I can read people!? What the hell happened?

[Marlow]

I've been playing poker for about 6 years now, and I just had the most amazing and bizzare experience this weekend in Atlantic City. I could actually READ MY OPPONENTS! This may not seem that great to you, but I've never been able to do this with any success before. It just completely eluded me. But something clicked this weekend, and it all just made sense.

So tell me: what the heck happened?

You should know that I haven't played live poker in a long time. And I haven't played against unfamiliar opponents for an even longer time. So you'd expect that I'd be rusty. Right? Well I'll be god damned if I didn't know that the old guy was check raising because of the way he put his hands on the table and tried to casually look away from the table. I knew when the young kid was making a move by watching the corners of his mouth wrinkle. WTF? I felt like a superhero discovering his powers for the first time.

So I have two questions here. First: why now? I figured after 6 years if I couldn't do it, I'd never be able to. And believe me, I tried. I really did. I read Caro. I focused with everything I had at the table. I got my ass kicked whenever I thought I knew what was going on.

Second: could it be TV? Generally, I'm a visual learner. By watching other people play on the WPT and WSOP, could I have accidentially learned something?

I'm interested to know whether any of you have had this experience. Can you read people? How did you learn? How long did it take? Have you had any similar experiences that might shed some light here?

So please, please, please let me know what you think. Because I'm really stumped. And psyched. Suddenly poker has opened up into a completely new game for me.

Woohoo!!

Thanks a bunch,
Marlow
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P.S.- I'm exhausted from my trip, but I'll be sure to read and respond to all posts tomorrow.

[tylerdurden]

I think you just got out of the kiddie pool. Congrats. Don't let your newfound power go to your head.

[mosquito]

Congrats. For some people, things just click for
no apparent reason. The subconcious and the intuitive
thought process can be strange things indeed.

Thought: When you get the opportunity, try to reconstruct
logically how you got your read. When you can do this
consistently, you won't have to rely on intuitive powers
so much. Also, your accuracy will improve.

mosquito

[TheCroShow]

i've been playing for around 8 months and i can do it. in yo face! :P

k i'm full of xxxx and maybe i am a good guesser. these things click in for no apparant reason. one of the biggest thing was spotting "self tells." learn your own tells and the doors will open baby.

congrats on finding this new power, feels great to read another player's soul eh?

*edit* i find it EASIER to read brand new players as opposed to players i play against regularly.

[MaxPower]

Do you play a lot online? If so, you are probably much quicker at processing information at the table. You can make your decisions much more quickly, which frees up your attention to pay attention to the kind of things you are talking about. A lot of things that used to take effort are now done automatically and that makes it easier to focus on your reads.

[Marlow]

Max,

Yes, I play online almost exclusively. This is a great point. I really do process things very quickly now. In fact, in the casino, I did what I'm supposed to do - I watched my opponents instead of the dealer when the cards were being dealt. I figured that the cards aren't going to change by the time the action got around to me. I might as well take advantage of the opportunity while I could.

Thanks for the insight-

Marlow
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[grandgnu]

I picked up my reading skills right after reading Caro's book. It was amazing, can't believe it took you that long to utlize the skills, but they are riDONKulously valuable.

I used to consider myself a pretty decent NL Hold 'Em player (I've played five weekly tournies at Foxwoods, placing in the money three times with two of them final tables 9th and 7th place)

But recently at my home games, after reading Caro's book, I've taken 2nd, 1st and 1st the last three games. I'm heading back to Foxwoods this Friday for their 8am tourney.

After learning from Caro's book, I've been able to pick up tells like crazy off of people. It's allowed me to toss hands that I was considering betting, when I realize my opponent is very strong.

And more importantly, it's allowed me to take advantage of opponents who I catch on bluffs or draws, by betting so much they're forced to fold. I'm making plays I would have never considered before, and I'm accumulating extra chips because of it, it truly is amazing.

And in NL Hold 'Em, I'd say that the ability to read your opponents is even more important than understanding the math and odds, and it's close to being worth as much as hand selection and positional play, maybe sometimes more-so.

Granted, I still prefer 7-stud, stud hi/lo and Omaha Hi/Lo limit cash games or tournies, but I have a renewed appreciation for Hold Em, which I considered 7-stud for dummies. The psychological edge is HUGE in this game.

[xniNja]

Nice. You probably just finally decided to really pay attention and it paid off.

I think people underestimate the value of reads in limit poker. A saved bet, an earned bet, or a bet that wins you the pot can all be results of good reads.

[mindflayer]

It was the gamma radiation burst during re-entry into the earths atmosphere that mutated you into the card reader.

[LIRob23]