Internet Counter-Tells by Lou Diamond Philips

Online play is more inherently card-based than people-based meaning that, in general, it's best to bluff less, trap more, and let the cards dictate. Most experienced cyberspace players have reached the conclusion that solid online play is more straightforward than traditional live action and less reliant on tells, people-reading or fancy moves.

For one thing, cyberspace players are more likely for a variety of reasons to play short sessions. Many players squeeze in a half-hour online session here and there during a busy day. After all, there's no commute, it's easy to change tables or even online card rooms, and nobody cares if you win one large pot and disappear into the netherworld It's a lot harder to get to know the playing patterns of opponents who come and go in the time of an eye blink.

What's just as important is the total absence of many traditional tells dependent on visual and auditory observation. Almost all Internet tells have to do with timing with such clues as telltale pauses, calculated delays, and rapid clicks. Most of these have been already written about and are common knowledge to those who have been playing for a while in cyberspace.

But there are a few online tactics or "moves" that I've rarely seen in print. They involve making profitable use of timing "counter-tells". For example, when holding a big hand, you can often induce a bluff from a late-position player by auto-checking rapidly twice in succession (of course, it's essential to use the "play-in-turn" or "advance action" buttons rather than simply wait to click your decision when the action reaches you).

Observant players know the difference between a routine check and the split-second auto-check that seemingly indicates a player anxious to get past this pot and move on to the next hand. Or at least they think they do and that's exactly what you're counting on. By slipping your play-in-turn auto-check into a stream of checks around the table on both the flop and the turn, you're simulating total indifference to the pot.

Since many Internet players have "learned" that lightning-fast passes around the table mean that the pot is simply there for the taking, they think this represents a profitable bluffing opportunity. Such a player on the button or in the cutoff seat finds an orphan pot too much temptation to resist. He will usually go ahead and bet on the turn, hoping to take the pot right then and there.

That's when you'll surprise him. At this point you'll do one of two things. If you believe he'll bet again and you have the nuts and aren't worried about your opponent outdrawing you, you can simply call as though you're on a draw yourself and wait to put in a significant raise when he bets on the river. Or you can raise and either take the pot right then or play the hand through to showdown. If you happen to have a big redraw along with your made hand, you might even pull off a successful check-raise on the river when the scare-card comes. By thus trapping players who have just enough awareness of online tells to get into trouble especially in pot-limit or no-limit games you'll be taking advantage of their newfound "knowledge".

Conversely, don't let yourself be trapped this way! Let's say you've made a late position bet in hold'em with a poor or mediocre hand. If you find yourself check-raised by someone who instantly clicked off on both the flop and the turn, let this one go you're almost certainly facing someone with a big hand who knows the ploy I've just described.

Interestingly, I've recently read in several books containing chapters on Internet poker that you should never use play-in-turn buttons because their telltale pacing gives away too much information about your hand. But what about using those buttons as I've just described to plant misinformation? Admittedly, using counter-timing-tells is a bit of an art, but with careful observation you'll learn when to profit from such maneuvers. In the meantime, if you spend some time lurking in large Internet games, you can see this sort of thing in action.

OK, I've shared one of my secrets with you. Next time I'll look at some critical online errors you may be making that have little to do with your live poker know-how. In the meantime, may the online winds of fortune be always at your back!