While there are many advantages to playing poker online, one of the disadvantages of online poker is that the absence of physical tells. Thus, it is sometimes difficult to read your opposition. There are, however, some basic clues that you can use for online play. Tells are nothing more than patterns that are somewhat obvious to those paying attention and knowing what to look for. Here are some common online poker tells.
Auto Raising
Action folds to the button, who raises 4 times the big blind. In fact, when looking at your player notes, you notice that every time he is in late position and everyone folded to him, he has raised four times the blinds. Typically, this behavior suggests a steal. When encountering this player under these circumstances, it is wise to widen your reraise range of hands and play back at him. Restealing against the auto-raiser can prove to be profitable. .
The Tilting Player
A tilting player on Poker Stars has let his emotions get to him. Usually a player on tilt just has his “superior hand” cracked by some lucky donkey at the table who “should have known the hero had pocket aces. ” When this player is on tilt, he typically rants and raves, whines and complains. During this outcry of emotions, this players hand range opens up a bit. Additionally this player is prone to overplaying his seemingly superior holdings.
Mr. Automatic
Mr. Automatic knows what he is doing before action gets to him. Pay close attention, you will notice the immediate check. When encountering this player in a heads up or multi-way situation, it is wise to commit to putting out at least a minimal bet. You never know, the automatic button he has chosen might just be the check/fold button. Use this to your advantage.
By understanding some of the basic online poker patterns of behavior, you can use this knowledge to offset the absence of physical tells and turn your online poker experience into a profitable one.