Betting Patterns In Poker
When you take to the world of online poker you are passing up the opportunity to be able to take information from an opponents body language, something that can speak volumes without the player knowing that they are revealing this kind of information.
Because you are unable to physically see the player as they play, you have look for more detailed leaks of information, things such as the players betting pattern.
Many online poker players fail to notice that their play begins to follow a certain pattern while they are trying to maintain their stance at the tables, it could be anything from always raising three times the big blind when they are holding an ace with a high kicker or how they always seem to place a small bet into a pot if they are on a draw.
The ability to be able to process this sort of information is vital, hence why so many online poker rooms have given players the opportunity to make notes on players who are seated at their table.
Studying a players betting pattern can take a considerable amount of time but there will always be a point where you will be able to locate their pattern and only at this point should you look to begin your counter assault on their bluffs.
Continuation Betting
Continuation bets are one of the easiest points at which a player is able to tell if their opponent is bluffing. These bets occur when a players opponent makes a raise pre flop and then feels that after seeing the flop they need to once again have a punt at the central pot.
The biggest tell with these bets is that if your opponent is raising pre flop, you have to assume that they are holding a strong or premium hand. If once the flop is dealt onto the community board you are faced with a trio of ‘rag’ cards you can assume that they have failed to hit their strongest card.
Should they then fire a bet into the pot you have to think about their reasoning to do so, if they have already raised pre flop and their bet is giving the impression at the pre flop stage that they are holding a strong hand, it tends to mean that they are.
If they have fired into the pot even after the ‘rag’ cards have been placed, it becomes very likely that they placing a continuation bet, a bet used to try to show that their hand is still equally as strong at this point in the hand.
Knowing how your opponent plays is key at this moment because if you can successfully read their play and you are holding the a hand that is equal or better than the top pair on the board, a re-raise or all in could prove to be very profitable for you.
Scare card betting
Scare card betting is when a player makes a bet into the pot due to a card that has been placed onto the community board on the river opening up a new highest possible hand.
For example, if the turn revealed a third card of the same suit as two others that have already been placed onto the board, this opens up the possibility that they could be holding a flush.
These types of bets are possibly the hardest to try to counter due to the high number of online poker players who are more than willing to chase a draw card, regardless of the cost to their stack.
The size of a bet
Another of the main tells that an opponent can give to you is the size of their bet, this means that if the player is betting small into the pot, you can safely assume that they are looking for a call from you.
On the other hand, a player might lead out with a bet that is way over the amount in the pot, its been known that players have gone as far as placing a bet ten times the size of the pot while they are making a bluff.
Although you may think that this is a sign of strength, infact its the opposite. If a player was looking to keep you involved in the hand, they would be looking to make bets that would leave you wanting to remain in the hand to increase the amount of chips that they can potentially win.
The bluff of desperation
This form of bluff is used when a player has called all the way through the community cards been dealt but they have missed every possible hand they could have made.
For example, a player could go into a pot holding A/K off suit. The flop could fall 2, 5, 8 all of different suits.
At this point the player holding the A/K will still be looking to remain in the hand as they see that they are holding two over cards to the ones on the board and will feel that another card might give them the best possible hand.
The turn is dealt and they see a ‘J’ placed onto the board, again they have missed their hand but they are more than happy to check the play around to you to try to take a read on the hand that you are holding. You check.
The river card is dealt and it’s a 3, this means that there are no draws possible on the cards and so at this point the player wants to show their opponent/s that they still consider themselves to be strong at this stage so they place a large bet into the pot.
This is the desperation bluff and they are not looking to be called by anyone still active in the hand as in reality they are holding nothing but ace high.