Reading playes online -- what are some methods used?

[Scooterdoo]

I would be curious to hear some of the methods people use to track players online. I do use PokerTracker to track my own play, but find that it's not really streamlined to track the other players at the table in real-time (unless you happen to have a history on them from past games).

I also try to make notes when hands are shown down and one can fully understand what a person did in a certain situation. How far do people take this? Does anyone actually count flops seen, average pre-flop bets, cold calls versus raises, hands won on showdowns, loose play, etc.? Also in multi-table tournaments it gets very difficult to get reads since the table participants are constantly changing.

I would love to hear what others do.

Thanks,

[CrisBrown]

Hi Scooter,

I basically keep track of three things: (1) how many pots does this person play (tight/loose); (2) how often does this player limp-call vs. bet-raise (passive/aggressive); and, (3) how does this player react to post-flop betting (strong/weak).

The first two give me a pretty good basic read on this player: Mouse (tight-passive), Elephant (loose-passive), Jackal (loose-aggressive), Lion (tight-aggressive). Given that, and the player's actions, I can put him on a range of hands and be fairly confident. The weak/strong index lets me know how this player will react with those cards.

When I'm correct on all three indices -- when my reads are "on" -- I feel as if I know more about my opponents than they know about themselves, that I know what they're going to do before they do. And that is a very comfortable way to play poker....

Cris

[Scooterdoo]

Are you just doing this in general terms or are you actually tracking these stats as the game goes on? If so, do you manually keep track of these things for each player at the table or do you use some kind of tool?

I normally make general opinions about a player and use the 'notes' feature on most of the sites when I see a hand that isn't played using normal followed strategy (too loose, too tight, too aggressive, etc.).

[CrisBrown]

Hi Scooter,

Color me lucky. I have an excellent memory for people and the hands they've played. I don't sit and keep stats or any of that. I usually don't need to. The occasional note is sufficient, but most if it is memory.

Cris

[allenciox]

I find Pokertracker great for tracking play during the tournament as well. Usually, after playing five hands or so, I will request a hand history. Within a few minutes I can import it into Pokertracker, and go to the Tourney time tab, where I can fill it with the current players at my table. (from the button in the middle). This lets me know if I have seen any of these players before.

I then update it every ten hands throughout the tourney.

[Prickly Pete]

I play primarily Party SNGs 2 at a time. So, I limit my reads to poor plays (calling big allins with a weak hand, or playing 95o for a raise preflop, etc.) and other specific things. Such as minraise with AA or Axs.

Documenting how decent / good players play certain hands seems a waste of time for me personally. I don't see enough of them often enough - besides, so much of tourneys depends on the situation. I'm sure I look like every type of player at some point in most tourneys.

[Gator]

Thanks for an honest answer that makes us mortals feel a little less insecure!