Can You Read Poker Players Online?

Hi Poker Players,

When i first started to play poker online..i was very hesitant. I wondered how can i possibly read a player online? I soon learned it can be done!

As i sat at the table its amazing what can be picked up and observed by the online player. The person who plays tight....the person who bets every hand.

The important key is to watch the table. See how each one plays from hand to hand.

Can you read a player at the table...what do you look for?

Lips

Hey Lips,

Yes - generally I can read an online player. 

I watch for the amount of their bet and do they bet each time they are in a hand. 

Are they trying to steal with that bet. 

Also if they raise to steal pre-flop nearly every hand - I watch with care if they just call.  They could be slow playing a good hand.  Seen it a lot.

I mark good players (folders), observe the hands they play if it gets to the river and watch the fish for patterns of play.  They are there you just gotta watch for them. 

Player notes are a great way to learn about how a person plays - useful when returning to a site too.

blue

you can read players online, but i think it's a little harder.....so easy for someone to switch up their play...which is something i take advantage of all the time

I totally agree Lips!

My theory is:

In tournaments, people who go 'all in' pre-flop are either egotistical doofuses or are very inexperienced and probably have never played face to face before.  Pre-flop, the best hand you could possibly have is pocket aces and there is no way in telling which end of the spectrum the community cards will lean to.  No one in their right mind would ever risk this when playing at a full table (there's just too many variables!).

Another tell-tale sign, for me personally, is when a player 'check-raises' you.  They check, you bet, then they raise your bet.  If they had something in the first place they would have bet.

Last, but not least the person making the first decision (player to the left of the big bilnd) is the 'holder of truth'.  For example, if they 'check' note how many players follow suit (no pun intended).  All the players that 'checked' don't have anything note worthy and you should therefore 'bet' to get them to fall off and stop riding the river.

Ahhh, just talking about it has now made me log into my pureplay account  ;D .

i have to disagree with nicole24 about the check raises......when your in early position with a good hand, why would you want to bet it?? let someone else do the betting for you, then come over the top on them....very good way to beef up the pot in your favor, whether the other player is then pot committed and calls or if they fold either way you'll get paid for it......unless they have you beat!!

I agree satansmuff - if I hit trips or a straight on the flop, regardless of my position, I will always check raise.  Im very wary of check raisers.  Its not a play to be sniffed at or to think that someone may be stealing the pot or bluffing. 

blue

I think you can read players by the way the click or the speed of the call or raise. But online is so terrible with fake random cards and endless donkey idiots, it really dosent matter anyway. :o

I have to agree with satansmuff and blueday, " my saying, "let them hang themselves... and no better way to get that done is by checking the nuts.

One thing i have to say about being able to read people on line, the good players won't let it happen to them.

I have been playing poker for 30 years and i think i'm an above average player. One thing i have learned over the years, LUCK is a big part of the game, no matter how good you are. Also, playing the people, is just as important as playing the cards. Last, i never give people a chance to read me, or at least i try my damn best. I'm always changing up my play... slow play, aggressive play, limping in, bluffing, betting slow, then fast, make em wonder what the hell your doing... just constant change. If you play the same all the time, it's easy to be read, so change it up often!

Trotter

ahhhh yes trotter, but the trick is to change up your strategy of play without ever changing how you play...... therefore no one will really know what in the hell is going on with you!!

Satansmuff,

I agree with you, but i just didnt want to go on and on with the different ways of "changing up my play".

I have to say, i'm a bit confused about how you would go about "changing up your strategy of play, without ever changing how you play".

Trotter

Hmmm...hard to put in words what i'm thinking, but I guess what i'm trying to say is that while you change your game play and betting styles, you gotta keep the same speed and composure you've always had so the rest of the table don't really notice whats going on. For example if you've been playing tight and the rest of the table knows it, then you change up your play, but continue to act like your playing tight, [even though your now a loose cannon lol] people can't really tell!! LOL am I making any sense here??

LOL... not making one bit of sense! lmao...are you smoking that wacky sh.t?

                        ;)

Are game play and betting styles not the same as playing tight and or loose...i don't know, now you have me all fd up! lol I don't even know what i'm talking about

I guess we are both thinking the same way... change is good, weather you can hide it or not... i guess!?!?!?!?!?!?

You say you have played in AC before? Thats my stomping grounds, how often do you go?

Trotter

it's very random, it's only aout a 4 hour drive so whenever i get the itch i go, usually play at the borgata and i don't really like the tropicana, but they do have a smoking section in the poker room!!

Satansmuff,

It's about 4 hrs for me too, but thats if you drive normal and actually hand the people on the parkway that $1 bill, i like to toss it to them, like there booth is a basket, so i make it in 3 and a half hours.

I play at Caesars, they have GREAT rewards proram, and i pay for nothing. Once stayed there for 17 straight days ate, drank and payed for nothing, hard to beat that.

the borgota is a nice looking casino, but too many young kids for me... the trop... WAY to old and needs a remodel for sure!

Not being able to smoke in most poker rooms SUCKS, i often wonder how many winners were lost while i to a smoke break. lol

Trotter

Reading poker players when playing online poker isn't like reading a poker player when they're sitting right in front of you. Playing online you really don't have the luxury of being able to look your opponents and observe their habits and tells if you will... However you can still pay attention to and observe players betting habits to better assess various patterns to deduce whether you think they're bluffing or hold a better hand then yourself. I think that with online poker this is by far the biggest thing that you can really observe as there isn't much else from what I know.

Hi Poker Players,

I will never forget one nite playing poker and a technique a player used. There was a player who tried to steal every hand. It was early in a tourney. The kind of player everyone is just praying will get busted and go out!

The cards were dealt....after the flop...the "stealer" raises pretty hard. The whole table folds but one player. He puts his timer on to think. As the clock winds down i know every player at that table is hoping he will stay in and knock him out. He makes a decision to stay.

On the turn...the "stealer" bets real hard again....the player once again put on his clock......tick tick. Waiting with anticipation the other players begin to howl telling him to stay in! Again he does....the river card comes up.....and without hesitation this time the player matches the stealers all in.

Feeling the player was uncertain if he had the best hand by using his clock twice..i begin to worry if he won or not. He flips over his cards.......rockets with an ace on the flop.....he had it from the get go!!!!!

That was the best strategy play i ever saw....he had me and the whole table going on that one! I told him "great play"....his response..."you liked that trick huh"!

Lips