Reading Players

How do you improve at reading people in an online poker game.

Pay attention to betting patterns, amount of time taken while it is their turn to act, change in avatar facial expressions.

Minus the last one.

I think there are lots of ways to read players online...

-Sometimes their name and their picture will tell u a lot about them.

-I watch for betting patterns, pay attention to anything they write in the chat window and notice whether or not they use the auto-select for action or not. If they don't use the auto-select buttons, I notice how long it takes them to act. Sometimes if they play very quickly or if they auto-select it means they are playing in multiple games or distracted. Either way, it tells me that they are probably not paying full attention to the game or they only play the cards/position.

-Noticing how much they bet or raise and when is also a good indicator of what kind of player they are. Do they take advantage of position? Do they go all in? Do they bet or raise random amounts?

-If the game is quiet, I'll try and start conversations. I look at the way they spell things, write things and then of course I pay attention to what they say/write. Are they cocky? Easy to ignite on tilt? Do they even engage in conversation with me? Male? Female? etc.

That's my .25

Thanks for the info and good luck at the tables.

Thx. You too.

Are you new to poker? Or new to online poker?

Very good point but I would like to add something to this, some players have bad connection which takes them longer to act so watch for that. And some players are in a very important hand at another table which might take them a while to act. Also look at their stack and pay attention to how tight or loose they are. Try not to bluff loose and players with a big stack. Mainly i think you just have to pay attention to couple of their hands and figure them out if that person is a bad player. If the players doesnt go to show downs a lot and plays solid poker try to stay away from that person.

No i'm not new to poker or online poker but my reading isn't very good and i need it to improve in order to build a bankroll.

stick around like i did and your poker skills will improve

Rather than trying to put a player on a particular hand, think what range of hands that particular player would play from that position. Then, as has been mentioned, look at his/hers betting patterns from the position there playing. If your playing cash games, well its all about the maths and piecing the bits of info together.

i always go after the ones who raise constanly.......because half the time i can catch em playing marginal hands with a big pocket pair......so usually first clue is aggression/cockiness

i find it hard to read people online also. just when i think i have figured some people out it seems they move me to another table

Yes...that can be the challenge when playing in tourneys with large numbers. It's in those scenarios that I try to use chat or just watch for their aggression/cockiness as jgizzel said.

i try to watch there beting patern and try to get some chat to read them.
A good way to get them to start chating is just say "good luck evry one" then people usaly start chating and u get better read on them.
And yes a agree its hard to read people online

Notes thread might give you some ideas about what you should be looking for.

Make reads and then trust them, that is the ultimate way to go forward. Play frerolls or free money games and just spend time putting people on hands. Play low buy-in tourneys and now that you will go out if your read/ logic is not correct.

I think the ability to read online will come to some people when having a certain amount of experince playing. At the moment my reads sometimes get incredible, but at times I just have to use logical thinking to try to pinpoint a range of hands that villain could have played.

The fact just is that some players and some hands are just easier to read than others. I suggest some meditation and the likes if you really want to increase your reading ability. Many might say that is a waste of time, but getting rid of those worries going around in your mind is something that will definately help you concentrate on good poker.

Best advice I can give is do the opposite of what I do. I'm 2tabling right now and reading the forums when I dont have a hand haha

Low buy-in tourneys maybe but freerolls and play money games are not the places to practice making reads. If someone doesn't care about losing, they will make stupid plays that are impossible to read. People will put their stack in the middle with 83o knowing it will sometimes win. At low buy-in tourneys though you don't risk a ton of money yet people still realize it's real money and respect it and will try to win. I think that's the way to go.