Live poker is sometimes more popular for its poker tells and ‘reading your opponent’ moments then it’s for the game itself. Even kids now understand 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 someone is weak or strong once we are playing online poker? You are likely thinking ‘How the hell can you get a tell from some one who’s sitting in front of their laptop within their jocks and socks in a small apartment in Copenhagen when I’m all the way over here?’ Well you can and they are called timing tells.

Here is the general guide line for online poker timing tells. If your opponent acts super quick then they may be 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 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 before making a move so you can decide there and then to quit on the hand and do not invest any more within the pot.

So the premise to this timing tell is if a player insta-calls it means he did not put any thought into the call. If the player had a quality online poker hand he would at least take a number of seconds to figure out what the best approach would be to play it to obtain the most value from his hand. So therefore an insta-call is more than likely a speculative call.

Another timing tell is when you complete the small blind and the big blind instantly checks. These means that the opponent on the big blind had the auto check/fold option ticked so you may bet any flop with any 2 cards and he will fold a large number of 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 good players will try and trick you by using reverse timing tells. However for the most part this will certainly not happen at 200nl and below.

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 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 above online poker tips helpful and will hopefully make you extra money on the poker tables.