Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 52
Lets start a string where everyone post 2-3 tells they use for online play. I know, online gets some strange beats but there are ways of reading an online player, my three are;
1. Betting patterns - A player who bets consistantly is hard to read, but if you take notes, especially when the blinds go up, players tends to bet ways above pot odds with a low to mid pocket pair. In addition a player who plays very fast may bet a minimum bet with a huge hand. This all depends on you staying at the same table for some time and learning the players betting patterns. In addition, take notes on their patterns, this way if you ever run into them again you are ahead of the game.
2. Becareful of the minimum bet. Unless you have a monster it could be a trap to get a re-raise and have you call, because you are already invested. A good play here is a call because 99% of the time if you get re-raised you are beat, unless you have the nuts then give him a taste of his own medicine.
3. Keep track of the action and who is betting, how often and how much. A player who folds 19 hands in a row and calls or raises your pot sized bet probally has a very good hand and this is a good time to get out while you can. Sometimes you just have to admit that you are beat and dont try to get lucky, unless you have the pot odds!
Well ... good job. Yes, i agree with you in most of the tells but, nowadays players are become better and they also know that and try to counter-attack their own strategy making you thing that you have caught a tell of them. Several years ago an overbet was a synonim of bluff; not now. A min-bet in the river with a large pot was a synonim of he has the nuts; not now. In my case, I don't trust in anything, I only try to detect who is the fish and who is the shark at the table
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 78 (M)
Posts: 93
My take on the subject is that better players vary their betting strategy patterns more than the lesser mortals, one interesting note to make on players' behaviour is the time they usually take to call, raise or fold. Many having lost the previous hand seem to take an eternity to fold a crap hand next dealt , almost as a way of punishing their foes for the previous loss...
There are no universal tells in online poker. You should observe and make notes about every player. Though, I'll mention a couple of ideas which are possibly true.
1) If your opponent takes long time considering his move ( especially if he enables extra time) and then raises you or shoves all-in, most of the time he will have nuts. 2) They say that players when creating their screen names and avatars subconsciously choose the opposite from what they really are. So, if you meet a guy at the table with a nick CrasyDonk, there is a good chance that he is a clever solid player.
Joined: Dec '08
Location: Portugal
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 260
First, the time how fast one is betting, does not say anything, as the most players are multitabling nowadays. The most important thing is a tracking software , nothing else. and to understand to read the numbers, there are a lot of them
and never ever call a maniac with a good hand like AQ , AKo or 99, you will lose against his 86s in anyway
