Online Tells

Online tells are clues to how good or proficient your online poker opponents are.  They are signs that you can “read” so you can “tell” how good at poker your opponents are.

Online tells are different from offline poker tells.  Evaluating your opponents’ skills is more difficult in online poker than offline poker.  In brick-and-mortar poker rooms, poker tells are typically visual as you can use your eyes to observe your opponents.  You can see your opponents raise an eyebrow, smile smugly, visibly fidget, or do any one of the physical gestures that signify a poker tell.

In online poker, however, poker tells are not as easy to come by.  You cannot see your opponent so you must rely on other types of poker tells – the so-called online tells – when playing online poker.

Always Waiting for a Flop

As you go through your game, you can observe your opponents’ behavior.  Someone who is always waiting for the flop is someone you can have for lunch.  He is obviously inexperienced and lacks caution.

Always folding

If a player is always folding even with relatively strong hands, then you can tell that this player is a very deliberate poker player who doesn’t want to waste his bets and thus bets only when he is relatively sure of a win.  If such a player suddenly goes for the flop, you will know how to react; chances are high that this player has a good pocket pair so you’ll probably be wise to fold if you have a very weak hand.  You can also probably easily bluff this opponent; by acting like you have stronger hands than you have, if you want, you can probably induce him to fold.

Deviation from Typical Behavior

Match your opponents’ behavior to their hands during the game.  If a player, who has always placed minimal wagers or checked when able, suddenly raises and bets like crazy, find out what cards he has after showdown.  If his betting and raising frenzy was caused by drawing a good hand during the game, then he will probably do the same thing the next time he draws a good hand.

Of course, you need to observe this player for a few more rounds before concluding for or against.  Some players are cunning enough to lose a hand just so they can be unpredictable.  Once you are pretty certain that your opponent always bets madly after drawing a good hand, you’ll know to back off the next time that the same thing happens.