Online Poker Tells

Many movies have made the art of the poker tell famous, from finger tapping to breath holding every player has responses based on what cards are in their hand and how they feel they are doing in the game.  The best players are capable of hiding these tells, or using them as part of a bluff in order to convince the other players at the table that they have a better or worse poker hand than they actually come.  The mastery of such skills marks a true professional and is often the difference between winning and losing a round just as much as the ranks of cards and combination of hands.

In real life games around a poker table these tells and bluffs are much easier to read as they include not only the play that someone makes but their posture, facial expressions, talk and even the way they hold their cards.  Online gaming lacks some of these tells as players do not physically see each other, only the plays that come across the board.  By providing increased anonymity the online environment also helps to make bluffing easier in many ways by eliminating some of the most telling poker tells.  Yet, the observant will find that even in an online format there are certain actions and playing patterns that can serve just as well as any physical tell with just as much accuracy.

The best thing a good online player can do is the same thing a good offline player does, which is to develop your powers of observation and pay close attention to the actions of your table mates as well as their timing and their speech.

The following are some of the most common internet tells.  This list is, but no means, complete, but it may provide directions to think in and clues to figuring out other tells that are not here listed.  Keep in mind that one of the most sure tells regardless of medium is any break in the natural rhythm of play.

Common online tells:

Quick to respond.  A player that reacts very quickly to any action by another player is generally holding either a very good hand or a very poor one.  In the case of a poor hand this player will be quick to fold and to remove themselves from the potential of losing more than his ante bid in any round.  A high handed player will raise bets quickly without taking much time to think about the situation or what might be held by the other players on the table.  Betting in a regular rhythm will help to keep your pacing normalized and remove this tell.

Slowness to respond.  A player that is very slow to respond to any action is very often a poor player or a new player.  Both tend to make mistakes in their play that can be quickly taken advantage of by a more veteran player.  You must be careful with this assumption though as very slow play can also be sign of a bad connection or a player that is frequently away from the computer or playing in multiple poker rooms.

Auto play.  In many poker rooms there is an option for auto play.  When this option is selected the computer is given specific instructions to continue to raise or lower the bid based on the actions of others.  Play is always automatic in these cases, falling as quickly as the previous player has made their move.

Betting and hand patterns.  If you fall into the trap of consistently betting the same way or always folding in certain circumstances this can become an online tell and lead to trouble for you.  For instance if you always use the same size bet, or always fold at a certain pot amount this becomes a personal pattern and will give away the strength of your hands to the observant.

In the end a good online poker player, like an offline player, will come to develop a ‘poker face’ keeping his or her tells to themselves and thus strengthening their own game.