POCKET ACES

Saturday, November 18, 2000
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Pocket Aces

Finding Tells in Cyberpoker

By Maryann Guberman

Last week I had the pleasure of chatting via the net with my cousin Joe who lives well east of Las Vegas. We discussed numerous topics, starting off with information about relatives I haven't seen in years, moving on to politics, then to population and demographics, and finally to personal information.

I haven't seen Joe for close to two decades and the last news I had of him was that he was assigned a parish in the coal regions of Pennsylvania, not too far from our hometown. We had a lot of catching up to do.

It was a rather late hour for him and he was suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation, having been mulling over various projects, plans, assignments, appointments and other church-related business. I, on the other hand, three hours earlier in the time warp of geography, was fresh from the dinner table, Diet Snapple in hand and full of energy. And furious to get in as much verbiage as possible before my PC decided to freeze up, I typed at a frenzied pace.

What does this information have to do with poker? A lot -- even though the subject never came up between Joe and me. (In fact, I don't think he even plays poker.)

About halfway through our hour-long typed conversation, I realized I was getting "tells" from him. I could tell from the speed with which he responded to my message whether he was passionate or nonplus. A quick reply announced some passion for the subject at hand. A slower reply indicated that he had to give some thought. A very slow response meant he was barely interested but would acknowledge my initiation.

Having noticed all this, I was able to center our chat on topics that interested both of us and it wasn't until this week that I realized my new-found knowledge might be helpful to poker players on the Internet. This revelation came when I received a call at work from someone who wanted information about playing poker on the Internet.

If you've read previous articles here, you might recall that I've covered this subject but once. I've never played poker on the net so I don't feel qualified to comment on it. One of the reasons I don't play is my concern for not being able to read players. But after the phone conversation, something clicked in my brain.

Is it possible to read players by the speed of their response? I don't know the answer but I'm going to guess. If a player bets, calls or raises quickly, does it mean he has a deep interest in his hand? Is his hand good enough to make him act with speed? If he hesitates, does this mean he has to figure his outs? Is he trying to determine how much the hand will cost him if he takes it to the river? If he's really slow, does it mean he's playing a scared hand?

It all seems plausible, doesn't it?

Net poker seems to be taking off almost as fast as major poker tournaments are disappearing around the country. I've talked to dozens of people in the last month alone who say they frequent Internet poker sites almost daily. The phone call I mentioned above was from a player who told me he is doing quite well on the net and is now looking for additional support for his game before he moves up to higher limits.

I haven't decided whether I'm for or against the whole concept of keyboard poker. Legal issues aside, it has both plusses and minuses in my opinion. On the positive side, it's probably nice to be sitting in the comfort of your own living room, dressed in "private" rather than "public" attire, with no one judging you by your age, sex, body posture or eye movement. To be able to log out and jump into bed within minutes, skipping the long walk to valet parking, the wait for the car, the trip through rage-filled traffic all sounds enticing.

But, there's nobody to bring me a drink, no one to kibitz with, no bad-beat stories to hear, no one to discuss strategy with, no one to ask, "Where you from?" And there is no chance to take those loose quarters to a video poker machine, only one channel at a time on the TV. Then there's the fear of having your credit compromised, your privacy invaded, and the possibility that the cybercasino won't be there tomorrow and any profit you've had sitting on account disappears.

I don't live within a few blocks of the biggest casinos in the world so I can sit in my jammies and play poker on a keyboard. Ever since I first entered a casino, I've loved the ambiance, the vitality, the sound of bells and chips, and I know I'll never get that from my computer.

Cybergambling exists. I'll still check into it, study it, and write about it, but all this will be from a research, information and curiosity. Until I'm no longer able to hop the monorail or pull my own chair away from the table, I'll stick to real people, real chips, and real action.