How to practice reading the board

[Francis]

All,

I know this seems stupidly simple, but after 3000 hands of playing poker, I still can't read the board quickly and accurately.

Can someone tell me specifically of drills that will help improve the speed and accuracy of reading?

The one drill I know of is as follows: (assume's HE)

- deal the flop (now what is the best possible hand based on the 3 cards you see, and any other 2 cards)
- deal the turn (do the same)
- deal the river (do the same)

I've gotten better at this, but under the pressure of a game (and especially when I'm 2 tabling) it seems I lose the ability to do this easily.

Any other drills or suggestions?

Regards,
Francis [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

[tek]

I would also suggest practice counting your outs and calculating pot odds.

You'd have to use a poker software program to calculate pot odds. Just do yor drills without worrying about winning or losing the hands.

When I used to bowl competitively, I would practice hitting the specific dot and arrow on the lane and read the lane based on the ball reaction. I didn't kkep score when I practiced.

Same thing here, practice reading the board to see what hands could beat you, count your outs and pot odds. Practice is for learning skils and accuracy.

[Upright Bill]

Not criticizing but curious. Why would you multi-table before you feel comfortable reading the board?

Bill

[Francis]

[ QUOTE ]
Not criticizing but curious. Why would you multi-table before you feel comfortable reading the board?

Bill

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Bill,

valid question. The only reason I'm double tabling is because I'm trying to clear a bonus right now, and need 1500 raked hands in the next week.

As soon as I'm done clearing the bonus, I'll go back to playing single table where I have the time to understand much better what's going on.

thx!
-f-

[David04]

I have a big problem reading the board in Omaha 8....any tip? Or should I just practice?

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]
any tip?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, don't hi-jack other people's threads. If you have a question, please, just start a new thread.

[AKQJ10]

How on earth is that hijacking a thread on "How to practice reading the board"? The subject line doesn't say anything about Hold 'em, even though the OP did mention that as his area of greatest interest.

The flop games are closely related. Reading the board for high in O8 is very close to the same as reading it for HE, obviously. It's not like hijacking a thread to ask about how to read the board in Follow the Queen or something totally irrelevant.

[PE101]

Personally, I'd say blow off the bonus. You need time to think and learn. You'll have future chances to get bonuses. Then, with more experience, you'll be able to multi-table without so much effort, and your results will be better.

Get good first, then get fast.

[OrianasDaad]

Here's what I would do.

Use a notebook, or print out a form something like the following:

--FLOP TURN RIVER

------ ---- -----
1-
2-
3-
4-
5-
6-
7-
8-
9-

In each category, write down the top 9 hands in order, along with the board cards. Do this until you notice a difference. There's quite a bit you can learn about HE doing this.

[SheridanCat]

When it comes to learning to read the board for any flop game, I don't think there's much substitute for getting a deck of cards and just start laying flops/turns/rivers.

Before long you're going to start seeing patterns that you'll recognize quickly. Just drill it.

Regards,

T