So it has been a few weeks ok well almost a month and I need to finish this series that I promised I would do. Last we talked I discussed what hands you should play. And there was some stir as to me suggesting playing weak hands; I guess I need to reiterate that those hands should not be played often but just enough to keep your opponent guessing. The reason for this is simple, if you only play a few hands and everyone knows it you will never get the action you desire as everyone will fold because they know that you have a great hand.
On to the discussion of what hands your opponent is holding. This is a tricky question to answer and it is something you can only truly answer with certainty by calling to the river. I dont suggest this method as it will land you in the poor house. There are better methods for obtaining this information than being the guy that is known as the call-station at the table, betting is one method of data extraction, raising is another, and check raising is yet another. All of those methods follow the aggressive style and approach to poker. If you are more of a patient soul, then you are going to have to hone your skills on mental note taking of how players play and react. You will have to get very good at making the reads. You will make more use out of positions and chip stacks. You will be the thinker at the table.
So you need to know what type of player you are up against. Is this person a call station? Are the loose? And they aggressive? Are they passive? How have they bet in the past? have they called a lot in the past with great cards and win at showdown? All of these questions are those things that you will want to know after you have sat at a table with someone for a period of time. If you are not making notes in your head on the persons style of play you are not in the right frame of mind and you are not interested in this being a successful (who are we shitting "PROFITABLE" is what we really mean) session.
So after you have sized up your opponent you can now start to put them on a range of hands that they might be playing with. When you make the table standard raise pre-flop and you get a caller(s), based on that individual you can now put them on certain range of cards before the flop even comes out. The flop comes out and you bet again.... but wait how much did you bet? Did you bet an amount that will tell you more about their hand? Well you should have! People often in NL hold'em make the mistake of just betting the same amount on the flop as preflop. In my opinion this is a huge error, and you gained nothing from making that bet.
So lets take for example a few hands that are commonly played (but maybe a mistake). You are in early position you are dealt Q-J suited, and because you are feeling frisky you raise to 3 times the BB. 2 mid position players call the raise, and so does the BB. So what have you learned? You need to be asking yourself what these three people would be willing to call with. Surely at least one of them called with A-X and the others with either pocket pairs or something like Q-K or K-J. So where does that leave you? Pretty much you are looking for your dream flop of QQJ or JJQ and would likely settle for QJX. So let's say the flop comes Q-5-2 rainbow. You hit top pair the big blind checks to you so you fire at the pot a half pot bet about twice what you fired preflop. Right now is a critical point in the hand. If you get a caller he likely has at least a Q with likely a better kicker. If you get a raiser he definitely has at least a Q with an A for a kicker or he hit a set of 5's or 2's, maybe even Q's. So the first mid position guy calls the second raises, the BB folds and so should you take the loss while you can and save your chips. Now lets say the same flop comes and the 5-6 are suited. You make the same bet and get one mid position caller. People in my opinion like to chase their flushes and really like to chase their ace high flushes, but maybe he has a Q and is unsure of his kicker because maybe it is a jack just like yours or even a ten. At any rate you need to be thinking about all the hands that your opponent could be calling with. One sudo tell that I have picked up on is that a person on their flush draw intensely watches for the next card, sometimes it funny when playing with newbie's that they actually try and follow the card with their head and body trying to see it before it actually hits the felt. Why are they doing all this? Because they don't have a made hand, if they are not on a draw they are likely watching you or looking at the chips they want to win. If you notice something like this or for another reason you think that they are unsure fire at the pot again because your Q might be good. There are a thousand scenarios that we could go through and with time you will see everything at a poker table. My point is that betting to find a range of hands is a good tool.
Another thing to consider when finding your opponents range of cards is actually what range of cards they have seen you play. Believe it or not they have been watching you, studying you and taking notes as well. Maybe they put you on a bluff cause you were caught bluffing earlier. Maybe they think you have an under pair. Or maybe they are afraid to bet their top pair because the last several hands they have seen when you were involved you had over pairs or the Nuts. So also ask yourself what is my table image be aware of what others have seen you play and what they are likely thinking. This will aid in determining their mindset and what you believe because of that they are playing with. Maybe they think that their trash is better than your trash.
I know that it is hard to describe and illustrate hands and how to find hand ranges for your opponents but you need to acquire this skill in order to "know when to holdem know when to foldem" , and we could spend pages and pages talking about it. But this skill is important as it will often make the difference between a winning session and a losing session. I have over the last several months really dedicated myself to trying to make the correct reads and in doing so I have saved myself some massive losses. Its not always how much you win but how much you did not lose. Lets continue this discussion of opponent hands in the forums and see what else we can learn, I hope this was a good start.
