You’ve got the skills, you’ve chosen your poker room, and you’ve got the best attitude ever. Now what? You’re definitely ready to play online poker, but what if the other more experienced players can sense you’re a newbie? In offline poker, “tells” are one of the most important aspects of the game. In this context, a “tell” is any behavior, habit, or physical reaction that may give the other poker players on the table information regarding the hand of that specific player. In a sense, a tell gives indications as to how you must proceed in the game.
The question is this: do tells have a place in online poker? Well what do you think? In online poker, there is no chance of eye contact. Neither can you see if your opponent is sweating or scratching his head. No one will know if a player’s hands are trembling because of excitement. So is it really possible to have online poker tells? The answer is yes.
Professional online poker players would be the first to attest to that. By general consensus, they agree that the speed of play is one of the most obvious online poker tells. You can avoid giving away information in this way by choosing an option called “in turn.” This allows you to make your moves even if it’s not your turn yet. What happens is that when your turn does come, your moves seem to be simultaneous – thus not giving away information or giving away the wrong impression.
A very important feature in online poker is the chat box. Perhaps this is where online poker gets closest to offline poker as players get the chance to actually interact with each other. Some online players like to type away and chat chat chat during the game. If a player is initially “chatty” and then suddenly keeps quiet, then you know that something is going on. Of course, you should factor in other tells before deciding anything. The chat feature is also a very effective way to bluff your way through the game.
How a player checks may also be another online tell. If a player checks quickly, that may be a sign of weakness. He is probably thinking of folding later on. However, again, he may be bluffing with his first check if he successively checks and then raises his bet.
When a player has a strong hand, a good tell would be to pause after a bet. This is done by many players to give off the impression that he has a bad hand and that he is thinking about his options. This is to bait the other players to call. Of course, with the good hand that he has, his chances of winning are higher.
As you can see, online tells are more complicated than the ones in offline poker. Your interpretation of their speed of play may not be as accurate as when you can see the players face to face. In any case, you’ll now at least have some idea of what is going on with the other players at the table.
