uessing what your opponents have in poker is very hard, but one of the most important skills you could ever acquire.

It is very easy to grow bored when you play online poker. Although the game is much faster than its real-world counterpart there is a lack of external stimuli so it is far easier to lose focus. In the online environment it is just you and a two-dimensional screen. There are no chips to touch, no smells or sounds, and of course an absence of human contact. So, when not in a hand (and even for some players while they are in a hand) it becomes tempting to check email, search for that music file, take a phone call, or surf the net. Not only is this behavior going to destroy your poker bankroll in the long-term, but it's also most unnecessary - good poker players spend this time "ghosting" their opponents, and don't really have time for anything else when they play online.

Ghosting a hand requires a lot of creativity and an instinct for the game, but it can certainly be acquired over time. Basically, it entails guessing what your opponents are holding. You try to put yourself in their shoes. If they bet x amount of chips pre-flop, then checked the flop, only to push all-in on the turn when an Ace hit what on earth could their cards be? If you can ascertain those cards then you will have a huge advantage later on against that player. You have seen how she bets certain hands, and you also know whether they understand poker or not based on their betting patterns. The beauty of "ghosting" is that even if you cannot guess what someone is holding you still learn a lot about other styles and abilities.

Imagine if you confidently put a player on a huge hand based on the way they were betting only to see that they were betting middle pair all along. They surprised you and you were wrong, but you now know that the player is mediocre at best. You also know that they have a tendency to over-bet weak hands. You know a lot more about them than they will ever know about you. Does this translate into immediate profits? Not always, because poker sessions can be volatile and fortunes are fickle. However, if you also keep notes on players (and most online poker rooms provide this functionality) you will be in a strong position if you ever meet up again.

If you ghost other players' hands, especially when you are not in the hand and your own emotions do not come into play so you can be very objective, you will improve your own poker in leaps and bounds. You will eventually notice that strong players are very unpredictable, and that their betting patterns shift throughout a session. The best way to learn poker is to play against opponents that are more advanced and experienced, and learning occurs through observation. You don't have to be involved in the hand to do this, in fact as I have noted above it is preferable if you are not involved.

The next time you play online and have the urge to find an online recipe while you're in the middle of a sit 'n go you should curb that short attention span and make a concerted effort to guess the cards that your opponents are holding. You will put yourself in pole position to make a lot of money simply by noticing what the other players at your table fail to notice.

About the author:

Marc is joint editor at Poker Insider, an guide about Online Poker.