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I play on William Hill Online, it's one of the bigger sites in the UK. I've played there for about 6 months, probably over 15 hours a week. I'm happy with the site - the software is good and the technical support is excellent. I've been the victim of a server crash during a tournament and they always refund my entry fee and so on. As to the bot issue, I don't believe they are using bots (they boost participation at cash games by offering hourly bonuses to players watching the table, for example), but I do get very frustrated by some appauling bad beats - people drawing all the time on my 2 pair. I think this may be more to do with bad players not folding than dodgy algorithms, though.

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I have a query regarding player analysis; I understand that watching players is the key to gaining an advantage, especially in cash games. However, I find that watching other players' betting habits, as well as keeping track of everything else going on, is quite difficult. Normally I'm only able to pick up people check raising or pure bluffs. Are there easy ways to analyse players? Should I be watching for other features of their game?

Many thanks for any advice you can offer and well done again on a great site.

Neil

Answer: Thanks for the question Neil. The goal of watching other players is to gain as much information about their play as possible so that when you are against them you have a better idea of how you should play.

Let me give you an example that just happened to me yesterday. There was a guy that was raising literally every other hand and betting it religiously down to the river. He was heads up most of the time and no one was contending him. My blind came around and sure enough he raised me. I only had a crappy A5 off but that figured to be a favorite over his random hand -- also I wouldn't misplay my hand and he would his. I only flopped bottom pair. The flop was QJ5. I called him down the whole way and won.

Another player yesterday was trying to the same play by raising every other hand and betting it down to the river without a pair. Every now and then I would just call in my big blind and then bet the flop or check raise the flop with nothing. Three out of four times he folded and the other time I actually beat him with a better hand. I wouldn't consider this type of play against any of the other players at the table yesterday, but because I had been observant, I could gauge my play against these opponents and formulate the correct strategy against them.

The examples I gave are extreme and you most likely won't make those types of plays yet but they illustrate the point well: you need to have as much information about how people play certain hands. Here are some questions that you should be watching so you can answer:

- How many hands do they play?

- How often do they raise preflop? What are they raising preflop?

- Do they slow play their hands or just bet them straight forwardly?

- Do they bluff or make tricky plays or just bet their hands?

- Are they "believers", can they be bluffed?

- Do they make really bad plays like calling with no pair or draw to the river?

- Do they raise top pair on the flop or just call?

- Do they raise their flush and straight draws on the flop?

See all of that information helps you out. You would be surprised how consistent people are. It is rare that I see someone bluffing only once or making a really bad call only once. It is difficult at first to watch every hand and retain all that info but eventually it will become second nature. You don't want to be a player who only plays their hands. Instead you want to think about what the other person may have as well as what you think they think you have.

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