timing is everything - something that is often overlooked by new players.

veteran players often don't realize it, but its because it has already become second nature to them. beginners often don't realize it until they've developed enough experience so that timing becomes second nature to them. so....lets speed up the process by bringing awareness to the concept.

the main that that inspired me to write this is after watching my friend play a $5 SnG. he is a relatively new player and is still learning the ropes. while watching him play, i realize that there were alot of times where he would hesitate while betting or bet to fast - causing others to either force him to fold or win a small pot that had a potential to become a large pot.

as we play more and more hands, timing becomes virtually engraved into all of us. it is one of those things that "you will begin to rely on your 'feel' to make the correct move." timing becomes an even more important skill in online play. because there are no person-to-person visual tells, many players rely on all the information they can possibly obtained while looking at your 1"x1" image. some of these are conscious, some of these are unconscious.

a quick disclaimer: do NOT taking anything i say literally. nothing in poker is literal. everything is extremely situational. all i am writing below are just examples and scenarios. now, before i get flamed, i would just like to say that timing concepts work well at low buy-in levels and slowly deteriorate as you go up in levels. this is because as you go up in buy-in levels, the level of misdirection also increases to a large degree. many of the more experience players have timing down to an art form (it becomes second nature rather than something they "think" about). take the information and adapt whatever works into your game. not everything works for everyone.

regardless if you realize it or not, the speed of your bets matter almost as much as the size of your bets. consistency is the key here. ex. if you normally bet slow, betting fast will often throw people off (and vice versa). the speed of your bets can be used as an "unconscious misdirection"; but in order to do so, you must understand the underlying principles behind the unconscious minds of the other players.

caro has a famous quote that says "weak is strong, strong is weak". there is also a similar concept in the timing and speed of bets although it is not as clear cut as caro's theory.

for simplicity's sake, i'll begin by stating a general theory in bet timing - fast call is strong, slow call is weak, fast raise is weak, slow raise is strong, fast reraise is strong, slow reraise is weak. the reason why this general theory is not clear cut is because this entire theory actually varies between different players! the whole point of even stating the theory is to bring your awareness to the actual concepts.

one of the mental notes that i always take down in the beginning of the tournament is what i like to call the other player's "timing factor." specifically, this is their own personal "unconscious bet timing" which includes their own timing when they bet as well as how they view other player's timing. by knowing the other player's timing factor, another dimension of reads will suddenly appear and you be able to find more times and situations to exploit weakness. be aware, however, that deviations from the normal patterns (or the exaggeration of a previously "weak" pattern) can often mean a strong hand rather than a weak hand.

have you ever wondered how a player could possibly play a game "blind" and win? timing is everything. by timing your bets, you can extract additional information out of somebody. players like ilikeaces86 use their vast (mostly unconscious) knowledge of bet timings to extract information as well as give misleading information on the strength of their cards through bet amount as well as bet timing. this enables you to essentially play a game "blind."

some general things to be mindful while playing: how fast did they call you? did they call or reraise? how fast was their reraise? how fast are their checks? is their timing randomized? what has their timing factor been so far this game? are they aware of their timing? are they aware of your timing? etc etc etc. the key here is to find and exploit weakness.

in conclusion, always be aware of bet timing. always know what other players think of you as far as timing factors. always know the other player's timing factors and their thought process behind the timing of their bets. use this information to misdirect the other players. because timing is mostly unconscious, it is sometimes possible to create a misleading "gut feeling" in the opposing player through the correct exploitation of bet timing. in light of the upcoming star wars sequel, "be mindful of the force" and power in bet timing!