Most Common Online Poker Tells

Compared to live poker games, the online environment offers fewer opportunities to gain information about the strength of opponent’s hands from ‘tells’. Fortunately there are many ways to gain this information – based on the speed at which a player acts and the amount that they bet. This article looks at the most common online poker tells.

We start by looking at ‘instantaneous’ actions – where players may be using pre-select buttons. Next pauses are looked at and how these can give you a clue as to the strength of opponent’s hands. Finally the actual amounts bet and the importance of assigning tells to individual players will be covered.
Most online poker sites allow players to pre-select the action they would like to take in a hand before it is their turn to act. These can include ‘check’, ‘check / fold’ and ‘raise’. A player who instantly checks on their turn is probably weak and may even have had the check / fold button pre-selected. A player who instantly raises on their turn to act is often very strong – this is particularly the case in No-Limit or Pot-limit poker games where this player may have decided to raise the size of the pot regardless of the actions of opponents ahead of them – you need a very strong hand to call this bet.

Pauses before acting are another common online poker tell. The concept here is that opponents will try and deceive you as to the strength of their hand in various ways. A common example is the long pause followed by a check. Here the player usually wants you to think that they were considering their options in the hand (including raising) before acting. In reality this usually indicates a weak hand and a bet here will often take down the pot uncontested. The reverse also happens, a player will ‘think’ for a while before betting. This usually indicates a very strong hand – the player wanting you to think that they are showing weakness.

The amount bet is a common online poker tell and is often player-specific. The thing to watch out for is a move which is out of the ordinary for this player. For example a particularly aggressive player may raise and bet at every opportunity, if this player suddenly checks to you on a scary looking flop then beware! Another common betting amount tell is the ‘weak lead’ where a player will bet a minimum amount, often from out of position, after calling a raise pre-flop. This usually indicates weakness, however some tricky players will also do this when they are very strong.
With all of the online poker tells covered above you must observe the table and make sure that you spot who is using these tells deliberately to deceive. For example someone who is aware that the ‘pause-check’ line shows weakness may do this when strong in order to trap an unwary opponent. Make a note of which players bet ‘honestly’ for the strength of their hands and which ones are ‘tricky’ or deceptive. This will greatly assist you in reading the most common online poker tells.