When you are playing poker with a group of people face to face, you have lots of ways to identify how players feel about the hand they are holding. You can piece together clues from facial expressions, body language, and even the way they speak or where they are looking, and get a good idea of what they are thinking.

Playing poker online can be much more difficult. You cannot see your opponents, and usually cannot speak to them either. Text chat is not something that conveys emotions very well, so you have to base your decisions on how quickly people act when it is their turn, and their betting patterns.

Remember, however, that the speed of the bet is not always an indicator – a player could be playing several tables at once, which would cause problems with their timing.

If you have your opponents undivided attention then you can often get some idea of their hand from how quickly the play.   A few rules of thumb are:

A pause followed by a check often means they are weak.

Often 'thinking' then checking is a ruse – the player is trying to make you think they are strong – they want you to check as well so that they can get a free card. If the opponent really was strong, they would check immediately and then raise.

A pause then a bet can mean they are strong.

Similar to the above – the player may want you to think that they are unsure, and are 'thinking' before betting – they probably actually have a strong hand.

An instantaneous bet often means a strong hand.

An instantaneous bet – on the turn or river, usually means a strong hand. The players often hope to intimidate you into calling, but don't let yourself fall for such bullying tactic. Consider the position of the player, and what they are responding to when they raise – those who are raising late may have a strong hand, or may just be bullying one of the other players.

A quick check often means a weak hand.

Many players will press the check/fold button if they plan to fold their hand to any bet – especially if they are playing more than one table at a time. You can use this to your own advantage in some cases. If you are the last player on the table, the first player checks, and all the others then instantly check, you could probably safely assume that the other players have weak hands, and try a bluff against the first player.

Beware of a check-raise.

If a player checks, then raises, the check could have been a bluff to try to get you to bet when he really has a strong hand.

Now that you know some of the common tells, try to avoid giving them off yourself. Try to either vary the speed of your betting, or to always bet at the same speed. Work out a strategy – count a number of seconds before betting, or otherwise mix up your play so that you confuse people who are looking for tells in your game.