The chatbox found just under every online poker table window offers some great potential tells and information on your opponents. Equally there is a danger of you giving away your own leaks and level of experience.
The expression loose talk costs lives could equally apply to freely chatting in the chatbox. If a player is asking what NH means (nice hand) then it might be a good indication they haven’t played more than a few hands online.
Since online poker has exploded as a result of more poker on TV. With the televising of the World Poker Tour and World Poker Series everyone seems to want to get online for a piece of the action. Anyone can be playing poker online within minutes of setting up an account with one of the growing number of poker sites.
Knowing the basic poker rules and poker strategy is vital but it is also important to know how to talk the talk. There is nothing that will mark you out as a learner quicker than asking what “pot odds” are in the chat box. So check out the basics below to look like a pro.
You can sometimes use this to your advantage in a game by actually asking what terms mean – this gives the other players the impression I’ve not played before and can lead them to play differently towards me assuming I’m a weak player.
Check out our complete poker dictionary for all the poker lingo but here is a quick summary of terms you need to know and online abbreviations for playing poker online.
typing in chat box at an online poker room
NH – short for Nice Hand
NB – Nice Bet / Nice Bluff or Nice Buy
NP – Nice Play
BB – Bad Beat
PP – Pocket Pair
GG – Good Game (well played) or Good God (how did you play that junk)
TY – Thankyou
All In – When a player bets all his chips in on a hand. No Limit Hold-em is the most popular and probably most skilled and exciting variation of Texas Hold-em when a player can go all-in on any hand. In Limit games the bets and raises are fixed.
Bad Beat – A Bad Beat is when a player with a much stronger hand looses to a player with a much weaker hand who gets a lucky card or two when statistically he shouldn’t have. Generally when a player with a strong hand makes a big bet early and gets called by a weaker hand only to get outdrawn on the river.
Blind – In Texas Hold-em, the blinds are compulsory bets made by the two people sitting to the left of the dealer. The first person to the left of the dealer is the small blind and the second is the big blind.
Check – When a player decides to not bet he checks. This gives the possibility of a free card to all the players.
Heads Up – When there are only two players left playing a hand they are playing heads up.
The Nuts – Statistically the best hand you can hold with the cards on the table.
Offsuit – Cards of different suits ie. “I got dealt 72 off” (suit)
Pocket Pair – When you get dealt a pair in your hand.
Rake – The small percentage of pot over a certain amount that the poker room takes for hosting the game.
Short Stack – A player with the least amount of chips at the table.
Tell – A tell refers to a players action which gives an indication to the other players of the strength of their hand.
The chatbox in poker can be a useful tool for gathering information but beware that players will be trying to do the same as you or trying to feed you false info. I don’t tend to use the poker chat box very often unless I feel there is a specific advantage in doing so.
Maybe a player has just suffered a bad beat I may try to keep them on tilt in order to get them to play the next few hands badly or if I’ve suffered a bad beat I will nearly always congratulate the player on a NH or a NP – I would never have a go at them and make them rethink the way they are playing – I want them to play equally badly the next time so I can get the most money out of them when their luck runs out or I hit the nuts.
Also you can use the chatbox to put the table at ease and make them view you as just a happy go lucky player there to have fun – this is much more likely to get the action going on a tight table.
Poker chat boxes can also be used to just mark you down as a certain type of poker player like a maniac loon – Talking randomly about poker and commenting on hands like a novice will set everyone up to keep calling your money so when you really want lots of action you will be likely to get it.
A favourite of mine is to discuss automatic bluff hands I always play (doesn’t even matter if I do or not) and I will come out with quite a few hands I play eg. I always play 4 King off all-in by the flop or I always re-raise pre-flop with 72 if it’s suited – The next time you go all-in they’re going to be slightly less sure if your bluffing or got AA.
Above all do not get sucked into poker chat if you are easily tilted or can’t concentrate on your game. You want to be in control not being controlled.
