flintsword
Friday, September 22nd, 2006, 5:23 AM
Preflop I take very little time in the beginning, because - frankly - I am interested in the play, the players, who bets what, when, and how they bet. It takes time to build up the 'texture of a table'. Additionally, I calculate odds for the people in the hand (I have probably folded) and try to make some educated guesses on who has what in the hand. I am writing notes on the players, such as what they played UTG, the fact that some player limps with junk early (loose passive w poor hand selection), the fact that one guy 'always'

raises and he is to my left (I make a note to limp with a big hand if this kind of guy is also a defender of his hands), etc, etc, etc.
I play fast when I am busy.
Once I have a reasonable idea what is going on, I tend to take more time. On those sites with a clock, you just have to standardize your response. Keep in mind that if you want to enhance your image as a tight player, there is nothing like waiting a little while before folding so everyone notices you are always folding, and raising quickly.
Time taken when you are raising can be interpreted as deciding how much to bet, so if a major scare card hits the river, sometimes a big, but attractive, bet will cause a good opponent to fold, because he will read the time you took to come up with a very specific bet as a value bet with a winning hand, and fold.
Timing online can help you. If you have a well-hidden, close-to-the-nuts hand on the river

, there is nothing like a quick overbet to have someone call you, suspecting you are buying the pot, so quick is good here.
Hope this helps, even if I wandered a little off topic here. Good luck in your games!