Whenever you’re reading about the differences between online and live poker, one of the main factors the author will point out is almost certain to be the abundance of available tells in live poker vs the almost complete lack of them online.
Sure, you won’t be able to see X, Y or Z sweat on your right whenever he gets a pocket pair. You won’t be able to see A break B’s shades either, or C leaving the table on account of too much annoying talk by the other players. The most important poker tell that live players use though, will remain available online too. I’m talking about betting patterns of course. In high stakes games where playing the player rules supreme over playing the cards, betting patterns become just as relevant online as they are offline. If we move on to the lower limits though, things become somewhat more complicated. Let’s take a look at a relatively simple example. Stalling before making that bet on the river has always been an obvious tell. These days however, its meanings are much more difficult to decipher than back in the days when online poker was still in its infancy. People didn’t multi-table then. The notion itself may not have yet been invented, and software limitations certainly made it more than a handful to attempt play at several tables at once. Back in those days, people knew that their opponents were almost solely focused on that one game, and therefore concluding that the person taking exceptionally long before placing that crucial bet in the last betting round was in fact trying to appear as if he were bluffing, was only natural. You see, people are natural actors. Whenever they’re trying to communicate something through their actions instead of language, they feel the need to exaggerate, to make sure that they hammer home the message. In poker, this is extremely counterproductive and it gives them away.
Lately, the stalling on the river has been a tad harder to decipher. Nowadays many online players play at multiple tables at once. This makes for generally slower play, therefore if a multi-tabler stalls the last bet, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s trying to fool people. By observing people’s betting behavior carefully though, one should be able to deduct with reasonable accuracy whether the opponent in question is multi-tabling or not. While multi tabling is not likely to happen at high-stakes tables, it is very common at low-stakes ones.
Even though people cannot personally see each-other at the online poker table, they can interact in a variety of ways. The chat feature can deliver some rather unexpected and in the same time quite easy-to-read tells. Some people will never use the chat window while others just can’t keep their mouse-cursors off it. People talk about all sorts of things in the chat, and some of them do vent their emotions there too. Those who end up on the wrong end of an extremely bad beat often vent their anger and begin ranting in chat. Even though there’s absolutely nothing that they’ll solve by doing it, they feel the need to let others know about the “injustice” that just befell them. Such ranters are usually on tilt. Take note, and proceed to exploit the situation with caution: you do not want to calm the tilter down in any way. On the contrary, you need to further fuel his personal little war with the world, with luck, with the online poker industry and with who knows what else. Tell the guy who’s just pulled of a nasty little runner-runner on the victim: “nice hand”. That’s always a sure way to have your tilter steaming mad.
The guy who gloats in the chat window (there will always be plenty of those) is more likely to be a long term loser than anything else. Sure, he’s got to tell everyone how he made the final table in the 10 o’clock rookies’ freeroll, because it is one of the few things he can in fact brag about. Those who win consistently, do not feel the need to attract unwanted attention.
Likewise, the player who delivers “rock solid” poker analysis on every other hand through the chat feature, is most likely a newbie himself. He feels the need to constantly re-assure himself that he does in fact understand what’s going on, and just has to let others know he is not the rookie which he in fact is. A good player doesn’t have to constantly re-affirm his knowledge of the game. If he does resort to the chat, he will instead look to mislead opponents by making goofy remarks and appearing naive. The use of the auto buttons can also give away precious tells. Some of the newly appeared poker rooms feature interfaces in which people can gesture just like in real life, thus introducing some of the old fashioned live poker tells to online poker.
If a person at the table knows about rakeback and he/she recognizes its benefits, you’re probably not dealing with a rookie. Even though rakeback represents a humongous edge in the battle of the EV, amazingly few people are well-informed about it.
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