These days online poker chat rooms are common place. At any stage during a game players have the option to chat and to pass comment on either their hands or their opponents. One of the biggest mistakes players new to online poker make is to over use the chat function whilst at the table. There are a number of unwritten rules within poker, and breaching these by using the chat function offers valuable information to your opponents. If you want to improve your game, you need to control the chat.
Here are five basic principles all online poker players take which will immediately improve your game: gaming slots
1. Criticism
Avoid criticizing your opponents over the chat function. By criticizing opponents all you are doing is giving them information which they can use against you at the table. Furthermore, it’s highly likely that your criticism could end up hitting you in the pocket. Often players become more focussed and aggressive at the table in response to criticism. This erratic behavior can be hard to read and is not what you want to be playing against.
2. Mid-Hand chats
Chatting in the middle of a hand is not the done thing. Any decent poker player focuses on his hand and the betting patterns of opponents. If you chat during the middle of a hand, particularly if you are still involved in the hand, it gives a clear indication that you are an inexperienced player. Information like this is valuable to your more experienced rivals, and will most likely ultimately end up costing you some valuable hands.
3. Capital letters
The same rules that report to communication via email also applies to chat at the poker tables. The verbal equivalent of capitalization is to shout.
4. Language
Obscene, profane or abusive language will not be tolerated by your fellow players and will ultimately end up with your account being suspended. By using such language you are indicating that you are losing your perspective as well as your temper. More experienced players are likely to capitalize on this and you are likely to find that you start losing hands you should have won, or even worse, start getting involved in hand you should have folded.
5. Chat emotes
Some of the newer online poker sites, like the 3D site, PKR poker, give players the ability to use chat emotes at the table. Whilst these can certainly add to the overall enjoyment factor of the game, players should be aware that they need to be used in moderation. No matter how amusing some of these features are, if you over use them you are giving a clear indication to your fellow players that these features are new to you. This in turn may indicate that they are new to the game. By all means have fun; just be aware what information you are giving your opponents in the process.
Debate may still persist is some circles as to the element of skill involved in poker. However, the fact that certain professional players consistently win, time and time again goes some way to indicate that any element of luck is eroded over time. If you ever follow high stakes poker games at some of the major online poker rooms you are likely to see very little chat amongst the players. There is a simple reason for this and new or inexperienced players can improve their game considerably by either dropping the chat, or at the very least controlling it.
Bristol based Dan Bernard is an ex-casino industry executive and now full time poker advocate. He contributes regularly to 3D Poker Reviews, a portal site that specializes in the review of 3D gaming sites. His latest venture, the Online Pokies