{"id":33989,"date":"2024-08-08T09:53:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T14:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=33989"},"modified":"2024-08-15T06:08:13","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T11:08:13","slug":"reading-opponents-poker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/reading-opponents-poker\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Read Your Opponents When Playing Poker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Poker tells can give you a lot of valuable insights, but they shouldn\u2019t\nbe the only thing you consider when making decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to be good at reading your opponents when playing poker, you need to make use of all the information available<\/strong>. Everything from bet sizing, behavior, and even the time they take to make a decision, can be important in figuring out your opponent\u2019s holdings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s take a look at the most effective ways to read your opponents in all types of poker, from live dealer poker<\/a> to video poker<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter if you\u2019re playing live or online poker<\/a>, the most important part of reading your opponents is putting them on a range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018range\u2019 is the various possible hands they could hold, so putting them on a range means trying to figure out what those hands could be. As the hand plays out and your opponent makes more decisions and takes more actions, you can use this information to narrow down their range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a\nvital skill to master. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But instead\nof thinking about ranges, many players try to guess the exact hand of their\nopponents on the river. This approach doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good players don\u2019t make blind guesses; they use a methodical approach. Even though it requires a lot of practice, you can learn to put your opponent on a range by following these four simple steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to put your opponent on an accurate range of cards by the\nriver, you should start your work preflop<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first\nthing you need to consider is your opponent\u2019s position<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They will be playing completely different hands from under the gun (UTG) and button (BTN), so it\u2019s vital to assign them a realistic range.A player who is raising from the first position will not have 63s in their range, so is very unlikely to have strong holdings on the flop with 633. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, a player\non the BTN can easily have such hands, and way more other 3x holdings, so you\nneed to play differently against these ranges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Knowing the\nposition is not enough. You also have to identify your opponent\u2019s type<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If they\u2019re passive, they could be playing just 15% of hands from the cutoff (CO), while an aggressive opponent could be opening 35% or even more. The same thought process should be applied for other situations when someone limps, or you face a 3-bet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you evaluate\nyour opponent’s position and playing style<\/strong>, you can already make an educated\nguess of what hands they could be playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next\nstep is quite straightforward. Using information from the flop action, you can narrow\ndown their range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can learn what your opponent should do in any given situation by studying game theory optimal (GTO)<\/a> strategy and then adjust these ranges based on your observations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This will\nhelp you understand what hands your opponent should be checking or betting and\nthen reduce their likely holdings accordingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To narrow down the range even further, you should look at all the other information available to you. Things like your opponent\u2019s poker stats<\/a>, bet sizing, or even physical tells can say a lot about their holdings. The table dynamics will give you a ton of additional insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Most Important\nPart: Putting Your Opponents On A Range<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: \nAnalyze preflop actions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Narrow down the range based on flop\naction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step 3: Evaluate additional information<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n