Poker betting patterns tell a lot about other players

Aside from facial expressions, hand movements and anxious talking, poker betting patterns are another tell and in online poker, it's the only one available. The way players put money on a hand - like the position, the amount of bet, the calls and the raise - can expose some information about them. This in turn will enable you to limit the possible hands he can form.

Unless you are playing at a regular place, there's a big possibility you have never met the opponents you will face; therefore, you are literally blind about their strategies and poker betting patterns. This is why you should wait out the initial round. It's even more ideal that you wait until all players had played one hand. While inhibiting, make sure to observe and take notes of their moves.

A player that limps or folds often during middle or early position means that he is tight so you should avoid facing him head on except when you have a very strong hand. Alternately, if you see a player who's in a latter position and is always re-raising, or even just raising, you need to call that player with whatever A-x since it's likely that he has marginal hands.

A player is tight when he just completes the large blinds or if he folds on small blinds. If you spot a player that continually re-raises on the big blind, don't hesitate to call him if you have strong hands. As the match progresses, more showdowns will happen and you can now see the poker betting patterns of players. The following are the most commonly used patterns:

Raise-Check-Fold

This is can be commonly seen among beginners. They usually raise before a flop with an A-x, flop check if they do not get an ace and the fold to whatever raise. If you have a very big starting hand pre-flop, you can single out this player.

Raise-Raise-Check

Here, a player raises before the flop using a strong hand and does a continuation bet during the flop even though he missed it. When his card isn't brought back by the turn, he will check. What you need to do here is to re-raise him during the flop so he won't see a low-cost turn.

Call-Check-Raise

With this pattern, a participant in the match calls pre-flop, check during the flop and raises if someone bets. This is used by players to cover a bluff.

You should be able to assess your patterns and use them alternately to try to confuse other players.