Each and every player online has had to select a screen name to represent them at tables. Whilst most people will only notice bizarre or funny names being displayed, you should take a few minutes to read each of the names, and how they are written, when you sit down to play your session..

One of the oldest tricks in the book is to pretend to be female when the player is actually male. In today’s climate there are some fantastic women players so this is becoming less common with each passing month. The thinking behind pretending to be the opposite sex is that women are perceived to be less aggressive then men as a whole so they are hoping to be given extra credit when they raise or bet.

Watch out for numbers at the end of names as this can give an indication to a player’s age or poker playing experience. Someone with the name Bob81 is likely to have been born in 1981 where as a name such as ProPlayer07 would suggest they have been playing since 2007. Generally, the older a player the less likely they are to be loose and aggressive and vice versa. You should be less likely to bluff or make complex moves on an inexperienced player such as Tony10 than you would the aforementioned ProPlayer07.

Some other pointers you should look out for are names written in uppercase are generally aggressive players as writing this way on the internet is interpreted as shouting. Names that suggest they are extremely poor players are usually quite the opposite so beware of the player called IamAFish or WhatAreOdds as they are likely to be experienced players.

Along with names you should also pay attention to the avatar each opponent selects to represent them. Many, stupidly, use the logo of a training site which means they have joined a poker school online which in turn can be interpreted as they are a decent, or at least trying to be a decent, player as they are actually paying a site for poker training.

No name or avatar based tell is 100% accurate but you can use it with other information you gather and they can certainly help to profile your opponent.