The Basics of Spotting Online Poker Tells

There are many differences between online poker and its live counterpart. Foremost of these differences is the fact that online poker is played online which makes the personal and social interaction present in live poker virtually non-existent in its virtual incarnation.

This loss of face to face contact in online poker has resulted in important changes that greatly distinguish online poker from the live one. Chief of these changes is the ineffectiveness of the bluff in online play since the loss of face to face interaction has made the bluffing moves somewhat less dramatic and less effective since all the players see in front of them are their computer screens.

Now, other than bluffing, it is said that the other important change brought upon by the advent of online poker is the inexistence of poker tells and the subsequent uselessness of the skill reading them. Since poker tells are visual manifestations, they are not present in online poker where players do not see each other.

This belief may be logical but it does not take into account that poker tells need not come from the body language of the players alone. Poker tells ultimately come from player behavior and player behavior will always become apparent somehow whether through body language or even in actions done in the Internet.

It goes without saying that spotting poker tells is much more difficult when playing poker online since actions done online are not readily apparent. Because of this, players planning to catch tells when playing poker online should be more alert for even the subtle actions done by other players.

One such subtleties players should look out for is the time spent by other players with their turn. Players who are too quick playing their turns earlier but suddenly gets sluggish when others are turning up the heat concerning the betting probably has poor hands. Players who take too long and then check are also likely to have weak hands while those who also take too long to finish their turn but call/raise at the end are likely to have strong hands.

Those who immediately raise are very likely to have a strong one in their hands and one should consider folding early if one does not have much of a hand. It is also good to spot players who are multi-tabling as such players tend to be more distracted and less solid with their play making them easy prey for traps and bluffs.

Spotting poker tells in online poker may not be as effective as doing it in the live one but it certainly gives an edge as players playing poker online are generally more off-guard with their manners and behavior in the online world making the ability to read and interpret online poker tells a worthwhile one to have.