There was this crazy Russian kid who was playing allright

was his name kgb?

Whenever you make a call based on a guess and get it right, you got lucky.

Hand reading is very hard to do when you play out of position because you have very limited info to go on, what if he bets turn and bets river with nothing? do you call all the way down?

Anyway. You make reads by observing your opponents. You can look for betting patterns, timing tells, body language, well all sorts really.

I play nearly 100% online poker so the tells I focus on are online tells. for example when a fishyish player donks the flop after your pre flop raise, this is nearly always either a hand that can't take too much pressure, random draw or a bluff, so you can raise with impunity. This is only a general tell based on experience (millions of hands of experience) as opposed to a player specific tell.

Another way to improve your 'skill' when reading opponents is to look at the showdowns (especially online). See what players are calling with and then think how the hand played out so you can adjust accordingly. Did they call down with bottom pair? Then value bet thiner on all three streets and bluff much less. Do they check/ fold every time they have nothing? Then really open up your bluffing range and make your C- bets smaller.

In poker you only get little bits of info here and there so you need to make the most of every little bit that you can. Try and play in position more, A6 is a junk hand to play when you will be out of position post flop as you'll be playing 'guess poker' which will be a losing play, especially when you are getting started. You stack off when an ace hits nearly always and you'll often find it's the man with the better ace that's planning on how to spend your money.

Good luck


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Why does my reply not show upin the main forum?

Is that to do with the technical hitch?

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