# Online Poker with hotkeys **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508 "2005-04-15T17:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/1 "2005-04-15T17:32:55Z")
There is a site that enables just that — use hotkeys instead of a mouse. If you play poker a lot, you already know that the mouse can be a pain. I will give it here, and hope that whoever downloads it, will then tell me how to install and then tweak it for PokerStarsnet. Here is the site: [http://www.onlinepokerfaq.com/guide/mouseless-poker.html](http://www.onlinepokerfaq.com/guide/mouseless-poker.html) ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/2 "2005-04-15T18:09:04Z")
I’ll sweeten the deal. If you help me get it installed, we can meet at [pokerstars.net](http://pokerstars.net) and I’ll give you $2K in **Play Money** chips. Two Thousand dollars!!! ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/3 "2005-04-15T22:43:22Z")
I’m not going to help you, but fwiw, I _hate_ hotkeys in poker. Pacific Poker uses them, and if I’m typing in the chat when my turn comes, hitting “r” automatically raises, “c” calls, etc… It’s cost me a decent chunk of change more than a few times. Well, at least I’m bumping your thread. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/4 "2005-04-15T23:02:19Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > I’m not going to help you, but fwiw, I _hate_ hotkeys in poker. > > Pacific Poker uses them, and if I’m typing in the chat when my turn comes, hitting “r” automatically raises, “c” calls, etc… > > It’s cost me a decent chunk of change more than a few times. > Well, at least I’m bumping your thread. Never thought of that. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![ummm.yeahh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ummm.yeahh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ummm.yeahh)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/5 "2005-04-16T00:03:48Z")
What’s your user name for Poker Stars? Let’s meet and you can take some of my money. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/6 "2005-04-16T02:48:44Z")
The [PokerPages](http://www.pokerpages.com/) client has keyboard shortcuts – Alt-f to fold, Alt-k to check, etc. It’s annoying that other sites don’t offer them. It’s a basic piece of functionality that can be found in almost every Windows program. I don’t have many gripes with Stars, but that’s one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/7 "2005-04-16T03:32:58Z")
Pokerroom (where a bunch of us Dopers do Thursday night tournaments) has the F1,F2,F3 keys to use or the mouse. Using the mouse isn’t a big deal either. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/8 "2005-04-16T13:10:58Z")
> [@ummm... yeahh...](#): > > What’s your user name for Poker Stars? Let’s meet and you can take some of my money. Thanks for the offer, but the way I’m going now, I don’t want anyone seeing me play or knowing who I am at the table. I had built my bankroll up to $43+ K, and now I’m on a miserable streak where I can’t win anything resembling a big hand and I’m down to $36,850. By the way, for those who don’t play, $43,000 is a pittance at these poker sites. E.g., if you go to [pokerstars.net](http://pokerstars.net) and look in on the $100-$200 No Limit games, you will see players with several (and I mean several) hundreds of thousands of dollars in Play Money chips. In fact the night before last, I was in my usual $5-$10 NL game and a gal there ( **Krissd** is her game name) said she has $1.4 million to give away. Very casually she transferred $1K to a friend of hers at the table, who was down on his luck. She and I chatted a bit, and from that and the poker skills she displayed, it was readily apparent she is not a liar. Nice woman and a fine card player. There are a ton of idiots, however. Some cause a certain amount of hilarity. Example: Let’s say my game name is **Peanut**. (Nowhere close.) A few nights ago, before the slump set it, I hauled in a very competitive hand that built up a rather large pot. I won with Queens full of Eights, and it just about drained\*\* Oxymoron\*\* of his chips. In the Chat there’s the following dialogue: Oxymoron: I had 3 of a kind and Peanut beat me with a higher 3 of a kind!!! FanMan: Peanut had a full house. I had a flush. Oxymoron: I know this game, I just don’t know what beats what. You could almost hear the whole table convulsing in laughter. 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/9 "2005-04-16T13:15:40Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > I’m not going to help you, but fwiw, I _hate_ hotkeys in poker. > > Pacific Poker uses them, and if I’m typing in the chat when my turn comes, hitting “r” automatically raises, “c” calls, etc… > > It’s cost me a decent chunk of change more than a few times. > Well, at least I’m bumping your thread. Just as a guess, I should think that if you use the program at that site mentioned in the OP, you could tailor the hotkeys and use Alt-C for call, Alt-F for fold, etc. So the chances of big time mistakes would be minimized. Anyone know for sure? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/10 "2005-04-16T20:07:02Z")
> [@E = mc²](#): > > Just as a guess, I should think that if you use the program at that site mentioned in the OP, you could tailor the hotkeys and use Alt-C for call, Alt-F for fold, etc. So the chances of big time mistakes would be minimized. > > Anyone know for sure? Right you are. > [@](#): > > We’ve developed a few different keymaps. Choose the one you prefer and save it to your computer. The files are plain text and can be viewed in your favorite editor; you can even change the keys used if you want. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/11 "2005-04-17T13:19:04Z")
> [@ummm... yeahh...](#): > > What’s your user name for Poker Stars? Let’s meet and you can take some of my money. Tell you what. If you want some chips - say $2-$3K worth - email me to setup a meet at poker [stars.net](http://stars.net) this evening. I’ve gotten a little disillusioned about this site and am thinking about shopping for a better one. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/12 "2005-04-18T17:45:35Z")
Come join some of us Dopers at Pokerroom… ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/13 "2005-04-18T17:54:55Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > Pokerroom (where a bunch of us Dopers do Thursday night tournaments) has the F1,F2,F3 keys to use or the mouse. > > Using the mouse isn’t a big deal either. I can say I never noticed that. Always just used the mouse myself. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/14 "2005-04-19T03:22:16Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > Come join some of us Dopers at Pokerroom… That’s Thursday nights, right? Is there a table name? ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/15 "2005-04-19T03:41:30Z")
> [@E = mc²](#): > > That’s Thursday nights, right? Is there a table name? Pop an email to **x-ray vision** Thursday afternoon, and set up an AIM screen name (so as we can all chat while the game goes on without the mess of the in-game text window). Thursday nights, 10pm(-ish) EST. There’s a different player of the group setting up the table each week (to deal with an annoying peculiarity of the pokerroom software), and exactly whose name it is gets hashed out in AIM. Oh, and we’ve found that (a) there’s two (or more) servers at work for the play money games, and you’ll have to log in and out a few times to get on the right one as the host, and (b) if you already have a real-money account on pokerroom, you’ll be on a completely incompatible server, and should set up a separate play-money only account. [The ever expanding game thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=300208), which usually gets a post or two every Thursday before the game and a few after. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/16 "2005-04-19T12:09:34Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > Pop an email to **x-ray vision** Thursday afternoon, and set up an AIM screen name (so as we can all chat while the game goes on without the mess of the in-game text window). > > Thursday nights, 10pm(-ish) EST. There’s a different player of the group setting up the table each week (to deal with an annoying peculiarity of the pokerroom software), and exactly whose name it is gets hashed out in AIM. > > Oh, and we’ve found that (a) there’s two (or more) servers at work for the play money games, and you’ll have to log in and out a few times to get on the right one as the host, and (b) if you already have a real-money account on pokerroom, you’ll be on a completely incompatible server, and should set up a separate play-money only account. > > [The ever expanding game thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=300208), which usually gets a post or two every Thursday before the game and a few after. Okay. I understood emailing xrayvision on Thursday afternoon, as for the rest of it :eek: But I’m sure it’ll all be clear once I’m in the game. Thanks for inviting me. Oh. How late do the games usually run (EDT)? ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/17 "2005-04-19T12:49:42Z")
> [@E = mc²](#): > > Oh. How late do the games usually run (EDT)? If you want to try and hash out the details, they’re in the linked thread. The typical timetable: 9:30 - invite to the AIM group chat that we’ll be using for the night. Who plays which avatar is randomly chosen for the night. I think black guy and Larry King are pretty coveted. Old lady is starting to get a smell of loser (and old lady) about her. Whoever does get Old lady sets up the private table. Up until last week, we had been using the lowest stakes NL HE, but it looks like we’re all pretty tight players and need a higher blind off the bat to move things along. 10:00 - whoever has Old lady and the guy next to her (Black guy) “play” one hand alone. They don’t actually play it. They just let the timer run down for each betting round, opting to check at the last moment, allowing everybody else to sit in on the game during this fake hand. This is because we had trouble with everybody sitting down simultaneously. If you have two people start (cards are dealt the instant there are at least two active players), then everybody else can join while that one hand goes on. Somebody ends up sacrificing $15 of their $1000, and somebody wins an extra $15 to start the night, but the change is negligible enough that we don’t care. 11:30 to 1:00am - we finish after a good game of poker. It depends how smoothly the game starts, how many players show up that week, what blinds we use off the bat, whether we switch tables at some point to raise blinds, how tight the players are, how tempting the cards are, etc. I think last week, experimenting with starting at a higher blind and seven players, we were done with a winner around 11:45. There. Clear as mud? It’s a lot easier to pick up in practice, lot harder to explain in a little text box. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/18 "2005-04-19T13:40:06Z")
Uh huh. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-poker-with-hotkeys/299508/19 "2005-04-19T13:57:43Z")
I have played at pokerroom and ended up as the Old Lady. Wondered, “Didn’t they ask me my sex when I joined? Can I get a different avatar?” etc. The avatar matteris one of the pluses at [pokerstars.net](http://pokerstars.net) As you probably know, each player can use art of his choice as his avatar. Some of the stuff is fairly clever, and then there are there are the host of players who think a close-up of one’s eye is dynamite. Seems to me though, that at pokerroom, the play is more business-like. I have no doubt I’ll be elminated very early on. But that’s ok. Do the people who don’t get a seat kibitz?