Live poker is sometimes more popular for its poker tells and ‘reading your opponent’ moments then it is for the game itself. Even kids now determine what a ‘Poker face’ means after Lady Gaga popularised it with her massive world-wide number 1 hit within the music charts in 2009. But is there any way that we can tell if somebody is weak or strong whenever we are playing online poker? You’re probably thinking ‘How the hell can you get a tell from some one who is sitting in front of their lap-top within their jocks and socks in a small apartment in Copenhagen when I am all of the way over here?’ Well you can and they are called timing tells.

Here will be the general guide line for online poker timing tells. If your opponent acts super quick then they are weak

Follow this rule until you have proof of otherwise but in general it holds true against your average and below average players. Here is a prime example.

If a fish calls your pre-flop raise and he insta-calls your continuation bet, then he is calling with either overcard/s or possibly a weak draw. Always double barrel again on turn unless the most obvious draw hits. He will either fold or insta-call if he still wishes to continue drawing. If his hand has improved he will think prior to making a move so you may decide there and then to give up on the hand and don’t invest any more in the pot.

So the premise to this timing tell is if a player insta-calls it means he did not put any thought in to the call. If the player had a reliable hand he would at least take a few seconds to figure out what the best approach will be to play it to get the most value from his hand. So therefore an insta-call might be more than likely a speculative call.

Another timing tell is whenever you complete the small blind as well as the big blind instantly checks. These implies that the opponent on the big blind had the auto check/fold option ticked so you can bet any flop with any 2 cards and he will fold nearly all the time against you.

Please be aware as the larger up you go in levels, the better your opponents will become and some of the really good players will try and trick you by utilizing reverse timing tells. However for the most part this can not happen at 200nl and below.

Yet another way to pick up timing tells is to take detailed notes on your regular opponents. I have an absolutely stone cold timing tell versus one of the biggest winners in my regular game. He takes ‘play your monster hands fast’ to the next level.

He triple barrels his monster hands instantaneously, however he also double barrels his big draws very quickly as well. Where his timing tell comes in is on the river. If he takes his time and then bets, he is weak, but when he fires the third bullet immediately he has the nuts. So as a way of exploiting this I fold to his insta-bet on the river, but I call with my showdown type hands when he takes his time, or else I will raise his river triple barrel bet if I have no showdown value and he folds 100% of the time.

Without taking detailed notes on this opponent I would not have found this goldmine of a tell. I trust you found the aforementioned great online poker poker tips helpful and may hopefully make you extra money on the poker tables.