Tells and putting people on hands.

[Peter G]

How important are tells and putting people on hands? I am looking to expand my game and think this is my next step to my winning the 2005 WSOP.

Tells

Hmmmmmmm this one I think will never be my strong point and think I can still win without it as it is a small part of the game overall. Am I right in this assumption or way off base?

Reading hands

This one I need alot of work on, as well I dont. How can you put a player on a hand? I just dont get the concept and I cant even word this question right so could someone help me out here please.

[SevenStuda]

Good luck in 2005.

[jomatty]

as far as putting people on a hand there are excelent sections in Holdem for advanced players. one method is to analyze their bets in combination with the bardcards and what you know about what hands they will play in what position,etc,try to figure out what their most likely holding is. then atthe end of the hand work backwards with all the information available and often times you can at the very least narrow it down. start with a wide range of handsand keep narrowing down
as far as tells go you should check out mike caros book of tells. itis a little dated as so many of theideas are such common knowledge now but it will give you an idea about what lines you need to be thinking on. you wont get manyu tells from the top players so the most important thing may be for you to try to make sure not to let them pick anything up on you. if the informationis there they will def pick up on it
gl,jomatty

[CrisBrown]

Hi Peter,

Yes, you have to be able to read players and read hands if you're going to be successful in poker. If you can't, you are limited to a very narrow range of hands that you can play profitably, and I guarantee you won't see enough of them to win consistently.

I recommend that you buy Phil Hellmuth's PLAY POKER LIKE THE PROS, and read the chapter on limit hold'em. (The no-limit chapter isn't so good.) Phil's "animal styles" are easy to remember and use at the table, and he gives several good examples of how to read the same bet from different players, depending on their overall styles.

The chapters on hand-reading in Sklansky's TOP and HPFAP are also worthwhile, although Sklansky doesn't include the element of player styles the way Hellmuth does. Sklansky assumes you're playing against skilled, solid opponents ... and we all know that isn't always the case.

But yes, in order to be successful in tournament play, you must learn how to read players -- not just tells, but their styles, habits, and vulnerabilities -- and read hands.

Cris