Online Poker Habits

The only tells in online poker are the speed of the bet. Tells are pieces of information about a players hand that they give away inadvertently through their behaviour. In online poker a player can act in one of two ways. Usually a player will chose one of the onscreen buttons when it is their turn. Alternatively a player can chose the 'Act In Turn' function and do this automatically. For instance you could select the bet in turn function before the action gets to you and select bet/raise or check/fold, the execution of the play will be instantaneous when your turn comes.

So given that our only tells will be the speed of play what can we gauge from it? Firstly a note of caution , if your opponent is playing more than one poker table at once these tells will not apply because his timing will be out anyway.  
A brief hesitation followed by a check indicates weakness. Usually the players who do this are bluffing you that they have a strong hand and are contemplating their move, they want you to check too so that they can get another card without betting any more chips. When a player is intending to check/raise they will normally check without undue hesitation.

A short hesitation before a bet is usually a sign that they have a strong hand. The player is trying to make you think they are hesitant about playing the hand and draw you in to the game but the bet belies the real situation.

If the play at the Turn and/or River are instant they have used the Act In Turn function and if they are bet/raising they probably have a strong hand and are undaunted by whatever you might do. The general idea is that they are bullying you into calling. Be aware of this strategy but do not be manipulated by it. Overall instant bets on the Turn and River mean strong hands.
An instantaneous raise on the River indicates a stronger hand than it does on the Turn. A pre-flop instant raise is also a tell of a strong hand particularly in earlier positions as opposed to late ones where the player may be trying to intimidate a player that has just raised before them.
Instant raises on the Flop are less reliable. Some will raise instantly with a strong hand others a weak one to get another card this is often the case with the pre-flop raisers.

Checking instantly indicates weakness because a lot of players will engage the check fold function if they are planning to fold the hand anyway. This function is often used when a player is working more than one table. There are two ways to use this knowledge. Let’s say you are in last position. Say for example player 1 checks and the next two check instantly. The second and third players probably don't have decent hands so a bluff against the first player who may have a good hand is worth a try.

The other way you can use this is when you have checked from an early position and the other players have checked instantly after you,  bluffing on your next turn may be a good move.
You should however bear a couple of points in mind . First some crafty players may use the check/fold function to slow play their hand and secondly there is a difference between the instantaneous use of the check/fold feature and just checking quickly because if someone is using the check/fold function they are indicating that if the player before them bets their hand is so poor they wish to fold whereas the quick checker may be keen and a fast player.

Although a quick check indicates weakness if they check and then raise on the next round of betting be aware that they were probably feigning weakness to draw other players ( especially if there are several players )  into the betting.

All this should be treated as what generally happens and as a template of normal play, pay attention to the way individual players diverge from these patterns to fine tune your judgement on the game.
As ever, remember that players will be watching for these tells being given off by you as well. To avoid giving tells away bet at the same pace at all times or deliberately mix the pace of your play. An easy way is to make your plays after 2 seconds when the last card laid down was black and 4 seconds when it was red. This will baffle anyone trying to find a pattern in the timing of your play.