How Can I Tell If The Table Is Loose, Tight, etc.

[banditdad]

I'm in the middle of reading HEPAV and I'm a little confused. I understand what's written about betting/raising based on the make rp of the table, but how do you tell what the make up is?
Last night I'm playing .50/1.00 at Party. The ist 25-30 hands 50% or more of the table call every bet and most call every raise on the turn & river. No reraising. Then all of a sudden the whole freaking table seems to go on tilt for about 5 hands and everyone starts raising everything. Then, bam, the table goes back to calling everything. How do I analyze this?

The book talks about different table types, but I haven't found anything that tells me how to recognize what type of table I'm playing on.

[Greg J]

I personally value reads on individual players more than reads on a table. Make notes on the kinds of hands people play.

If you have a table full of calling stations but 2 people hit large pocket pairs then you can have a 6 way action capped preflop. This can happen a few times within a brief period fo time and maybe it looks like tilting. I dunno.

[Arnie]

Take reads onplayers at low limit.....hopefully you hhave poker tracker, it helps tremendously in doing this

.5/1 games are extremely inconsistent(sp?) and the majority of the people sitting at those tables have little or no idea what they are doing, thus the table swings. When you move up in limits(do not do it before your ready to move up) you will find get more consistent

[stir]

Generally the table you described was loose. It is the type of table you want to play. Sometimes within any session some players may temporarily shift from Loose Passive to Loose Aggresive, then back again. Or two players leave, two new players sit down and this changes the whole texture. Just accept that it will happen.

But as others have stated, the table texture is not as important as your reads on individuals. PT obviously helps in this regard. If you don't have it, start taking extensive notes to use in future sessions when you run up against some of these same players.

[scotnt73]

also keep an eye out after a big pot to se who goes on tilt for the next few hands. i make alot of money right there.