reading hands

[gamblore99]

can anybody give me some good concrete advice on reading hands. I have a lot of trouble with this. Like what to look for in what order? should I focus on one person at a time or many? Should focus more on there starting hands, or how often they make it to the river, or how often they raise. and so forth. please give detailed comments. thanx

[Al Schoonmaker]

There are chapters on this subject in Sklansky's HE Poker, my book, and many others. Go to a good bookstore. Look at various books. Find the chapter on reading hands. Buy the book or books that make the most sense do you.
You need to read a coherent presentation of how to read hands, not just get a few tips.
Regards,
Al

[bernie]

Quick overview...

Figure the table texture first. What type of table is it? Generally how many bets/player to the flop. Then what players make up this texture. Look at the components.

Remember many players will tend to play the same for the same reasons. Say 4-5 opponents are generally loose passive with tight raise standards. Fairly simple. Now throw in an overaggro and a decent player.

Given time, you'll know the basics of when one of the LP's are in. They're fairly easy to get a handle on. The overaggro will stick out as all the action will revolve around him. Watch his standards.

Keep track of raising/reraising/capping/coldcalling standards on all streets and with what 'type' of hands. Sounds like alot, but remember, 4-5 of these guys will be in the same ballpark. Which can make the other 2 stand out. Then it's a matter of getting the parameters of their play.

Lots of good stuff to read about on this as the DR. mentioned. Experience will breed this into you.

At the very least, study the basic bet patterns of standard hands on common boards. Expand from there.

cya

b

[Mikey]

Here is a simple hand reading exercise.

Lets say that you are in a typical mid limit game.

And you see the first two early players limp and then the button limp and the sb and the BB complete.

That gives us a total of 5 players for the flop.

The flop comes down Q 4 2 with 2 hearts

The SB and BB both check and the first early limper bets and the next person after him raises immediately.
It is not definite and it never is.... But there is a good chance that the person who just raised here has a Queen in his hand, since if he had a flush draw or any other non queen holding he would be more likely to call here and let others in behind him rather than raise here and trying to knock people out with a flush draw. Lets assume that he is a decent player (the one who raised on the flop) His most typical holdings would be QJ, QT, or even KQ if he decided not to raise with the latter preflop. Q9, Q8 are not that good of holdings preflop and most likely be discarded. AQ could be discarded as well because he would have raised with that hand preflop.

Hope this helps a little.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Go to "Essays"/"Guest Essays" here on 2+2. There's a great hand-reading primer right there.

[Dan Mezick]

Here's the link for that essay on this site:

Reading Hands-- The Essay (http://www.twoplustwo.com/skp1.html)

[IlliniRyRy]

I'd venture a guess and say that even if you read all the material in the world and ask people for tips, you won't truly ever be able to read hands without EXTENSIVE experience. Keep sitting in front of the screen, understand the logic behind pot odds, and eventually things will start to make sense. I think your question is like someone asking Kasparov to tell them how to play chess. There's just way too much information and the important stuff is really implicit.

[gamblore99]

thanx guys. that was a good essay. But thats not exactly where im having trouble on. My problem is more on putting people on passive/aggressive/normal and tight/loose/normal. When you read holdem for advanced players the preflop and alot of the postflop is entirely opposite depending on what categories ur opponent falls under. Certain players are obvious loose passive, or loose agressive but there are others that are much harder to figure out especially if ur only playing at a table with them for 2-3 hours or so. As well as how often a player bluffs. Things like these are essential to what hands you give them credit for and how you play against them.

[Mikey]

"My problem is more on putting people on passive/aggressive/normal and tight/loose/normal"

Read Psychology of Poker by A.S.

Also get lots of playing experience. Experience is crucial.

[gamblore99]

is that a book?

[Mikey]

yes, you know the guy who first responed to your post. That's him. He's the author of that book and it explains personality types for players. Its a very good book and it fits in line with what you may be looking for.

It is published by TWO PLUS TWO.

[gamblore99]

what is his book called
?

[Playaz]

the psychology of poker