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When playing online, most of the players you will ever encounter will be completely unknown. This is because most players only play short sessions online, often play different stakes and games depending on their mood, and generally do not become regulars in a certain game. Although at the mid and high stakes this starts to change (you have many more regulars), thinking about how to deal with anonymous players is crucial to online success.

When dealing with completely unknown players, you need to try and pick up any information you can from them as quickly as possible. Knowledge is king in poker and if you can spot even small pieces of information, it can really help improve your chances of making the right decision if you get in a sticky spot against a new player to the table.

A good example of this is trying to watch what size bets new players make. Bet sizing is one of the biggest weaknesses of bad players, and one that is pretty easy to take advantage of. People who bet too small can be relied upon to let you see cards cheaply, as well as allowing you to get to showdown with marginal hands cheaply, both of which are sizable flaws.

People betting too large will not give you free cards but they will regularly build big pots with marginal hands, which works heavily in your favor anytime you have a big hand. This information is available pretty much anytime a player is involved in any pot, and watching for it and taking it into account can drastically increase your win rate.

Time and time again you will see people ignoring information like this and treating new players in completely the wrong way considering the information that they have given out in the limited time they have been at the table.

Although anonymous players can pose problems to good players at first, simply because it is very hard to know what type of player they are, good players are masters of trying to find out as much as possible as quickly as possible about any player who sits down, and accumulating information on new players is one of the fundamental skills of successful online poker.