Reading opponents
It’s the one thing most people know about poker. The hard-boiled professional card player reads the novice’s expression and bluffs him out of the pot. We’ve seen it a thousand times in the movies. The ‘tell’ that gives away hidden cards. Unfortunately, it’s largely a myth. play casino games online
Think of poker as a kind of conversation. A conversation where the words are bets. Bets, either high or low (or no bet at all) are what your opponent is telling you out loud. The subtext of the conversation in regular speech consists of tone and pace and tells you whether the speaker is excited or calm, angry or pleased. That’s what a pro is really ‘listening to’ when reading opponents.
It is rarely so obvious as scratching the nose or tugging an earlobe. Rather, reading an opponent has to do with patterns of behavior and is largely instinctual. A good player simply knows. They often can’t tell you just why they knew their less-than-stellar hand was a winner this time and a loser last time.
They will say something like, “I had a hunch.” What they mean is that they’ve been playing the game long enough to have trained their instincts. It isn’t a well thought out, considered analysis. There’s no time for that. It’s the same as the winning stock broker who has a feel for the market. It’s the same as the cop who, for no obvious reason senses something amiss.
How do you develop the ability to read opponents?
First and foremost, you play against real opponents. Experience in the game is essential.
Second, you pay attention. Experience allows you to evaluate your hand almost instantly — and that leaves you time to focus on what your opponent is doing.
Lastly, you need ‘game sense’. A feel, not just for a single opponent, but the rhythm of the game as a whole. A hesitation or bet at one point in a series of hands may mean something completely depending on how the overall game is going.
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