The Most Obvious Poker Tells, Online Version (Pt. 1)

When it comes to winning at online poker, a player must be willing to vary his or her particular style of play throughout the sitting, whether you're playing in a Sit & Go or a Tournament. I personally play a lot of Sit & Go's because I feel that good play gets paid off more frequently than in Tournaments.

Now, mind you, this article is strictly my opinion. I'd like to consider myself a good player. I'm 24 years of age and have been playing poker for 4 years. I live in Philadelphia, PA so I frequent Atlantic City. I, personally, prefer live games to online games, but do also play online regularly.

Online poker is so popular that any advantage you can get will help, especially if you know how to put it into good use. So I've noticed a few consistent "tells" many online players do. Some tells seem universal, others depend on how big or small their chip stacks are.

Here are a couple of the biggest tells that seem to be used regardless of the amount of chips a player has. First, whenever a player check-calls straight through to the river, 90 percent of the time their chasing a flush or a straight draw. If their draw doesn't hit, bet at them again, they'll most likely fold. If they check-raise you, then obviously, they've either hit their draw, or slow-played something (i.e. a set). Sometimes player will check-call, and you'll notice two spades on the board through the turn. The river brings another spade, and the player bets out. Look at the size of their bet in accordance with the size of the pot, some players are smart enough to try and fake like they hit their draw, but are not smart enough to know how much to bet at that notion. If it's a rather small bet, sometimes it doesn't hurt to put a little bit of money in to gain a lot of information.

Also, whenever you see a player consistently making obnoxious over bets, it's normally because they are definitely on tilt. If you're at a no-limit Sit & Go table, and the player first to act doubles the blind, but then the next player who seems to be on tilt goes all in for 900 percent of the pot, they're normally overprotecting their hand. Most of the time this person is still fuming, and pushes in their whole stack with a hand like pocket 6's or 7's, rather than aces or kings. If the person has aces or kings, they would try to get as much money as possible from the other players rather than try to steal the blinds + raises, therefore more likely to maybe just double the bet again. So look out for obnoxious all-ins and really think about whom is doing it. Real amateurs might just push right away with pocket rockets, but as for the others, you might not want to muck your 10's if you think about it.

Next installment: The Most Obvious Poker Tells, Table Game Version (Pt. 1)