Probe Betting in Online Poker
When you play poker at brick and mortar casinos, you see your opponents directly; under this circumstance, you get to see if your opponents are emitting any tell. In online poker, however, tells are not visible. It is indeed harder for you to see if your opponents are bluffing or if they really have strong hands. This is where probe betting comes in handy.
Your opponents’ betting patterns can actually be tells on their own. All you need is the right understanding of their regular betting pattern and you are all set. Be sure to understand your opponents bet before using this particular poker trick, since you will be risking real money when you place probe bets.
If you want to check if your opponent is just bluffing, you can choose to raise the bet. The raise you make is probing – designed to see the response of the opponent – and you should be able to conclude if the player really is holding a strong hand. As I said earlier, you can only use this trick if you have clear understanding of your opponents’ normal betting pattern.
Another interesting time to probe bet is when most of the players on the table check. You can raise the bet by a small fraction of the pot to see if your hand is indeed the strongest. Watch for timing and other possible online poker tells and you should be able to see if any of your opponents is slow playing a strong hand.


15. Jul, 2010 