How to read your opponents in online poker

A good poker player doesn't wait around for good things to happen to him. He goes out there and makes things happen. He doesn't leave opponents confused, he manipulates them and makes them know what they have to do, to generate value.

In order to be able to manipulate the opposition though, one needs to make certain reads. While in live poker, reading the opposition is relatively easy, in online poker there are far fewer tells you can use for this purpose.

One of the best and most reasonable tells you'll ever get in online poker, will come from your opponents' betting patterns. Learn to read those, and you'll secure yourself an edge few will be able to top.

The betting patterns are like a puzzle though. It's not going to be easy to piece the big picture together, and you'll need a good few hands to go down, before you'll be able to make any sort of reads.

Wait around patiently, and keep focused. Observe what's going on, and determine - before anything else - what kind of players you're dealing with. Even after you've determined that, a few hands will have to go down before you can figure out what the different actions that your opponent takes, mean.

If players routinely show down their hands, that will make your task easier, but even if they don't, you'll still get a vibe sooner or later.

Let's see a few sample betting patterns that give away obvious information: the check-check-raise pattern.

When an opponent checks on pre-flop, then either checks again on the flop or calls somebody's raise, only to raise on the turn, things should be pretty obvious: this guy has been slow-playing something, a hand on which the flop hit him head on. He starts raising on the turn, or there are people who wait all the way to the river hoping that somebody else will start the betting and then they can check-raise him.

If somebody check-raises you, bear the following in mind: he most probably has a hand he trusts greatly. Do not play his game. Fold it unless you have the nuts, because: 1) Just about any player can see the value of check-raising someone when they have a monster. 2) Very few people out there are skilled enough to pull a bluff on a check-raise.

Another example of a typical betting pattern would be the Raise-bet-check pattern. This is a big sign of weakness. Generally, if somebody raises and then checks, it means he wanted to bluff and he just admitted he couldn't pull it off. Make sure you don't get yourself into this situation.

Anyway, back to where we were: the raise-bet-check usually means that our guy had something potentially good dealt, (like A, K) but then completely missed the flop. He bets nonetheless, still hoping for something on the river, and also because of the fact that he knows if a hand is not worth raising and betting on, it is not worth playing at all. Then the turn misses him too, and even though he doesn't like it, he has to exert some damage control so he calls.

Whenever you see this pattern going, bet into it with confidence. Few people out there can be skilled enough to perform this intricate charade just to deceive you, so most likely you'll have the upper hand at showdown. If you're aggressive enough, you can even make the pre-flop raiser fold and not see any showdown at all.

The above are, of course, only a few extreme examples of betting patterns. In reality, you can catch on to much more subtle aspects of betting, and turn them into an advantage. It's all in how good an observer and student you are at the poker table.