Tag Archives: online poker
Common Poker Tells
In order to become a winner at the game of poker, you need to master the common poker tells. A “tell” is any kind of behavior or reaction by someone that you’re playing with that can tip you off about their hand. You may also have “tells” of your own that tip off your opponents. There are even online poker tells.
Now, you should not get the idea that knowing about common poker tells is going to make you a great poker player. It’s just one part of a total plan that includes position knowledge, the ability to calculate pot odds, understanding things like the 4/2 technique for betting, and things like that. Understanding tells involves the psychological component of your poker strategy, a component that is also very important but won’t win you games all by itself.
When you are sitting with people for a while, you can start to get to know their unique little habits that may be their unique tells. But you can use knowledge of common poker tells to even be able to pick up on online poker tells without needing to see the other person, because some of these can come through even online.
First, whenever a player acts like he has a weak hand, he probably has a strong hand. The opposite is also true: acting as if you have a strong hand probably means you have junk. This is behavior that can come through even as online poker tells, because you can pick it up from the betting patterns of the online players. One thing to keep in mind, however: experienced poker players know how to deliberately give off false tells, and they may use false tells to their great advantage and really burn you in moves like the Squeeze Play. Try to ascertain the experience level of your opponents early on.
Common poker tells that you can pick up on when playing in person with people that tell you that a player probably has a good hand include: acting disinterested in or despairing of a hand but staying in; nervous behaviors like heavy breathing or shaking hands (these probably have a very, very strong hand); and looking at chips just after looking at hole cards (they’re figuring out how much they should bet because they have good stuff).
Now, what are common poker tells indicating a probable weak hand? These would be: instead of heavy breathing, holding their breath; and glaring at other players (kind of the silent version of trash talk).
There are even a couple of common poker tells that can reveal a middle of the road hand, a drawing hand: after the flop, if players are re-checking their hole cards, they are double checking to see if they got the exact card they need for a strong hand or if they still have a good possibility of getting it on the next deal; and, if they seem like they are thinking a great deal before calling a bet, that’s because they are–they are doing careful mental calculations of risk because they have a hand that contains possibilities but is not (yet) a winner (this may be a online poker tell).
Once again, knowing common poker tells gives you a competitive edge–and it can teach you how to really fake out your opponents as you gain experience. One of the best sources for learning about poker tells is ‘Caro’s Book of Poker Tells’ by Mike Caro. Pick up your copy and become a Texas Holdem master of the tell-tale signs.
Online Poker – Basics For Beginners
Online Poker, specifically Texas Holdem, can be a very fun way to spend time and possibly even make some money. Before you can go out and conquer the online world, you must first learn the very basics to online poker. The basics are hands, position, and betting.
A necessity to playing good poker is knowing all of the hands that one can play. It should be said that in Texas Holdem a player is dealt two cards and there are five community cards. A player must use the best five cards out of those seven cards to create the best hand they can. Lets go over the hands of poker starting with the best and going to the worst. The very best hand is a Royal (Straight) Flush, which is when you have a A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit. A straight flush follows which is five consecutive cards of the same suit. Next is four of a kind which is four of the same card, such as four aces. A full house is the next best hand which is three of a kind plus a pair. An example of a full house would be three jacks and two threes. Following that is a flush which is five cards of the same suit. We are now at a straight, which is five consecutive cards, like 2-3-4-5-6. Following a straight is three of a kind. Next we have a two pair, which is having two of two different numbers. An example would be two aces and two fours. Following is a pair, which is two of a card. Last we have a high card, which is simply your highest card. Once you are able to master the hands you are ready to play poker for fun, but until you master position and betting I would not recommend gambling.
Position is one of the most important things in poker, other than your hand, when it comes to gambling. Position is where you are in the betting, or where you are seated at the table. Position is usually broken into three categories: early-position, mid-position, and late position. Early-position would be the first three people to bet at a ten person table. Mid-position would be the next four people at a ten person table. Late-position would be the last three people to bet. This may seem weird to put so much emphasis on where you are sitting, but it really determines what you can get away with betting. If you are in early position you are not going to want to bet unless you have a very good hand, because others could raise you and if your hand is not great you may not want to call the raise. In mid-position you can get away with betting a little worse hand, but it still has to be a good hand. In late-position you can usually get away with a lot, especially if others at the table have folded. One of the key strategies to keeping your money is to raise the pot when one person at the table has called. This can only be done in late-position though so you have to make sure that no one will raise on that hand. If someone raises it usually means they have a good hand, opposed to a call which usually signifies they just want to see how the flop goes. If you raise with one person calling, they usually will not call your raise and you will get the blinds (money two players put in to stay at the table, this rotates every turn). Now that we know about position I am going to step back and talk about betting.
Online Poker and Offline Poker can be very different when it comes to betting. In the online world you should not call the majority of your hands. Most players will say that you should never call and always raise. This is a good mantra for whether or not you should put money in the pot, if you are not willing to raise than you should not be calling. That being said in order to even call a hand you need to have a decent hand. Usually I will only call if I have two cards of ten or higher. I will definitely bet if I have a pair or two of a suit of tens or higher. Some players may say that this is to conservative of a strategy and in some applications it is a very conservative strategy. What it comes down to is you have to analyze what the table is doing and then set your limits for when you will call and when you will raise.
Poker hands, position, and betting are definitely the three keys to succeeding in online poker, but there is one last thing that must be considered and that is mindset. One should only approach online poker in a positive, happy mindset when one is ready to relax and have fun with the cards. If you approach online poker in a negative or tired mood your game (and bankroll) will suffer. Online poker is a game where you must pay attention and focus so that you can make good bets that will make you money.