Most online poker rooms have boxes that you can check that will allow you to select your action in advance. If you use these boxes, the software will automatically make the action you’ve selected when it becomes your turn to act. These generally are called “in-turn” buttons and are a bad idea unless it’s for folding.
The main problem with using the “in turn” is that the other players will know that you are using it. This is because the software will instantly act on your choice when it becomes your turn to act, making it clear to the other players that you have pre-selected your action. This really isn’t an advantage to you in any way.
A lot of players use multi-play poker tables and thus use this “in-turn” feature to increase their effiency. But what about if you are in the big blind with a bad hand, and you have checked the box that automatically checks your preflop option if the pot is unraised and folds your hand if the pot is raised. When it becomes your turn, the software will act on your hand instantly, and the other players will know which box you have checked. Why is this bad? After a few turns, this becomes a major advantage for your opponents. If the pot is unraised and your move comes instantly, your opponents will know that you have a bad hand, for example. If your opponents know that you use the “in-turn” fold button regularly, they will be more inclined to try to steal your blind.
But let’s say, by chance, you happen to be against a player who raises instantaneously. The first reason someone might do so is because they had a strong hand and were going to raise no matter what happened before the call came to them. Opponents generally have a strong hand whenever they raise instantaneously on the turn or river.
Many opponents will raise instantaneously on the flop as a semi-bluff with two overcards or some other type of draw; therefore, they could have a strong hand or are just trying for a free card.
But sometimes players use reverse psychology to bully you into calling their strong hands. They want you to think, “He would never raise so fast with a good hand, so he might be bluffing.”
So you can see that using the “in-turn” buttons gives free information to your opponents, which can be used against you – but, also, you can gain information from how your opponents use (or misuse) the boxes. In addition to this, things can happen in the game between the time you check the box and the time the software acts for you, which may alter your correct play. However, some of your poker opponents will use them, so it is important to recognize when they have used them and what it might possibly indicate about their hand.