Learning the ropes......

[LSUfan1]

My question is this.....When you have already folded a hand, do you try to keep track of what everone is doing, or should you focus on individuals to get a better grasp on their betting patterns?

[WalleyeJason]

YES!!!

Everybody at your table is a possible opponenet.

Poker is a game built around information.

When you have folded your hand, stay focused in the game. Watch what people are doing, how they play their hand, their reactions to the flop, turn, river.

You want to gain every edge that you can. This information is there, use it. You will see the same people making the same mistakes and you can use it to your advantage.

Know your enemy, this is half the battle!!!

WJ

[LetsRock]

I think your question is:

"I know I should focus on reading players when I'm out of the hand. Should I focus on one player or everyone?"

It's hard to get specific reads on everyone at once. It also depends on what read base (what reads you already have on a player) you have so far.

If I have no read base, I'll generally watch everyone and just get a feel for what's going on. Not looking for specific tells at this point, but gauging their general styles. Once I have a feel for most of the players, I'll focus on one or two players at a time and really try to read them (look for specific tells, etc).

I look at their mannerisms and hope to see their cards. After I pick up a few possible tells, I'll follow that up with trying to apply them. ("That guy is looking around the room nervously just like he did last time he had a monster. I bet he has a big hand.")

Doing this while out of a hand is much easier than when your involved in your own decision making, and can really pay off when you are in the hand. It's a very overlooked tool, especially when playing live.

[Mike Gallo]

Yes, you will learn a lot about what types of hands your opponents will play.

[JPNet]

I think the ability to do this, and the value, changes from site to site though. On UB, on the tables I have played, it seems like many of the players stay around for long periods. I may be at 1 table for 3 hours and have mostly the same opponents for the entire time. So I can get a better read on opponents, and I have a better opportunity to use the information.

On Pacific however the tables change constantly. I am constantly finding that I make a mental note on someone, look at that seat a few hands later, and they have been replaced. I have to move from table to table much more fequently as well. A 10 person table will suddendly be a 3 or 4 person table.

Also, it is easier to track players on some sites than others. For instance, I see many comments in the posts here that you can get great information about your opponents from PokerTracker, and even keep it up while playing to review some of that information. However, it is very difficult to get the required data on UB, and impossible on Pacific, but apparently easy on Party. So there may be a learning advantage to play on Party and use PokerTracker to review opponents.