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How To Read Hands In Poker
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Author: Marc Weinberg
There is no doubt that the ability to read other players' holdings is critical if you want to become successful at poker. It is a skill that anyone can pick up, but to master it takes a lot of time, experience, and above all a good memory of previous hands that you have played.
A lot of people seem to think that you can only read hands in a live-game scenario, and that reading hands in online poker is far harder. This is simply not the case. Betting patterns, the amount bet in the given hand, the position of the players involved, the board texture, and the context of the hand (is it the late stage of a big tournament? is it a small cash game?) are the factors that should be taken into account. You can tell if someone has a hand, and you can often tell how big that hand is without ever seeing the guy's pupils dilate, or which hand he uses to move chips into the pot.
Now physical tells do exist, and there are a lot of players that make a living from watching these subtle mannerisms. Conversational tells are also significant. Players often reveal the strength or weakness of their hands based on something they say. Other players keep up a steady stream of chatter (Jim Meehan and Kenna James come to mind), or a steady stream of insults (Mike Matusow), or they sing at the table (Marcel Luske, Kenna James once again). They do this to distract other players, and to prevent those players from getting a read on what they might be holding. You're so busy listening to Jim's latest joke, or Marcel's latest ditty that you don't see that they have picked up a huge hand and are about to break you. But they see it.
In online poker there are no distractions caused by other players. Turn your chat functionality off and close all other windows. Focus only on the cards and the way other players are betting at your table. You can learn how to read hands, and here is an example taken from a hand I played in this very afternoon:
The stuff you need to know: It was a major multi-table event, about half-way through. Blinds were at $200/$400 and the average chip stack in the tournament was $5,000. Players at my table were cautious, but generally aggressive when they held good cards. The player whose hand we will try and read was first to act and had $2,400 chips in front of him. The blinds both had bigger stacks, and the whole table was still to act.
Before the flop: He bet $400 and simply called. If he was a tricky, good player with a lot of chips left we might start to think that he was setting a trap. But he has shown that he is not particularly tricky, and he has very few chips left. If he had a good hand (QQ,JJ, TT, or any medium pair, AK, AQ, KQ, or AJ) we would expect a raise here. So those hands are out. he would raise in order to take down the pot right here, and would probably go all-in with those hands, due to his poor overall position in the tournament. If he had a very big hand - either AA or KK would be the only two to worry about - he might just call and try to trap, but he has so few chips left at this point that I would discount AA or KK. So what can he have? Suited connectors would be my guess, and fairly high ones at that. TJ, QJ, 9T - something like that.
He gets one caller in late position, and both blinds call. There are now 4 players left.
The flop: Comes 2-2-Q with no flush draws.
Action: Small blind checks, Big blind checks, our player goes all in for his last 2000 chips. There is still one player left to act, and both blinds will have the chance to call. What does he have? This is easy to work out. If he had a 2 it would be because he played A2 or K2 suited and flopped a monster. If that was the case it would be far more likely for him to bet a smaller amount because he wants action. The all-in bet here is saying two things: First - I have some kind of hand, so be scared. Second - I don't have a 2, so I'm a little scared myself. With that in mind, he can only have a Q. And based on our earlier thinking he must hold QJ or possibly QT. A smaller Qx is possible but unlikely because limping in with those hands out of position is bad play. He should have folded QJ and QT as well, but you could make a case for a mediocre player limping in with that hand.
Everyone folded to him and he showed QJ of hearts.
Was this mind-reading? Hardly. It happens all the time in poker hands and you can do it as well. This was one case where logic dictated a very small number of possible hands based on how the player bet at the pot. In some cases it is far harder to be this precise, but most of the time you can ascertain more or less what someone is likely to have.
Always remember that if players smooth call twice in the face of sizeable raises that they are in the hand with something or with the chance to make a great draw. This is very true if players check and then call when someone else bets. These players are tough to bluff out of a pot, but you need to look at the board and reassess the strength of your own hand.
If you think you have what it takes to read cards and take down monster pots then you need to play online poker at Paradise Poker today!
Related Poker Articles And News Items:
> Find The Choking Point In Online Poker
> Set Mining In Various Poker Cash Games
> A Radical Theory For No-Limit Hold'em Cash Games
> Playing Suited Connectors In No-Limit Hold'em
> How To Deal With Maniacs At Your Table
> The Value Of Deception In Poker
> Online Tells And How To Spot Them
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