Dave Nagler - Home Game Assassin

Playing online no limit cash games at 1/2 tables or $10 or $20 sit n' go's is a good time waster. Fortunately, in part because of preposterously loose play and mis-use of the online chat, it can also be quite profitable.

Quite often you can pick up more information from the chat early in a tourney than from betting patterns, particularly if you're playing multiple tables and/or watching a game on tv while you play. Numerous players don't realize that when they berate an opponent for a "bad call" or call him a "donkey" after a loose call, they're giving away a lot of information.

Some players sit down and immediately start chatting about the "correct play" they made in the previous tourney, when they gave their opponent the wrong pot odds to call, only to suffer a suckout. Players who talk like this are begging you to steal their blinds as they're telling the whole table that they play tight poker. This tell is just as reliable as betting patterns and is often more useful in a short tourney with a fast rising blind structure. Take advantage of players who cry on the chat, they're asking for it.