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A Note on Tells
In a short-handed game not only are you frequently playing heads-up, but you are constantly playing hands that are not very good.
Because of this you will often find yourself in a situation where it is far from obvious what you should do, and it is more likely than normal that you could exhibit a tell.
The same a holds true for your opponents.
Now the tell could be the way you throw your chips in, or the amount of time that you are thinking about a hand.
In a short-handed online poker game it is often likely that you are going to have a hand that you haven’t played a thousand times before or thought about a lot.
You are going to constantly be in debatable situations.
It is those debatable situation where you are most likely to give your hand away by how you act.
However, there will be times when you do want to think about a hand.
So how do you keep from giving anything away?
You do this by at least sometimes thinking on poker hands that you don’t really need to think about.
This idea is very important in short-handed play.
you are going to have more obvious thinking situations, and if your opponents see you thinking only in borderline spots, they will have a big advantage.
Here’s a simple example.
Suppose your opponent bets on the flop and you are having difficulty deciding whether to call.
Finally, after much thought you throw your chips into the pot.
An astute poker player will immediately realize what probably happened.
He will recognize that there is a good chance that you won’t put in a double size bet on the turn.
Thus, even if he was out of line, you have encouraged him to steal the pot from you, and he will be correct to do so.