How to read peoples hand

Hello, I was wondering if you have any recomendations in how to read peoples hands.
I was thinking about geting this book: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Hands-No-LimitHoldem/dp/1468001310/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top "]Amazon.com: How To Read Hands At No-Limit Hold'em (9781468001310): Ed Miller: Books[/ame]
but its kind of pricy.... Any way to pratice inutiton? Or books and websites? What do you guys recommend?

Excellent book but not just a sit there and read it type of thing. Miller gives you assignments that are very good to help your mind wrap around and practice what he is saying. If you are not willing to do the work then the value of the book is greatly diminished. He can show you the way but only if you are willing to walk down the path.

Number one thing is you have to slow things down at the table and take the time to do it. You will do a lot better if you approach it like a chess game and study the board to make sure you aren't missing something and to consider the next moves past your next immediate decision.

Just play tons of hands, there is no book needed for hand reading. If you play enough and have accumulated big experience, you very often can almost "see" opponents´s hands !

Some players may not know how to read hands though, I'd suggest Ed Millers Hand Reading book has some good reviews.

I personally do have this ebook, but have never needed to open it yet

lols just noticed you linked this book haha cool.

There's no foolproof way to read someone's hand, however practice will go along way. If you are playing live, you have alot more factors such as body language, physical tells, etc. Online is a little tricky, however putting in the volume (hundreds of thousands of hands) will enable you to rely on past situations to pretty much pinpoint what most people have (or are trying to represent) in most situations. Something I like to do is even when I'm out of the hand either live or online, I'm always watching the table and gathering information/geussing what they have the entire time...after a while, you will be significantly more keen to the game.

Haven't read the book, but looks like it may be good.... As far as practicing and getting better at this skill, if you play online occassionally play far fewer tables than normal and really study/concentrate and just practice reading other players hands. Very frequently online we get into the habit of playing so many tables at once that you have just a split second to make your decision and move on to the next table. That's no way to practice hand reading. Cut down on quantity sometimes and raise the quality of your attempts at hand reading.

This particular skill set cannot be learned without much practice and a whole hell of a lot of hands. Even worse is it's very much like a golf swing - some days it's just not working for you and you don't know why. And just like the dedicated golfer you go back to working on your swing at the range.

Okay so that's a very important point to know before book hunting. Say you want to become an accomplished sculptor. You start in the books (or how to website tutorials) and learn what you need to succeed. Then you start chiseling and break enough noses and ears off along the way that you learn a better touch by failing. Failing a read is part of the process. "Oh I forgot to look for a double gut shot and totally missed it."

Now another book recommendation - or author - really.

While Miller's books is very specifically about how to read hands it might be a big learning curve if you haven't spent time with some of the baseline stuff he works with (Combinatorics, etc). I mean hell, the boy has multiple degrees from M.I.T. and is just at another level so no shame in that.

It might be better to read Dan Harrington. While he is not specifically teaching how to read a hand the format of his books consistently provides a template for hand reading since each section is followed by sample hands which he reviews. Seeing how he thinks and approaches these hands can be a great starting point for your own hand reading skills.

soncheebs said:

There's no foolproof way to read someone's hand, however practice will go along way. If you are playing live, you have alot more factors such as body language, physical tells, etc. Online is a little tricky, however putting in the volume (hundreds of thousands of hands) will enable you to rely on past situations to pretty much pinpoint what most people have (or are trying to represent) in most situations. Something I like to do is even when I'm out of the hand either live or online, I'm always watching the table and gathering information/geussing what they have the entire time...after a while, you will be significantly more keen to the game.

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Yes out of hand, hand reading is good to do!

Very good point bud!

Plus it gives you confidence for when you are in a hand, or a little better understanding of villains ranges, why paying attention in out of hand pots are good!

The thought process you should be having is what hands would my opponent play this way, if you ask yourself this question every hand and then put your opponent on hands you will eventually become good at it and it will be natural (this is a basic form of doing it but an easy and good way to start)

While there's no getting away from the need to play hands, there's a difference between just playing and practicing your reading. The former is kind of learning by osmosis, and it's relatively passive and slow. Toward the other end of the spectrum, there's actively watching all the action at your tables, whether you're involved or not, and trying to discern patterns in terms of each player's hand ranges for different actions, in different positions, etc.