Tag Archives: he 39;s

Reading Your Poker Opponents

June 6, 2019   Personal game   No comments

Playing poker at online casino is not only a lot of fun, but it is also an exciting way to earn extra cash. However, when you start to lose continuously, the fun gets out of the game. To avoid this, you need to learn how to read your opponents.

Most poker players give away what they think, and the ability to read these thoughts is a significant factor in poker. Learning the non-verbal cues of your opponents sets you in a position where you can carefully plan your next move.

Perhaps for beginners, reading your opponent’s mind is not as easy as clicking your fingers, but learning from experiences and applying wits and a little bit of bluffing can help you win big time. But being aggressive is not always the key, unless you’re an expert.

Acting

Acting is an important part of poker. When you lead your opponents to believe you have a weak hand when in fact you have a strong one, and vice versa, you are using common game assumptions to your advantage. When professional poker players use this, they reverse these assumptions to bluff other players.

Talking

Try to spot any changes in their behavior or any kind of giveaways. Some quiet players start to talk when they have a bad hand, while others may start to hold their cards protectively when they receive a good hand.

Gestures

Like a red face, shaking, deep breathing and jittery gestures usually mean a player has a good hand and is unconsciously “giving away” that he has. Of course, always be aware of your own gestures and behavior so you would not send out giveaways to your opponents.

Gazing Sideways

If your opponent is gazing sideways as if he is not interested, remember this is a deception. Your opponent has a strong cards and is going to raise when the bet come to him.

Pre-Flop

When an opponent checks on pre-flop, then either checks again on the flop or calls somebody’s raise, only to raise on the turn, things should be pretty obvious: this guy has been slow-playing something, a hand on which the flop hit him head on. He starts raising on the turn, or there are people who wait all the way to the river hoping that somebody else will start the betting and then they can check-raise him.

Raise-Bet-Check Pattern

This is a big sign of weakness. Generally, if somebody raises and then checks, it means he wanted to bluff and he just admitted he couldn’t pull it off. Make sure you don’t get yourself into this situation.

Playing hand right after a bad beat

This is usually a sure sign of tilt. A strong, tight player should be selective in the cards he plays. Unless he’s in position or playing out of the blinds, he’s probably just playing angry and on tilt. He’s liable to play foolishly aggressive, trying to win back the money he lost at any cost. Exploit this weakness.

Every player has certain poker tells that will tell you all you need to know about their hand. When you see these patterns, you’ll be able to read right through his poker face even in online poker.

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Poker Strategies: Playing Position I

May 13, 2019   Game guide   No comments

Every professional endeavor has it own mantra. In business there’s K.I.S.S. In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In poker, it’s position, position, position.

Position impacts each and every decision you make as a poker player.

Winning poker is about much more than what your cards are. Even what your opponents cards might be. Winning poker is all about situations and position.

We’ve all been told that the value of starting hands goes way up as you get short handed. This is a function of odds and percentages. The fewer hands contesting the pot, the better the odds that your hand will/may be good. For example: pocket 7’s are much stronger 4-handed than they would be with a full table. What many beginning poker players don’t fully appreciate is the fact that position plays much the same role.

Starting hand values will vary quite a bit well before you get the chance to be short handed at the final table. This is where position comes in. Hands become more valuable (playable) later in position. We’ll take the earlier example of pocket 7’s. In very early position (UTG), pocket 7’s may be a hand you would want to stay away from. If you open the pot for a raise, as is standard, what do you do if you get re-raised by a later acting player? He’s putting you in a tough spot because he has the advantage of having position over you.

He’s able to use the information he gets by seeing your action to help him make his decision. It a huge advantage. In this situation, you’d probably have to fold. There are 2 main reasons: 1) Unless he’s a total maniac, he’s not going to raise your bet unless he holds premium cards, either a strong Ace (AK,AQ) or a good pocket pair, and 2) even if you are a slight favorite pre-flop it’s extremely likely that one or more overcards are going to come out on the flop, making it very tough for you to bet, and he’ll still have position over you.

Now, let’s take our measly pair of 7’s and move over to the button. If we get a few limpers in the pot before us, we can usually assume that no one has a good Ace. A pot-sized raise could very well win us the pot right here. If we do get called, we can be fairly certain we are slight favorites in a coin flip situation. The later we have to act, and the fewer players in the hand, the more power our hand assumes (remember the example of playing short-handed). Being in position gives our hand more potential and gives us more options, being out of position seriously limits both.

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