Learn Texas Holdem

Question: Hi, I have been playing Texas Hold¡¯em for a short time. A few weeks ago, I found your site; I benefited greatly from here. (Nice site, GREAT TEACHER!) Here is where I learned I am not suppose to bluff that much, and some basic strategies, also I learned that not only am I suppose to play my own cards, I have to keep an eye on the other¡¯s actions as well for assuming their hands. During the last few weeks, I kept trying to improve my hand reading skill when I found out ¡°IT IS NOT EASY!¡± Often from then to now I gets frustrated for unable to read other players¡¯ hands, (especially going into aggressive games, where often more than 2 people raise at once for seeing a flop or turn) I really felt as having no idea of what¡¯s going on.

So my question is, what can beginners do to improve their hand reading skills?

Also, out of curiosity. How often do you or any other good players assuming correctly what your opponents have? Do you really have to have a guess or have assumptions for ALL the players in the pot at all time or every round?

When a flop comes down, there are lots of actions going on, should we always put the opponents on hypothetical hands that we are suppose to be assuming?

Lastly, is it good to keep an eye on the whole table, to ¡°get a feel¡±, or one player at a time?

Thank you for your time

Sincerely

Xavier

Answer:

Those are some good questions. Let me answer the shorter questions first before getting to general hand reading tips.

How often can an experienced player read another player? It depends on the game, but I would say that a good player will have a decent read about 7/10 times minimum. Now what does a "decent read" mean? I think a decent read gives a specific enough estimate on opponent's hand strength so that the correct decision can be made: fold, raise, bet, call, check, etc. Does that mean that when I play I can read other people's hands like Mike in Rounders? No. It just means that after watching a person player for a while, I'll be able to predict "where they are at" enough to be useful. See it doesn't matter much if the person has AQ, or AK if you are beat by a pair of aces and there is one on the flop. The real question then is exposed here: Am I beat? It doesn't really matter if the person has AA or KK, if you know he has a bigger hand than you do, the decision you make is the same.

If what I am saying is true, that good players will be able to read opponents hand with such accuracy, how the hell can anyone lose? There are three main factors that contribute to people losing even if they can read hands 7/10 times or better. The first factor is luck. Everyone is a victim of 3 outers when you raise with KK and someone calls you with AQ and beats you with an Ace on the river. There is nothing anyone can do about that and it is just the nature of the beast. Poker is a game of small edges. It is very rare that you have your opponent horribly beat. Most of the time he still has a few outs to bust you. That can get really frustrating, especially if no matter what you do, people still beat you day-after-day. When that frustration wells up and you lose confidence in what quality play is, then you are on tilt.

Tilt is the second reason why people lose even if they can read hands very well. Getting into pots with marginal hands because you think someone else is putting moves on you and you have a read on them is risky. Great players can make the correct decisions often enough to come out on top but even they are vulnerable when on tilt. For some reason when you tilt you are more likely to assume you have other people beat or they are trying to push you around. Your judgment goes down and you end up spiraling out of control; frustration causes more tilting which causes more losing and frustration. The tip then is to try to do less reading of hands and suspect situations when you are getting annoyed.

The last factor that contributes to good hand readers losing is that sometimes you can't get away from a hand. A couple examples of this are draws or just hands where you are stuck, you have to pay the person off even though you are fairly sure they have you beat. This is similar to the first point but I don't consider it an issue of luck. With luck, you are going against odds with a hand that is behind, while in this point you are going along with the odds even though you are still behind in the hand.

Should you always put players on hypothetical hands when you play? Yes, or at least try. If you are just starting out don't worry if you can't keep up but what attention you can give, give it to the players who are controlling the hand. It's a safe assumption that they are the ones who are most likely to win and your biggest competition. In low limit games often times many people will call the bettor and it is fine to say, "that person is a horrible player and most likely has nothing when they call, just like they did the last 10 times so I'm not going to worry about it until I see differently." That type of thinking is a read, you may not know exactly what they have but based on previous hands you safely assume they don't always have a piece of the flop when they call.

Should you watch the whole table or individual players? When I first sit down at a table I like to get a general feel for how the game is going. The main things I'm looking for are how aggressive people are playing preflop and how many people are coming in preflop. The answers to those questions will shape my hand selection. Then after I figure that out I'll turn my attention solely to the players and try to figure them out. What you will find is most people play fairly predictably compared to what you have seen in the past.

Now for the main question about improving hand reading skills... I already mentioned a few tips above like don't rely on reading hands too much if the situation is tricky and you are frustrated; instead, rely more on tight straight forward play. Your game should be made up mainly of tight play but sometimes you'll have to defend a hand when you assume it is the best (even if your cards suck), but the tendency is to try that more when you are tilting.

The next tip is that people are creatures of habit; watch their previous hands to guide you in the present hands. People who like to play tricky and bluff raise and semi-bluff on the turn tend to do it too much; likewise, people who don't bluff or play bad hands or chase rarely do it. As for the people in the middle who have a tight game but throw in the occasional bluff or tricky play, my philosophy is "render unto Ceasar." By that I just mean that if they are playing really good poker, I'm not going to get in their way and take risks unless I have to out of necessity -- give them their chips. A good player is a tough to beat so if I can avoid confrontations, especially where I am the one calling, I will. As you progress up the stakes ladder, what you will notice is that for a while everyone plays tight poker, then all of a sudden you'll see a tight game but people will be playing weird hands sometimes. What happened is that after everyone realized that the other players were playing tight poker and folding bad hands, they started to take advantage of this by raising with weaker hands. Then the other guys realize that people are doing this so they start playing back at them with similar hands. Now you have a game where it appears tight because only a few people are in but the hand strength they hold is less than what you would expect.

The next tip is to pay attention to what the texture of the flop is and how it relates with the betting. Flush draws and straight draws should jump out to you while other flops have no draws to the turn card. For example, the flop is K - 5- 2 and a tight player is giving you lots of action when you have AK. Since 2 pair is unlikely, you can most likely assume he either has a weaker King or a set. If the flop was K - J - 2 or K - T - 2 or K - Q - 2, you could be up against a two pair. If you are up against weaker players though who may as well have K2 as KQ, your ability to read them with accuracy will go down. Next, betting on the flop is important but betting on the turn card and river is usually more truthful and if you aren't stubborn and you can listen to the signs the opponent is giving you, you can get away from some hands that others might not be able to. The question you always need to ask yourself when someone raises you is, "Is this guy capable of bluffing here and if not what are my chances of winning if I call?" For example, let's say you raise with QQ and then on the turn card someone raises you when a King hits. To continue calling here if you didn't think the person was capable of a bluff is bad play.