Online poker tells occur when players tell you ahead of time that they are about to play even worse than normal. Here are the different ways they do this:
Ronnie the Ranter - He is the guy who rants about software being rigged against his otherwise genius-level of play. He is a player who goes on a rant about stupid opponents who might as well paint themselves orange with large letters: “I am on tilt”. Ronnie the Ranters are major players to target. Ranters are at the top of my list (and they also make Sharon’s list but for different reasons).
Mikey the Muted Chatterer - In a sense this is a variation of a Ranter as often Ranters get themselves muted. They are likely to tilt. When they lose a pot in an ugly way, they want to call their opponent an idiot. They want to insult. Mikey the Muted Chatterer can be made angry by writing, "nice hand,” to the winner. When they tilt, be ready; there will be an all-in fest.
Glen the Gloat - Realize why he gloats; he is a long term weak-tight loser. He does play tight but he is tight to his own theory of what being tight means. A player who regularly wins doesn’t need to gloat. But a player who seldom has a significant win needs to comment on his abilities. Glen the gloater is easy to bluff especially after he gloats. This is because he can’t stand to now seem like a loser. Glen can and will go on a tilt fit if he starts losing after gloating.
Walt the Whiner - Jabber jaws whining players are different from the rest. He isn’t likely to be on tilt when losing. He will simply lose a lot because he is more interested in whining than in playing poker. Chuck the Challenger also whines but his angle is slightly different. He will say: “let’s play head-up” any time someone beats him two hands in a row. Both Chuck and Walt are serious, long-term losers.
Ross the Rocket Scientist - This is the guy who has read Sklansky and Harrington and will lecture about how to play, and then be blatantly wrong. He is a short term target. You will be able to take him in one sitting but afterward when at the same table, he will lose to others but will never lose to you. He will fold aces if the board pairs.
M, I think we have all been these characters from time to time. I also think what moves them is Ego/Vanity. I am currently exchanging emails with a Sufi mystic. He wrote recently of the ego: “One of my earliest repeated prayers was to be so humiliated that my ego gets crushed under its poundings. And my prayer was granted. I even developed a habit of creating situations where I would be certain to get humiliated and ridiculed.” I wonder if egoism escalated when the mirror was invented. Know any world leaders like that? R
very nice list of chat tells.
one question however about the mute: if you are up against that opponent, how would you know the difference about if he is muted or just don’t like to use the chat option?
Even mutes gain their voice back in time so you can never know for sure. But for starters you can engage the player in a conversation, see if they have gained many friends, note from previous play that he says “NH” a lot or is in general a talker, or ask a specific question such as “are you the same SumDumGui who was a great player at PokerSharkz?”. I keep notes on talkers and also notes on names so will regularly engage players about their name.
My first reaction is that I’m all of these different types, probably leaning most heavily towards the scientist. I think that is part of the human side that makes poker interesting. What differentiates winning and losing players is the ability to recognize the type you are being and change it up instead of always reacting the same way.
When I get annoyed or just from observing the play I will sometimes say something like “how could you call a 3bet with j8 offsuit” or “how could you call for half your stack on the turn and then fold on a safe looking river”? There is nothing inherently insulting about those questions, but the typical reaction is “@!#% you”. That information tells me that this player is stubborn and won’t adjust their play. Of course I’m also being an obnoxious one of these player types as well. But maybe they could have an answer to my question and enlighten me.
You forgot the Honest Player who gets ticked when they have to deal with 5 different people bluffing nearly every hand. If it comes down to it, they have to show, they’ve been re-raising on a 4 and a 9 different suits. You’ve folded a pair of jacks finally or gone all in and won and saw the dredges that they’ve been betting on.
Good cards come to everyone sometimes. I’ve had lots of bad days when I couldn’t win a hand for anything. Other days, won nearly every hand. Almost embarrassing. Today one guy said I was a computer chip, employed by replay, when really the problem was half the table was betting on cards they didn’t have in their hand at all. I like this site. Rather addictive. See you at the tables.
Actually Scratch is the one who forgot the Honest Player… I was just adding to his list. I do agree with you though… when I see a hand that a player was betting on who had no business even being in the hand , I make a note and maybe even add him to a list while rolling my eyes . Good luck on the tables.
The Devil’s Racetrack was considered one of Mark Twain’s great dark writings. Twain himself felt his greatest work was the Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by the Sieur Louis de Conte, which was also what I would call dark writing because in my view he made the Maid of Orleans a Gnostic goddess. But I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about me, and Mark Twain. Actually, I don’t even want to talk about that either. What I want to talk about is the Hamptons subway system. But before I do that I need to get a few things out of the way.
It all starts with The Devil’s Racetrack and why a certain character in Twain’s story is called Stanchfield Garvey. After all, while Stanchfield isn’t my first name; it certainly is my last name. Why Twain switched it around, I don’t know, but I do know for certain that he did take the last name of Stanchfield and made it a character’s first name.
Here’s why I know. There is no possibility that a player can be honest. So it wasn’t me who forgot but nothing, You can’t forget what has not happened.
