How am I supposed to get DETAILED reads on my opponents?

6

6bet me

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I play 1c/2c online and $1/$2 live.

I can get general reads on my opponents quite easily. I can tell if they're loose, tight, aggressive, passive, a fish, a rock, a calling station, etc. Sometimes I might notice 1 or 2 other things about them, such as whether they always C-bet after raising preflop, or whether they often fold to C-bets after calling a raise preflop.

But whenever I post in the "cash game hand analysis" thread, everyone tells me off for not having specific, detailed reads on my opponents. They tell me things like "is the villain likely to fold middle pair to a 2 barrel bluff?" or "is the villain likely to bluff the turn after you check to them?" and it's so hard, practically impossible, for me to get these DETAILED reads on my opponents.

I mean, people muck the majority of their hands. No one's going to tell you what they had if they bet the turn and everyone folds. No one's going to tell you what they folded on the flop/turn/river. So how am I supposed to get these super detailed reads on my opponents when I rarely get to see their hole cards?
 
6

6bet me

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Also the other thing that tilts me: everyone in the hand analysis thread tells me off for bluffing. They act as if I should just play ABC poker and never bluff and they're so results-orientated when I bluff and someone calls me. Do people not understand that an unsuccessful bluff isn't necessarily a bad bluff?
 
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Frozrbyte

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Hey Matthew, I just saw your post about the bluff you made. I think people are telling you off because it was the wrong spot for a bluff therefore can be a losing play long term especially at 2NL. The flop actually hits villains perceived range hard. I do bluff at times but I make use of blockers and ranges to bluff.

As for detailed reads, you can pay attention to bet sizings. It's hard to put players on definite hands but you can assigned ranges u the type of player they are. Nits and tight players are easy players to put a range on
 
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WiZZiM

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If you use a poker tracker you can get into that and review hands played by villians at your table and see what they are showing down.

But in general, getting an overall feel for how they play the game/approach the game will help you to ask yourself what they might do in certain spots. This comes from experience mainly and paying attention to how frequently they do things.

For example, someone who frequently double barrells is likely to be two barrel bluffing a decent amount. Someone who raises preflop is likely to be bluffing preflop a decent amount. Simple things but really it's just learning how to think about poker.

In online poker, it's really helpful to use trackers to get this info, and as mentioned above, you can also use it to view players away from the table to get a more detailed read on them.

Like, lets keep this really simple and say you see player who calls alot, so in general they will not be folding on the turn to double barrells very often because they have likely hit something on the flop and just want to call and see what happens. Vs a more aggressive opponant, they make fold turns more often to your aggression, as they are likely to be the ones doing the betting themselves rather than just calling they will usually raise/bet themselves, so it generally means their hand range is pretty weak.

Hope this helps
 
ZaneAA

ZaneAA

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I agree that you need poker tracker because I use it and it really helps me view my opponents hands by quickly allowing me to examine the hand history and then tag the hand so I can go back and keep track of all the good and bad hands that I played. Also, make sure to buy hand histories so you can get your database full of those players and in turn, be able to have a better understanding of those players playing habits. It will really help you learn how to play more solid.
 
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