One must have the ability sit down at any money or free texas holdem table, online or live and study the other players. In my opinion patience is the key ingredient when it comes to reading players and the most vital stage is when the game starts.
Why you might ask?
This provides you with you a chance to sit back and take mental notes about the player’s actions. This is powerful during the first half hour of a free texas holdem game in particular as lots of players like to go all in and hope they win the pot. I myself will only call these players with a high pair, or suited low connectors because I’ve played them before, and they will go all in with any two hand cards given.
What Mental Notes Should You Take?
The notes you’ll want to take during the first half an hour or if moved to a new table in any money or free texas hold em game are quite simple.
Determine which players are playing conservative and which ones are playing loose.
Those who are playing loose can potentially bet on nearly every hand and call almost anything.This is very common in free texas holdem games where low risk eliminates good sense at times!
Those that are playing careful will keep folding until they get the cards in hand they want or any pairs of AA’s, KK’s, QQ’s, JJ’s.
How can you tell if they are Bluffing?
This can be hard if you have not been watching the overall game as can happen a lot with free texas holdem or if you are playing multiple online games at the same time.
If you have been watching the overall game you will get more of a feeling as to who might be bluffing..
For instance:
Say you have an ace and king of spades you’re feeling good about your whole situation. Now you wait for the other player to check or bet, to your surprise the player bets 400 chips when the pot is at 120 chips.
So you call the player and on the flop lands Queen of spades, Jack of Spades, and ten of hearts. The other player goes all-in in order to make you think he/she has the winning hand. You already know you got it won so you call the player’s bluff and go on to win.
That is very obvious but if you are facing a more conservative player then they could try to buy you in by betting low not over the pot before the flop and after. These Players really know what they are doing and most likely will have a full house against your ace high straight. Here is where your experience comes into play…have you marked who is conservative and who is loose?
Practical Reading and Analysis Suggestions
1) Players who take too long and procrastinate are attempting to mislead you into thinking they have nothing and wait for you to make a bet worth calling. (Note: in free texas holdem the player may be taking too long because he/she is playing multiple games.) Filter these players out as this might be a habit for them.
2) Be wary of players who anticipate until the last second and raise you all-in. They are attempting to buy the pot with a decent pair hoping you don’t have any aces in your hand!
3) Everybody knows a chip bully. Every table has one. The only way to knock a chip bully off his expensive chair is not to become troubled by his/her large chip stacks. When you have it, go for it. Often, he/she is bluffing because, they want to pilfer the pot or blinds.
Every Player Develops Habits.
And from habits develop betting patterns – But What patterns might they form?
A bad habit (for them) you will witness only too often is that some players lose 80% of their chip stack. They get annoyed because they’ve taken a bad loss but rather than cut their losses choose to keep playing, often all-in until they lose the lot or earn back some chips (rare!). These players have given up and gone on “tilt”. The best course of action is to call them when the time is right. So be patient and you’ll nail them 100%.
Some players are almost impossible to read because they Know they’re being read and are always adjusting their technique. They will repeat themselves eventually but these patterns are very hard to spot. These players will take up a majority of your time! When you can read players like these..well you are probably playing WSOP!
I hope this article will help you fine tune your skills and has given you some strategies you can use at the tables. Every player can be read but if you cannot read players you will make poker impossible for yourself!
If analyzing other players is hard or you are new to poker then I advise you get lots of training in low risk games first. Try a free online poker site or play micro stakes on a money site before you start to use “serious” money