putting players on hands

This is something ive really been trying to push myself at, even when ive folded a hand i try to work out what the other guys have. However ive found out im not too bad at it and well obviously i wanna change this, any of you guys got some good tips/advice when trying to place people?

Try putting your opponents ona range of hands and narrow that range once the hand progresses.

NL Hold'Em
Example: You hold AK and raise in MP, the button calls. Flop comes J36rainbow. You bet 2/3 pot to have him fold, BB flat calls. What can villain have that he can calla bet on this flop after calling our raise ? Medium to smallish PP (88, 99, 1010), a small to big J, Ax, etc. He might just peel one off for a gutshot or to keep you honest, figuring you haven't hit this dry flop (you have raised in MP and only AJ and JJ hit this flop hard enough).

Turn brings a K. You bet again, this time 1/2 the pot: he flat calls. Now, med PP become very unlikely, has does a small J or Ax. You have raised preflop, A7 or even A3 or A6 will usually fold here. AJ, KQ will possibly raise, as will AA (figuring you have it) to take it down: AA is unlikely though since a reraise preflop is almost mandatory. Ak is also possible, but I see AK also raising here. A set slowplaying might just call (KKK, JJJ 333, 666)

This is usually the tought progress you should have. In the example, on the flop, villain can have a lot of stuff, but on the turn, the range is much narrower since gutshots, semi-bluffs and the like become very, very unlikely: sets and big hands call this turn, fair hands usually raise/fold.

Knowing this, we either shove or check/fold check/call river if we are unimproved.

jeffred1111 said:

Try putting your opponents ona range of hands and narrow that range once the hand progresses.

NL Hold'Em
Example: You hold AK and raise in MP, the button calls. Flop comes J36rainbow. You bet 2/3 pot to have him fold, BB flat calls. What can villain have that he can calla bet on this flop after calling our raise ? Medium to smallish PP (88, 99, 1010), a small to big J, Ax, etc. He might just peel one off for a gutshot or to keep you honest, figuring you haven't hit this dry flop (you have raised in MP and only AJ and JJ hit this flop hard enough).

Turn brings a K. You bet again, this time 1/2 the pot: he flat calls. Now, med PP become very unlikely, has does a small J or Ax. You have raised preflop, A7 or even A3 or A6 will usually fold here. AJ, KQ will possibly raise, as will AA (figuring you have it) to take it down: AA is unlikely though since a reraise preflop is almost mandatory. Ak is also possible, but I see AK also raising here. A set slowplaying might just call (KKK, JJJ 333, 666)

This is usually the tought progress you should have. In the example, on the flop, villain can have a lot of stuff, but on the turn, the range is much narrower since gutshots, semi-bluffs and the like become very, very unlikely: sets and big hands call this turn, fair hands usually raise/fold.

Knowing this, we either shove or check/fold river if we are unimproved.

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just skimmed this but the 1st line pretty much summed it up. Dont think I could add much.

Just to add some more, read the chapter on hand reading in TOP: Sklansky expresses the ideas presented here with more eloquence and thought than I did in my post.

ranges, yes. rarely rarely rarely can you be 100% sure of hands. and vs those opponents you wont need to be 100% sure.

There is one read that is almost 90% accurate that your beat and that is the check/raise.
eg: your holding AK and raise and get one caller, flop is 593, doesn't matter what position your in, villian checks,you bet and villian goes over the top, he has hit the set most of the time.
Hope this is of some help.

increasingly im noticing that a quick call means villain is drawing, texture of the flop normally spells out what they're drawing too.
Keeps happening when i play live also.

shinedown.45 said:

There is one read that is almost 90% accurate that your beat and that is the check/raise.
eg: your holding AK and raise and get one caller, flop is 593, doesn't matter what position your in, villian checks,you bet and villian goes over the top, he has hit the set most of the time.
Hope this is of some help.

Click to expand...

i've been using the check-raise as a bluffing maneuver as of late. so far its worked out fairly well.