Putting your opponent on a hand

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kiggans_412

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So I hear a ton about I guess the criteria of how to be a profitable player. I can understand how calculating pot odd, outs, stack sizes, position and even the type of player your dealing with play a role. How important is it to try to put your opponent on a hand? I feel like that would have more of a negative effect than positive. Any one have any opinions?
 
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onemorechance

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It's not necessarily about putting your opponent on a specific hand, more putting them on a potential range of hands that they could have and playing against that 'range'. And yes I'd say it's very important, absolutely fundamental
 
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GreatLeslie

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A good way to get an idea of someones range is to look at their cards if they haven't mucked at the end of a hand, usually at showdown between two players. If someone is holding J2 unsuited at showdown you know for a fact they're playing a wide range, and putting these types of players on a hand is tricky.

One thing I have found valuable at putting people on a range is by raising preflop. Generally by raising you're thinning the field of players. If you start a hand with four people limping and then you decide to make a moderate raise and then just 1 person calls and the others fold, you can be sure that this person who called your raise most likely has something of decent value such as a high suited connector or some kind of broadway card. You can then use this information to your advantage when the flop comes to judge whether you think your opponent has hit it or not.
 
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hffjd2000

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Of course very important to put opponent on a hand.

You can decide what action you take next. It dictates you decisions.
 
Four Dogs

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So I hear a ton about I guess the criteria of how to be a profitable player. I can understand how calculating pot odd, outs, stack sizes, position and even the type of player your dealing with play a role. How important is it to try to put your opponent on a hand? I feel like that would have more of a negative effect than positive. Any one have any opinions?
Why do you feel like putting your opponent on a hand would be a negative thing?
 
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kiggans_412

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Because if you would get too hung up on what you thought they had it could get very costly.
 
Four Dogs

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Because if you would get too hung up on what you thought they had it could get very costly.
Well, hand reading is really a misnomer. It should really be called "Range Reading" and yes, if you're bad at it it could be very costly, and perhaps worse than just playing your own two cards. So don't be bad at it.
 
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kiggans_412

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How do you go about getting better at this though?
 
PokerFunKid

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The more experienced you are the more often you will put your opponent on a small range. Sometimes only one or two hands make sense the way some one plays it or it a big bluff. By eliminating hands you can get to a range you opponent probably has. Lets say he open raise from UTG x3 he doesn't have 27o (and many more) ofcourse (unless hes a whale). On the river you can sometimes put you opponent on a small range. Looking to the board and the way he played it. And, the way he played hands earlier.
 
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kiggans_412

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So you gotta like play it as a process of elimination type deal. kinda think how you would play those hands in which position.
 
Marcwantstowin

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The more experienced you are the more often you will put your opponent on a small range. Sometimes only one or two hands make sense the way some one plays it or it a big bluff. By eliminating hands you can get to a range you opponent probably has. Lets say he open raise from UTG x3 he doesn't have 27o (and many more) ofcourse (unless hes a whale). On the river you can sometimes put you opponent on a small range. Looking to the board and the way he played it. And, the way he played hands earlier.


Very good answer by PokerFunKid. Putting an opponent on a range will increase your +EV alot. I sometimes play hands that I possibly shouldn't just to play and see how my hand reading is going. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, but it works for me. I like to do this before a major tourney just so I can make some adjustments and get my mind in a good place.

It's all part of my preparation for tourney play ~ sometimes people forget to do this, and believe me it makes a difference...........gl.........:D:D:D
 
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cotta777

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Very good answer by PokerFunKid. Putting an opponent on a range will increase your +EV alot. I sometimes play hands that I possibly shouldn't just to play and see how my hand reading is going. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, but it works for me. I like to do this before a major tourney just so I can make some adjustments and get my mind in a good place.

It's all part of my preparation for tourney play ~ sometimes people forget to do this, and believe me it makes a difference...........gl.........:D:D:D


For me I do kind of the thing sometimes focusing on observation and position
irrelevant to my hand strength it's more of a training exercise maybe once, twice a week for 30 minutes.

Regarding range I analyse each player individually and stick with the rule as stated above If I've raised and get one caller likelyhood is they either have a strong spec range or unfrequently they might have a pocket pair it's rarely anything else.

Also I notice what hands they raise with and whether their range vary's depending on position - if it is they are playing optimal if it's random they are Fish in most cases, although sometimes a good player will maybe use EP to disguise range
 
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bluejay2220

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If you can get an idea of what your opponent is holding then you have a better idea of how to play the hand. In my opinion it is helpful, especially in tough situations for ex. When you have a good hand that's hard to put down but you can get a sense that you are beat, you can save a lot in these situations. Or, on the reverse side of the coin, you can hook the player for a lot or all their chips if you know you have them beat.
 
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GWU73

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The more specific and more accurate your hand reading is the better your decision making will be. You can get pretty good at it by watching hands you are not involved in and trying to call every players hand/ range.
 
TakinOver

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Putting someone on a hand is not only mandatory but also makes the game funner. Seeing how good you are at knowing, without knowing. Grasp that. The better you are at that, ha you can use that anywhere,any place or anytime.
 
gus201

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Yes you can put a player on a hand but it is up to you to do the necessary work to acomplish it . Most players dont want to do the work so they go half way and stop short .
You cant find any trainers that will teach it because it takes time and practice and if your the one paying you might think you have been shorted because you may not move along as fast as you want to so those paying will blame the trainer and not themselves for not catching on that fast .
Putting players on hands comes after learning to range them and then ranging them faster and then evetually putting them on hands at times preflop.
I never have understood why trainers convince players to only put players on ranges and not to try to put them on hands as fast as possible ( where you are in learning this ). The more practice the better and quicker you become .
Also Know the table, players styles and tendencies. One TAG may react bad, behave different then another TAG. So never think you can only play them one way. Keep an open mind and thought process because its the mind and how you process things that is the key . I can go all day but will stop there :)
I hope you get the just of what I am saying , its my 2 cents worth take what you can and play .
Good skill at the tables
 
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