Poker Chat Box Strategy
Note: After reading through this article as of September 2008, I think that the advice given here is now a little outdated. I wouldn't advise that you incorporate this advice into your everyday strategy. Nonetheless, I am going to keep this article here for anyone interested!
Almost every online poker room today has a chat box feature. This feature allows you to communicate with the other players at the table like you can at live tables.
The online poker chat box has spawned numerous abbreviations over the years to save time whilst typing. Below is a list of the most commonly used abbreviations:
NH - Nice Hand
NB - Nice Bet
NC - Nice Call
GG - Good Game
WP - Well Played
BRB - Be Right Back
CU - See You
WTF - What The F***
TY - Thank You
THX - Thanks
Live poker and tells.
Professional players will regularly talk to the other players at the table in live play (if it is permitted) to try and obtain extra information of their opponent’s hands and their ability to play poker. These professionals will not only be analyzing what you say, but the manner in which you say it.
By stimulating conversation, opponents will be trying to invoke physical tells which they can then use to judge the strength of your hand. The chat box will never be able to completely emulate live discussion; therefore the amount of information you can gain through the chat box is greatly reduced.
How to use the chat box to our advantage.
However, if we are to use the chat box to our advantage, we have to look at the feature from a different angle. Instead of trying to get information from our opponents, we should be trying to give information to our opponents. It is far easier to portray an image of yourself rather than extract information using the chat box feature. So what are we trying to portray, and how are we going to portray it?
The last thing we want to do is give the impression that we are experienced poker players, so we don’t want to be talking about reverse implied odds or the gap concept in the chat box. This will make our opponents wary of our raises, which won’t help when trying to build monster pots.
We want to make the other players think that we are recreational and/or poor players who can’t lay down mediocre hands, and that we think poker is purely a game of luck. By doing this we are setting ourselves up to win bigger pots, because our opponents will have the impression that they will have the better hand when we are calling their raises.
So now we are looking to make our opponents think that we are substandard players. We have to approach this carefully so that our image is authentic; so unfortunately, typing "I'm s***" into the chat box just isn't going to cut it. The most convincing way of portraying an inexperienced image is by giving opinions on hands that have just been played. The art comes in making what we say subtle yet convincing. The following is a list of things that can be said at the table at certain times to help get you started on giving everyone the impression that you are a poor player:
- "Not having as much luck today" - After folding or losing a pot.
- "Any two cards can win" - At any time
- "Knew I should have called" - After folding and seeing the next card when others carry on with the hand (despite whether or not the card would have helped you)
Chat box strategy overview.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things you can say in the chat box to give yourself the inexperienced image. Anything that contradicts good poker strategy is good enough to be typed into the chat box. Just make sure that you do not go over the top, as over-use of the chat feature will lower the integrity of what you are saying.
You should also remember that this little trick wont have monster pots falling at your feet, but it should help in stimulating a little extra action when opponents come to play hands against you.
Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.
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