Many people that start off playing poker think that it is wise to confuse the other players at the table.  The theory behind this is the less predictable your actions, the more likely you will be able to fool them into betting big when you have a good hand, and bluffing them when you have a bad hand.

Not a bad theory.  However, I think there is a better approach.  The first approach is more passive.  You're allowing other people to draw their own conclusions.  However, a better strategy is to manipulate them into doing exactly what you want, instead of confusing them and hoping they do the wrong thing.

In order to manipulate someone in poker, you have to be able to read them.  Even if you're online, reading is perhaps still the most important element to success in poker.

A good poker player is an observant one.  These are the players who look for tiny bits of information that their opponents believe behind every so often, which eventually develop into predictable behaviors and patterns that can be used against them.

At the beginning, learning to read your opponents will have to be a conscious effort.  This is because it is not habitual yet.  However, the better you get at it, the more natural it will become.  Pretty soon it will be an automatic reflex.  You will usually start reading everyone at the table.  This is when you will develop poker intuition.

The real way to read opponents is simple, but it is not easy.  It goes like this — observe all your opponents, and try to pick up their tells.  Once you have identified what you think is a tell, draw a conclusion from it.  The next time this tell shows, check that conclusion with what actually has resulted at the table. Eventually you'll be able to pick up on their tells, especially if they are not experts.

A more important skill is to anticipate behavior before it occurs.  One of the best way to do this is to note betting patterns.  Eventually every poker player, whether playing texas hold’em, online poker, or no-limits poker, will follow a certain betting pattern which you can use to predictably guess what is in their hands.  

There is no secret or shortcut that you can use to read opponents.  It's simply a matter of being observant and being able to notice tells. If you do this often enough, pretty sound you will be able to see them without even trying.  It just takes time.