Wednesday, October 21, 2009

TEXAS HOLS'em BASICS

Play Poker at Superbook.com

Along with the dramatic increase in popularity of poker in general, and Texas Holdem in particular, comes a tidal wave of new players who may not be newbies to poker itself, but definitely are beginners in comparison to experienced players. These beginning players have been influenced significantly by what they have seen on television. While this is cool and all, from a practical standpoint it has some disastrous implications for the beginners wanting to learn how to play Texas Hold'em. (Total novices can start with Texas Holdem Rules.)

To be blunt, if you watch Tiger Woods hook a three iron around a dogleg, over a sand trap, and then stop it on a dime on the green, don't try this at home, kids. That's not to say that all poker shown on television is Tiger Woods-like. Far from it. Some of the TV play is hopelessly bad -- if only because even the best players sometimes make terrible plays.


The thing newbies need to remember is that the poker hands we see on TV do not well represent what makes a great poker player. First and foremost, the truly great players in all game disciplines master the fundamentals. Ted Williams, Earl Anthony, Magic Johnson, Cheryl Miller, Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova... all these folks spent hours and hours on fundamentals even AFTER they were superstars. In fact, great players devote much of their time to improving at those fundamentals they aren't particularly good at.

Like any other game, Texas Hold'em has fundamental/basics that aren't very flashy or readily apparent, but must be mastered (and continually mastered) before excellence can be achieved.

Discipline. No skills matter if you don't have the wherewithal to follow through. If you know you shouldn't tilt, but tilt anyway, you suck at discipline. And, you suck as a poker player compared to the poker player you could be. You may still be better than average, but you are a shadow of what you should be. It is almost impossible to work too hard on your discipline.

Bets. The bet is the atom of poker. Chips are electrons and protons, but the bet is the building block of everything good and bad that takes place in poker -- if you play for money, that is. If you play to satisfy ego urges, rather than to win money, then you have different priorities, and you've blundered onto the wrong website. All ring game poker concepts revolve around the bet. (Tournaments are different. Surviving and being the lone winner are tournament concepts that don't transfer to ring games.) You are not trying to win pots. You are trying to get the best of it on bets. You are trying to wager money, make bets, with a mathematically favorable expectation. This involves having as a coincidental goal the winning of pots, but that is not the main goal, and certainly not the focus of our efforts. We simply want to get our money in with the best of it. Win or lose, good luck or bad luck, that really is not the point. Let the bad players fixate on the results. You should fixate on doing the right thing.

Having the discipline to do the right thing all the time (more or less) is the basic of the basics.

The blinds. Poker is a thinking person's game. When bets are made without thinking, either by bad players or when "forced" via the game rules (as blinds or antes are), this is the fundamental money at stake in the contest. Thoughtful play must significantly focus on the bets that are made thoughtlessly! Attack the bad players, and attack the blinds. Thoughtful players have an edge over semi-thoughtful players, but thoughtful players have enormous edges over bets made without thought (again, either by thoughtless/bad players or by any player because they are forced by the rules to make the bet).

Limit versus No Limit. Most of the Holdem on television is No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament poker. This is about as different from Limit Texas Holdem ring game poker as two things of the same species can get. Many of the winning tactics used in No Limit tournaments are either useless or counterproductive in Limit Texas Hold'em ring games. Chainsaws may cut most things better, but butter knifes are more appropriate for some tasks. Just because you saw a skilled lumberjack cut down an oak tree with one doesn't mean you should use a chainsaw to cut butter.

Starting hands. One of the most poorly considered basics of Texas Hold'em is the fixation novices have on starting hands, with a corresponding focus on starting hand charts and groups. Texas Hold'em is much more of a post-flop game than a pre-flop one, but novices and mediocre players fixate on following guidelines on starting hands. Without learning to understand why you are playing a certain hand, and how you intend to play it after a variety of different types of flops, you are fully missing the point of the game. Learn why and how to play hands, not the simplistic what to play. Learning how to play Texas Hold'em means learning to understand the reasons you are doing the "what" you are doing.

Fundamentals win ball games and poker games and games of every sort. Let the suckers try to buy lunch with their egos. You should focus on the basics of making thoughtful bets when you have the best of it, and then you can focus on buying lunch with your profits -- profits courtesy of the bad players, the ego players, and the players who simply don't work on the fundamentals enough.

There is no reason answer, or chart, or diagram you can refer that teaches you how to play Texas Holdem, if you want to win that is. But following the various links here will lead you through the web of related concepts you need to master.

Sportsbook Play Poker

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Texas Hold'em Basics

Play Poker at Superbook.com

Along with the dramatic increase in popularity of poker in general, and Texas Holdem in particular, comes a tidal wave of new players who may not be newbies to poker itself, but definitely are beginners in comparison to experienced players. These beginning players have been influenced significantly by what they have seen on television. While this is cool and all, from a practical standpoint it has some disastrous implications for the beginners wanting to learn how to play Texas Hold'em. (Total novices can start with Texas Holdem Rules.)

To be blunt, if you watch Tiger Woods hook a three iron around a dogleg, over a sand trap, and then stop it on a dime on the green, don't try this at home, kids. That's not to say that all poker shown on television is Tiger Woods-like. Far from it. Some of the TV play is hopelessly bad -- if only because even the best players sometimes make terrible plays.


The thing newbies need to remember is that the poker hands we see on TV do not well represent what makes a great poker player. First and foremost, the truly great players in all game disciplines master the fundamentals. Ted Williams, Earl Anthony, Magic Johnson, Cheryl Miller, Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova... all these folks spent hours and hours on fundamentals even AFTER they were superstars. In fact, great players devote much of their time to improving at those fundamentals they aren't particularly good at.

Like any other game, Texas Hold'em has fundamental/basics that aren't very flashy or readily apparent, but must be mastered (and continually mastered) before excellence can be achieved.

Discipline. No skills matter if you don't have the wherewithal to follow through. If you know you shouldn't tilt, but tilt anyway, you suck at discipline. And, you suck as a poker player compared to the poker player you could be. You may still be better than average, but you are a shadow of what you should be. It is almost impossible to work too hard on your discipline.

Bets. The bet is the atom of poker. Chips are electrons and protons, but the bet is the building block of everything good and bad that takes place in poker -- if you play for money, that is. If you play to satisfy ego urges, rather than to win money, then you have different priorities, and you've blundered onto the wrong website. All ring game poker concepts revolve around the bet. (Tournaments are different. Surviving and being the lone winner are tournament concepts that don't transfer to ring games.) You are not trying to win pots. You are trying to get the best of it on bets. You are trying to wager money, make bets, with a mathematically favorable expectation. This involves having as a coincidental goal the winning of pots, but that is not the main goal, and certainly not the focus of our efforts. We simply want to get our money in with the best of it. Win or lose, good luck or bad luck, that really is not the point. Let the bad players fixate on the results. You should fixate on doing the right thing.

Having the discipline to do the right thing all the time (more or less) is the basic of the basics.

The blinds. Poker is a thinking person's game. When bets are made without thinking, either by bad players or when "forced" via the game rules (as blinds or antes are), this is the fundamental money at stake in the contest. Thoughtful play must significantly focus on the bets that are made thoughtlessly! Attack the bad players, and attack the blinds. Thoughtful players have an edge over semi-thoughtful players, but thoughtful players have enormous edges over bets made without thought (again, either by thoughtless/bad players or by any player because they are forced by the rules to make the bet).

Limit versus No Limit. Most of the Holdem on television is No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament poker. This is about as different from Limit Texas Holdem ring game poker as two things of the same species can get. Many of the winning tactics used in No Limit tournaments are either useless or counterproductive in Limit Texas Hold'em ring games. Chainsaws may cut most things better, but butter knifes are more appropriate for some tasks. Just because you saw a skilled lumberjack cut down an oak tree with one doesn't mean you should use a chainsaw to cut butter.

Starting hands. One of the most poorly considered basics of Texas Hold'em is the fixation novices have on starting hands, with a corresponding focus on starting hand charts and groups. Texas Hold'em is much more of a post-flop game than a pre-flop one, but novices and mediocre players fixate on following guidelines on starting hands. Without learning to understand why you are playing a certain hand, and how you intend to play it after a variety of different types of flops, you are fully missing the point of the game. Learn why and how to play hands, not the simplistic what to play. Learning how to play Texas Hold'em means learning to understand the reasons you are doing the "what" you are doing.

Fundamentals win ball games and poker games and games of every sort. Let the suckers try to buy lunch with their egos. You should focus on the basics of making thoughtful bets when you have the best of it, and then you can focus on buying lunch with your profits -- profits courtesy of the bad players, the ego players, and the players who simply don't work on the fundamentals enough.

There is no reason answer, or chart, or diagram you can refer that teaches you how to play Texas Holdem, if you want to win that is. But following the various links here will lead you through the web of related concepts you need to master.

Sportsbook Play Poker

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POKER GLOSSARY

A
Action
(1) A players turn to act
(2) A game with lot of aggressive play is called an action game.
Ante
A forced bet all players have to post prior to the hand. Most common in stud and draw games
All-In
A player who pushes in all of his chips by calling, betting or raising.
B
Backdoor
When a player caches a hand with help from both the turn and the river. Someone who holds As Qs on a board showing Js 9h 7h has a backdoor flush draw.
Bad beat
An unfortunate loss when the odds were strongly in your favor. These situations create bad-beat stories, something no one likes to hear.
Big blind
The large forced bet mostly used in community-card games like Hold’em and Omaha.
Big slick
Nickname for the Hold’em starting hand Ace-King.
Blank
A community card that most likely didn’t help any player.
Blind
A forced bet, usually posted by the two players after the button. Mostly used in community-card games
Boat
Full house. The hand that will beat your nut flush when you get all-in on the turn and the board pairs on the river.
Bottom pair
When you have paired the lowest card on the board. Example: As 4h on a board showing Ks Js 4c.
Broadway
A straight from ten to ace.
Bubble
The places in a tournament just below the “money”. If 10 players get a piece of the prize pool, and you finish 11th, you ended up “in the bubble”.
Burn
The act of discarding the top card of the deck before exposing community cards.
Button
The disc that indicates which player is the dealer – or at least sits in the dealer’s position.
Buy-in
(1) A tournament-entry fee
(2) Bring money to a cash-game, or add an already existing stack.
C
Call
Put in money equal to the latest bet or raise.
Calling station
A loose and passive player type that calls a lot but rarely bets and raises.
Cap
The last permitted bet often used in fixed-limit games.
Case
When someone has only one out, that card is called the case jack, deuce, seven etc. Common when a set is up against another set in hold’em.
Check
When you’re in a hand, and no one has made a bet yet, you can check. You don’t wager anything but are still in the hand and the action gets back to you if someone else makes a bet.
Check-raise
When you check, someone else bets, and you raise. This usually indicates a strong hand.
Cold call
To call more than a single bet.
Connector
A hold’em starting hand where the cards “are consecutive in rank. Example: JT
Crying Call
A call made by someone who thinks he holds an inferior hand.
Cut off
The position to right of the button.
D
Dead money
(1) Money owned by a bad poker player.
(2) Money in a pot contributed by a player no longer in the hand.
Dog
See “underdog”
Doomswitch
Alleged button that the poker site presses to jinx your game (more than usual.) Typically after you withdraw money from the site.
Draw
A hand that needs one or more specific cards on the board. Example: you hold JT and the flop is KQ2. You have a straight dra and either 9 or A gives you the nuts.
Draw dead
A hand that can’t possibly win the pot no matter what
F
Family pot
A pot where all, or close to all, players at the table participate in.
Fast play
Same as aggressive play – lots of bets and raises.
Fish
A poor poker player.
Flop
The first three community cards in Hold’em and Omaha etc.
Freeroll
(1) A tournament with no buy in.
(2) When two players have the same hand but one has additional outs, the second player is freerolling. Example: Player #1 As Qs, Player #2 Ah Qh, Board Kh Jh Ts 7c.
G
Gap hand
A non-consecutive starting hand. Example 86 (one-gapper), 96 (two-gapper).
Gutshot straight
A straight draw that needs a card of a specific rank to fill up.
H
Heads-up
A game or a pot with only two players.
I
Implied odds
Odds based on possible future bets. You might call on the flop although you’re not offered the sufficient pot-odds. You think that if you hit your hand, you’re opponent is going to pay you off. If that’s true, you might have sufficient implied odds.
K
Kicker
An unpaired card in a poker hand. Say that one player has AAQQT, and another player has AAQQK, the second player wins due to a higher kicker (K).
L
Limp
To call pre flop.
Live
A card that gives you a winning hand if it pairs. When AK is up against AQ, the queen is the second player’s live card.
M
Maniac
A crazy player who plays over-aggressively with big bets and bluffs.
Muck
The pile of discarded cards in the middle of the table or the act of folding.
Monster
A super-strong hand
N
No-Limit
A betting structure in which players can bet and raise any amount at any moment (bets must be bigger than the big blind or prior action).
Nuts
The best possible hand. Example: As Js on a Ks Ts 8c 5h 2s board.
O
Off suit
A starting hand with two cards of different suit
Out
A card that gives you the winning hand. Example if you have a nut-flush draw on the turn, you have 9 outs to make the nuts.
Over pair
A pockt pair of higher rank than the highest community card.
P
Play the board
When you only play the community cards in Hold’em. Say that the board is A A A A K, then all players play the board.
Pot Committed
When the pot is so large that you have to go to the river, although you might not have the best hand at the moment.
Pot limit
A betting structure in which you can bet as much as the current pot. When you raise a bet, you can raise the total amount of the prior bet plus the pot size after that.
Pot-odds
The amount of the money in the pot compared what you have to pay to continue with the hand. Say that the pot is $100 and someone bets $100, you have to call $100 in a pot of $200. The pot-odds are therefore 1:2.
Q
Quads
Four of a kind
R
Rainbow
A flop where all three cards are of different suit.
Rake
The cut that the casino deducts from the pots. In online games, the rake is usually up to 5% of the pot up to $3-$5.
Rebuy
When you lose all chips and buy new ones. In rebuy tournaments, the number of times you’re allowed to do this might be restricted.
Ring Game
Cash game
River
The fifth and last community card in Hold’em and Omaha etc.
Ruck
A tight and solid player.
Runner-runner
When you hit a backdoor draw (see backdoor)
S
Satellite
A tournament without cash prizes, instead the winners are awarded seats in bigger tournaments.
Second pair
When the you have paired the second highest card on the board.
Semi bluff
When you bet without a real hand but have outs to make something good. For instance, when you bet with JT on a QK2 board. You can win in two ways: either by bluffing the opponents out of the pot or by catching a nine or an ace.
Set
Three of a kind using a pocket pair and a pair on the board.
Showdown
When the hand is over and players expose their hole cards.
Side pot
When three or more players with different amount of chips go all in, there will be one more side pots created. Example: Player #1 has $50 and moves all in, Player # pushes in his last $100, and player #3 calls both players. Now there will be one pot with $150, which all players can win, and one pot with $100, which only player #2 and #3 can win.
Slow play
Play a monster hand timidly to lure in opponents.
Small blind
The smaller of the two forced bets in hold’em, posted by the player to the left of the dealer.
Split pot
A pot divided by two players who hold identical hands.
Straddle
An optional blind in cash games, usually posted by the player to the left of the big blind. Instead of acting first pre-flop, the “straddler” is last to act.
String bet
When a player makes a bet in two or more motions. This is not allowed.
Suited
A Hold’em starting hand where the cards are of the same suit
T
Tell
A physical act that reviles a player’s strength.
Tilt
An emotional state where a player has lost control of his game.
Top pair
When you have paired the highest card on the board.
Trips
Three of a kind with a pair on the board and a card of the same rank in the hole.
Turn
The fourth community card in Holdem and Omaha etc.
U
Underdog
When the odds are against you. Say that you have a flush draw and someone has two pair, you’re a 2: 1 underdog.
W
Wheel
Straight from ace to five

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Playing Two (or More) Games


Playing Two (or More) Games
One enormous difference between casino poker and online is the ability to play two (or more) games simultaneously online. Many players choose this option. And that is very, very, very good for us. No matter how good a player is, it is inevitable that when playing two games, a player's ability will diminish a little or a lot. A player making $20 an hour playing one game is simply not going to make $40 an hour playing two games. It's a certainty that sometimes hands will overlap, small opportunities will be missed, decisions rushed. This player may do better overall by playing two games, say making $34 an hour combined from the two games, but as opponents, they will do less well in any particular game they play in. This means, instead of facing a player who has an expectation to take $20 an hour out of our game, we face one who will only take out maybe $17. And, a player who expects to lose $30 an hour will now lose $37 an hour (or whatever) in our game.

When a player’s expectation goes form $20 an hour to $17 an hour, he is missing out on $3 an hour. Where does this money go? Quite simply, it is split up and added to the expectation of the other players in the game, based upon each individual’s playing ability. Good players can expect to receive more benefit than bad ones. Remember, expectation is a zero sum game. If one player’s expectation suddenly decreases, it is offset by increases in the expectation of his opponents (or additional rake to the cardroom).

You can anticipate that your expectation in each game will drop as you add games. This does not mean that you shouldn’t play in multiple games, on the contrary. You should play in the number of games that yields the highest combined expectation. Obviously, playing two games at a $17/hr win rate each is better than playing one game at a $20/hr win rate. In fact, most players do multi-table. Multi-tabling is not for everybody, however. If you notice that your expectation dropping sharply as you add games, or if you find managing multiple confusing or difficult, stick to one table at a time.

You should also understand that multi-tabling is in itself a skill. Many players can handle three or four games at a time. A few high volume players report that they can handle fifteen games at a time or more. But they didn’t start out playing fifteen games at once. They worked their way up to it, adding an additional game to the mix as their efficiency improved. In other words, they practiced multi-tabling and got better at it. If you want to start multi-tabling, add additional tables slowly and one at a time, to be sure that you can handle it. Remember, if you overload, not only will your expectation drop, but your action will slow way down and you will upset the other players in the game.

It is easy to see if your opponents are multi-tabling. You can see the names of all the players in each game in the lobby. Also, many sites have a “find user” search box. If you type in a name, it will display all of the games that the player is in. Simply knowing that your opponent is multi-tabling can provide you with an advantage. The first thing that you should know about multi-tablers is that they don’t handle nuance well. They often miss small details which may impact the correct play of the hand. They also don’t have time to think deeply about their actions and so they are prone to quick, rushed decisions. This is very useful knowledge to have and applies to many situations. I will discuss a few here.

One common mistake for a multi-tabler to make is to stall before making a continuation bet, or to miss it all together. They do this because they momentarily lose track of the action in that specific room. If they suddenly hesitate or check in a spot where you would expect a continuation bet, it often indicates weakness, and quite often a bet or a raise will take the pot. Be aware that this is a specific situation where hesitation indicates weakness. In general, a long pause or hesitation is often an attempt to feign weakness, by a player with a strong hand. In this case you would not want to attempt a bluff.

Generally, it is easier to bluff players who multi-table. This is because they are often involved in multiple hands at the same time, and they tend to give priority to their higher value hands. If they have a marginal hand, they will often let it go without much thought. They simply don’t have the time to analyze a bet as a bluff and consider the merits of re-bluffing.

Most players who multi-table know that they are giving up some of their edge, and they will try to compensate for this by tightening their preflop hand selection. This means that players who multi-table tend to play slightly fewer hands preflop than those who don’t. They also tend to defend their blinds less. This doesn’t mean that players who multi-table are weak-tight. Multi-tablers tend to have more online experience than average, and they certainly recognize the value of bluffing or betting into a checked pot.

So we know that multi-tablers tend to be experienced online players, who are susceptible to missing bets and being bluffed. They tend to give high priority to their good hands, acting quickly, and low priority to their marginal hands, acting more slowly. Our play should reflect what we know. We should be more inclined to value bet or bluff against a multi-tabling opponent. We should attempt to steal their blinds more frequently. We should look for and evaluate hesitation tells in this context. We can even use the “find a player” search box to look for players playing more games than they can handle effectively.

Finally, if you are a losing player, here is the number one lesson for you: play only one game at a time. You will lose less money.
BetUS Poker Room Accepts US Players
BetUS.com is one of the few online poker room that accept players from USA. Take advantage of this opportunity and sign-up today!
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Online sports betting: Payment processing explained

Poker bankroll definitions: 1) Sum total of money a player has in the world with which to play poker.
Play Poker online2) Poker Bankroll Management: the science of playing in the most sensible and favorable way based upon how much money you have.#

Several formulas exist for how to calculate a proper poker bankroll for a person playing limit poker games. While these take into consideration variance and a projected win rate, when considering bankroll requirements for a certain person to play a certain game, calculations also must consider:

1) A player's specific abilities and style. A winning player can be a winning player in many, many different ways. Two people can earn the exact same amount of money over a five year span, while earning it with hugely different playing styles and different fluctuations -- and thus needing different size bankrolls.

2) The nature of the game in question. A 10/20 Holdem game in Atlantic City is different than one in San Jose and both are different than one in Los Angeles. In fact, a 10/20 game at Hollywood Park could be very different than 10/20 games at the Commerce Casino. To think one calculation can cover all these is incorrect. Each universe requires a different bankroll level. Thinking one number can be used generically for any sort of 10/20 game is naive at best..


3) The question of bankroll requirements will always depend on a player's life circumstances. Does the player have a job that does no more than cover expenses? Does the player have a job that enables them to bank 100 big bets a month after expenses? Fifteen big bets? How easily will a player be able to re-establish the bankroll? This consideration matters because if a player can't reestablish a bankroll, then this player should move down in limit after losing some percentage of it.

While a player may have been initially bankrolled adequately, if they take heavy losses, they should expect to start doing better, but just like in roulette, what happened in the previous roll does not have an effect on what happens next. If a player with a $4500 10/20 bankroll loses $3700, they sure shouldn't be thinking they still are adequately bankrolled for 10/20! In other words, only a portion of a players bankroll should be considered a bankroll for the intended game. For example, if a fairly typical 10/20 player with a $10,000 bankroll loses $5000, they should start playing 6/12, and if they lose another couple thousand, they should start playing 3/6.

4) If a player doesn't have a job, and is playing professionally, they need either a bankroll plus other assets set aside for living expenses, or to understand that their bankroll has to pay living expenses even while losing. This sort of player, depending on life circumstances again, should have roughly twice the bankroll of a player with a job or other assets.

Solid, winning players with a $10,000 bankroll playing 10/20 should likely never fluctuate below $5000. That is in the ballpark of the $4500 number many folks suggest for a theoretical 10/20 bankroll, but in the real world different concepts need to be considered. Essentially, a 10/20 bankroll should be on top of 6/12 one, which is on top of a 3/6 one, which is on top of a 2/4 one. If you step down in limit after your entire 10/20 roll is gone, you still should have a full 6/12 bankroll.

The worst thing a positive expectation player can do is be out of action. A sensible approach to bankroll is absolutely critical. The question isn't of a steadier ride -- the issue is whether you will be along for the ride at all.

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ONLINE POKER TELLS

Online Poker Tells

In casino poker, tells are plentiful if you know how to spot them. These tells can be categorized by their nature: tells based upon your opponents physical actions, or “visual tells,” tells based upon your opponents speech, or “verbal tells,” and based upon your opponents betting patterns, or “betting tells.” Of these three types of tells, the visual tells are the most common, and the most difficult for your opponent to conceal, making them the most useful type of tell to the brick and mortar player.

Online poker is characterized by a complete lack of visual tells. This is because you cannot see your opponents’ reaction to play as it is ongoing. Verbal tells are also greatly reduced online. You may gain some valuable information from the chat box from time to time, and it is certainly worth monitoring, but you will not get the same amount or quality of verbal tells that you would get in a brick and mortar poker room. This means that when you play online, you will be relying primarily on betting tells. If you are experienced at reading players in a casino, this may seem like a huge disadvantage to you. After all, two of the three main types of tells are virtually non-existent online. While losing out on these types of tells is a disadvantage, it is a disadvantage that all players share, leveling the playing field. The good news is that tells that are available online are often subtle and not understood very well by your opponents. You can regain your advantage by closely examining all of the tells that are available to you online.



As we discussed, your primary source of online tells will be betting tells. There are three main types of betting tells: tells resulting from how much your opponent bets, tells resulting from how long your opponent takes to bet, and tells resulting from your opponents’ use of the “in turn” boxes. If your opponent is an experienced online player he will be aware of this and may try to manipulate the situation by giving intentional “false tells.” Be on the lookout for players who try to do this, and take notes so that in the future you will not be fooled.

Obviously, you need to be able to tell the difference between a false tell and the real deal. This is done by looking for idiosyncrasies in your opponents’ pattern of play. Many players do not use false tells at all. If you can identify them, you can be confident that the betting tells that you get from that player will be accurate. Other players are full of moves. They may either stall or insta-bet frequently. They may check-raise when you would expect a continuation bet. They may adjust bet sizes in an effort to be misleading, and so on. On the surface this player may seem tricky, and difficult to read. But all players have idiosyncrasies and play in patterns (especially the good ones). If you can identify these patterns and describe them in your player notes, you have unlocked the ability to evaluate tells from even the trickiest of players.

The most common trick is the fake stall, followed by a bet or raise. Luckily, this is fairly easy to identify. This is often used by players who have a very strong hand, and are worried that they will not be paid off. When it is their turn to act, they will take an extra long time, pretending to think, and then will make a large bet or raise. You may have seen this move in a casino or on television as well. This tell is easy to pick off, because most people are naturally bad actors who are prone to over-acting. Similarly, online players will over estimate the amount of time required to represent genuine thought. So, a long pause followed by a large wager is often a very strong hand. Big bet bluffs are generally made either quickly, or after a short pause.

A pause can also indicate weakness under certain circumstances. This is known as a “reverse tell,” because it is the opposite of what you would normally expect. If you see a player produce a weak hand after a pause, put it in your player notes. You will see this tell from newbies who have yet to discover the wonderful world of tells and are unaware that they are giving them off. You will also see this tell from multi-tablers who are giving priority to their stronger hands. This generally happens to players who run five games or more. Most sites have a “find user” search box, which will allow you to see how many games your opponent is playing at any given moment.

The most reliable online tells result from your opponents’ use of the “in turn” boxes. The first thing that you should be aware of is that the people who use these boxes are usually multi-tasking. Quite frequently, they are playing multiple games and are using the “in turn” boxes in order to improve their efficiency. They are also giving up extra information when they use these boxes, information which can be used to your advantage. Let’s take a more detailed look at the tells derived from the use of these boxes.

The first thing that you need to do is to determine which “in turn” box your opponent has likely marked. This may depend on what type of player your opponent is. Consider the following situation. Your opponent is in the big blind, the pot is unraised, and when the action gets to him, he insta-checks. Depending upon the site where you are playing, your opponent may have checked one of three boxes. He could have selected the “check” box, which only activates if the pot is unraised. When a player selects this box, if the pot is raised, the player is subsequently presented with his normal option to re-raise, call, or muck. The second “in turn” box he could have marked is the check/fold box. If a player selects this box, the software will insta-check if the pot is unraised, and insta-fold if the pot is raised. The third possibility is that the player could have marked the check/call any box. When this box is selected, the software will insta-check if the pot is unraised and insta-call if the pot is raised or reraised. How can we tell which box was selected? The answer is that we can never be 100% sure. But we can tell which box was probably not selected, by the type of player your opponent is. First, you should know that only the loosest players will ever use the check/call any box. This is because this box will automatically call all raises up to the cap. Most players will not call a cap with a hand that they would otherwise check. Therefore, most players never use this box. So we can discount the likelihood that this box was selected, unless the player is really loose. Also be aware that many players never use the check/fold box. This may be because they do not want to give “in turn” box tells, or it may be because they are not sure if they are defending their blinds until they have seen all of the action in front of them. So if you see a player insta-check, it does not give you that much information, but if you see a player either insta-call or insta-fold from the blinds, that tells you something about that player. If you see a player insta-fold, you should be more inclined to steal this player’s blind, because he probably frequently uses the check/fold box, and doesn’t defend his blinds very often. If you see a player insta-call, you should be more inclined to raise or reraise a moderately strong hand preflop because he will often pay more than his hand is worth.

Similarly, you can gain information from your opponents’ insta-bets and insta-raises when he is not in the blinds. If the action checks to your opponent and he insta-bets, he has either marked the “bet in turn” box or the “bet/raise in turn” box. Be aware that the “bet in turn” box will only activate if the pot is unraised. If the pot is raised the “bet in turn” insta-bet will not activate. In this situation, your opponent will be presented with his normal options to call, fold, or reraise, and you will never know that he has even used the “in turn” box. You will gain much more information if your opponent uses the “bet/raise” box. You will know when this box was selected because the software will insta-raise when it is your opponents turn to act. An insta-raise usually indicates one of two situations. Either your opponent has a strong completed hand (often the nuts), and his intention is to raise no matter what, or more likely, he has a very strong drawing hand (often to the nuts). The insta-raise is much more commonly used on drawing hands than made hands. This is because players want to get paid off when they make a strong hand, so they don’t insta-raise, in an effort to disguise the true strength of their hand. Players will often insta-raise a strong draw, in an effort to represent a made hand and to disguise the fact that they are still drawing. A few players will insta-raise on a total bluff, but this is relatively rare, and you should write this into your player notes if you encounter it.

People who think there are no tells online simply can't be paying attentio. Betting patterns also reveal a lot in casinos, but online they are more critical to observe for a simple reason: people bet more often. In particular, people playing multiple games make an awful lot of bets in an hour, or a career. Such a volume of anything leads to repetition, as any assembly line worker can attest. Watch an opponent long enough and you should have solid clues to their holdings, and especially their interest level in the current pot.
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