the old "steamroll" maneuver, buying that pot for practically nothing. Sometimes they'll have absolutely zero in their hand, and if you've got a weak player he'll back down more often than not if someone throws in a re-raise, which now makes it a more expensive proposition for the steamroller. Clock him if he stays in and has a loser in the end, because then you may have a real fish on your hands.
Those are tendencies that are not indigenous to the online game. But the chat board is.
You might be able to notice a pattern in what players post on the screen and whether it corresponds to certain levels of strength they may find themselves in. If they're only "chatting" when they have a good hand or feigning confidence through their words when they have a bad one, these will offer some signs.
I would take a look at players and their relationship to the time clock as well. Since online poker rooms limit this time, keep an eye out for players who wait until just before time is out and make what turns out to be a poor play - particularly if they call or raise when they shouldn't. These are most likely inexperienced and/or bad players, and like all weak players they can be taken advantage of, if you're in a pot with them and can do something on your part that can make them think a little too much. All the time in the world wouldn't be enough to help them make their decision correctly, so you can count on drawing a lot of mistakes out of them.
And it goes without saying that anyone who "times out" more than once is someone you should jump on.
Those people simply aren't paying enough attention.
Make sure YOU are.
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