Making a read online

This is what I find so impossible about online play, I just don't know where I am in a hand.

Most of the time I'm guessing.

Live I usually have a good idea and it has to be very close before I'm not sure, or someone has to really slow play a monster. Online I pay off way more than I should.

Online, how do you guys do it?

What's that quote from Sklansky's theory of poker, something like:

Every time your opponent does something that they wouldn't do if they knew your cards, you win. Every time you do something that you wouldn't if you knew their cards, you lose.


So it's a very important skill, I'm not even talking about the monster reads here where you can call the other guy's cards, just to be able to call his range 90% of the time or more would be nice but I'm nowhere near that online.

How do you do it?
Betting patterns, right? I can never make sense of that as a stand alone system, it compliments your read but relying solely on it is horribly unreliable, at least at my low level of understanding of it. How can I improve? Any good advice/reading material?

Also, when you're playing 4 tables at once, do you really study everyone?
Or do you just study the guys nearest your left and right on every table?

I realise that most of this is very general, there's no specific "in this situation, what do I do", so it could be hard to answer. But some of you guys make some good money online, you must be good at this, so what do you know that I don't?

I play the micros, so keep that in mind as you read my comments.

Most players don't raise with utter crap from early position. You may see a KTo raised every now and then and you just make a note. Usually, a raise UTG or UTG+1 is going to be JJ+ or a big ace. You'll see LOTS of limpers with AT or KT or suited connectors and small pairs.

Many of the micro players tend to play middle position the same as early, so there's not much in the way of adjustments to be made.

Late position brings out some looser raises, as it should, but it's still not too hard to figure ranges if you've been paying attention.

Most micro players follow a fit or fold style. They'll check nothing and bet when they have something. The next step for some is to bet their draws, then check when they miss.

C-betting is sporadic...keep notes.

As for 4-tabling...notes are easy once you get used to it. It's not hard to classify someone who calls to the river with a gutshot or someone else who limped UTG with A4o and then called a pre-flop raise from a late-position player.

ABC poker will do it for you at the micros.

Betting patterns for the most part. You have to extrapolate though. If you see a guy raise K9o from early position, you can treat him as a pretty loose and aggressive player, until you see them do something that would make you rethink that label.

Try not to focus too much on a specific hand, just get to know their general tendencies. If they generally play loose preflop, they probably also play loosely postflop and may show down some poor hands at the river.

A good read which isn't 100% accurate by no means I feel would be taking a little time and straight betting the pot usually spells steal and a re-raise should seriously be considered.

Also that's just my style I like to bet out on pots to see where people stand.. a smooth call can be 1 of 3 things... chasing a draw.. slow playing a monster or just coming for a ride.

I use a HUD (PT3), which allows me to see at a glance how often villains are putting money in the pot from which positions, how often they're raising when they put money in the pot, how often they 3bet from which position, how often they cbet, how often they ch/r, etc. The more hands I've played w a specific player, the more accurate my picture of them becomes.

Based on this info, I try to classify villain types quickly into 4 categories based on a few of those statistics and will check for details as necessary - absolutely clueless fish, passive, aggressive/bluffy, and aggressive/smart. These villain types have different betting patterns by position that you can use to narrow ranges pretty effectively.

Its really difficult to get "reads" on online opponents. However, there are three things I like to keep track of in players notes. The first is, anytime a player slowplays a hand, I will put it in the notes and I will put how big the hand was - trips on rainbow flop with out opened straight possible. The second I put is the size of their bets (as a percent of the flop) they bet when they have good hands versus bluffs (do they bet small when they have monsters but bet big when bluffing). The last thing I look for is if they bet their draws.

This is great information. I would have to agree that taking good notes is key, especially for the long term. You can also base alot of what others do on what table image that you have made for yourself. I tend to win some uncontested pots mid-tourney just by sitting tight and observing for a while. I would definately keep track of patterns and keep detailed notes on players. Specify when in the tourney the player is doing what they are doing, their position, thier cards. It makes reads later on easier. You can call/raise with more confidence and know when to cut your losses. Good luck.