Online Poker Tells

Probably the most important thing to look for when playing poker is reading your opponent. In a live poker game, this is generally a little easier as facial expression, hand and eye movements, table talk and more can be key indicators of your opponents hand strength. However, playing online poker you don't have that luxury, so what do you do?

For me, the single most important online tell is my opponent's betting pattern. This encompasses several things including preflop and post flop betting, whether they have a monster or drawing hand or may be bluffing. If you can pick up on any kind of pattern in your opponent may show in his betting when referencing the previous you have just gained huge advantage.

For instance, after about 40 hands of play you note that Player X has only seen the flop 6 times. Each time he raised preflop, on the flop, and went to showdown 4 times to win the hand. This indicates to you that Player X is a pretty tight player that only plays premium hands. If he is raising and you have a non-premium hand you best be folding.

The same thing can be said for Player X that consistently bets a pretty good amount when he has middle pairs preflop but raises the minimum when he has a monster. His large bet is often used to steal the blinds but his smaller bets are used to build the pot in hopes of winning more money.

Paying attention to the action even after you are out of the hand will also lead you to some information that may be useful. For example, after watching Player X you note that he always plays anything with an A. This can be crucial information when making your decsision to bet/raise post flop.

Quite often it is too easy to pick up on your opponents pattern when at a table. Here are the three most important things I look for when trying to get an online tell on your opponents.

1. Pre-flop raising in relation to position. Quite often I find that a preflop raise from someone on the button can be indicative of a attempted steal, whereas someone in early position who raise 3x the bet can be indicative of a very strong hand.

2. Post flop bets. So what does your opponent do after the flop? A player who consistentantly bets a similar amount post flop when they have a hand or the player that simply is a calling station will lead to very useful decision making when it comes time for you to act.

3. Post flop bets after a preflop raise. Often when you see someone raise preflop then check on the flop it is generally an idicator that the flop missed them. However, there are those that slowplay monsters and will check hoping for a raise so they can re-raise. Again, this can be a very useful to know. Even more the player who raised preflop and comes out firing on post flop is usually a very good indication of the strength of their hand.

Now with that being said, it can be very easy for YOU to fall into the same situation...someone is looking at your betting to gain that edge against you. Here's where mixing up your betting patterns comes into play. Raising preflop then check raising post flop, raising small preflop the raising huge postflop or vice versa even when you have a monster hand can keep you from falling into a pattern. Also, pay attention to the action even if you are no longer in the hand so that you can track your opponents betting and view the winning hand.

Figuring out your opponents betting patterns is extremely powerful. If you use it you will eventually find yourself winning more money, and I don't know anyone that doesn't want that!