OT-poker: a friend on another thread asked about on line poker. He was good player as a kid, but has not played on line. This is a response I made to him some might find interesting-lol. He thought on line was jsut luck becasue one could not see the faces of the opponents.
His handle is poker on stockhouse-lol.
"Poker there is so much information one can gather on line it is not that much different than casino poker. And the zillions of tactics still work on line. Just more difficult because the players are tougher. You are essentially playing against the best of all 6.5 billion people on earth as opposed to a few million locals. -lol Tells are over rated. But in live poker one is when people squint their eyes-lol. On line it can be how long they take to bet. And I know about the pulsing juggler vein-lol.
Yesterday, once again I was getting close to the final table in the one million tourney on party poker. I had pocket kings and put 1/3 of my stack in against a guy with an ace king. He calls. The flop was rags, so I go all in and he calls. He makes an ace on the turn 1 in 15 chance (three outs). If I had won I would have had enough chips to have had a good chance at getting to the big money--oh well-lol.
To answer your question: with all due respect you are completely misunderstanding on line poker, although you are dead right about how important bluffing is. Few people understand that.
Actually poker, there are tells on line, like how long it takes a person to call. Also, one can learn to a large degree what kinds of hands people play and in what postion. Position is sooooo important as I am sure you know.
I only play in the largest limit games and no limit games, so the players are mostly pros or rich. So I am not taking kids lunch money-lol. And I learn the play of a lot of the regulars over time.
Here are a few of a zillion tricks: in a no limit tourney I will steal as many small pots as I can, so I can draw mainly to small pairs or small suited connectors. One only hits pocket aces once in 220 times (and that is still a pretty weak hand), but one hits a set with a small pair once in 7.5 times.
So if a guy with a big pair makes a larger bet than usual I will call with the small pair (with the money I have stolen). If I hit the set, I very often can bust the guy because he will usually not lay down his aces or kings when I go all in because my set is invisable and all he sees is at least one small card and usually two, so he will call.
That is a low risk play and is good 90% of the time or so, and gets me way ahead in chips and then I can muscel the game for the rest of the night. Bluff, bluff, bluff because I have the chips to do it and other players are afraid to lose their chips. Bluffing works better and better as they raise the blinds.
Also, in limit if I see a raise and reraise that almost always is a large pair and I will even throw an ace/queen away in those circumstances. In limit I also play nothing less than ace/queen in first three positions---I cannot stand a raise with ace/jack! What does the guy raising with have--better than ace jack usually.
Back to no limit tourney's. Tight players cannot afford to draw to the small pairs if a sizable bet is made. But as I have stolen the money I can call the raised pot. This tactic also allows me to avoid taking the much higher risk of going all in with just a large pair or ace /king. Which I will only do when forced too.
I do not see much difference in playing live or playng on line as far as tells go. More important than tells, per se, are how does the guy play, in what position does the guy play which hands. It usually only takes me a few minutes to size up a table. And as I play at the highest stakes, as mentioned, I know a lot of the players style.
Some people are also playing two games in which I know they are only going to come in with huge hands. I can avoid their bets (if they are on my right!)and I can bluff their blinds if they are on my left. The first thing I do at a new table is see what position I have in relation to all the players. If I do not like my position I will find another game. I need to have the wild guys on my right, so I can limp in with my small pairs and suited connectors without worrying about a raise.
Finding the right game is also very important. I like wild games.
30/60 is much different than 20/40 because the players are so much better. I had a little trouble at first in 30/60 because everyone brings in almost every bet with a raise. My best game is playing small pairs and suited connectors which is taken away from me in 30/60 because I cannot get pot odds i.e. 5 players in the pot.
20/40 on the other hand is quite an easy game for me because most of the time people limp in and that gives me pot odds to draw to my suited connectors and small pairs. I still do not like limping in up front in early position. Five person rule.
Bluffing is as important as knowing hand values and pot odds. When I am on my game I will bluff about 1/3 of all my winning pots.
Poker is such a complex game that knowing the complexity more than makes up for not having face to face tells. No limit is much more about personalities and strategies; limit is much more about position, hand value and pot odds.
Cheers |
