Hey guys,

I enjoyed this video as always. I am very impressed with HG's hand reading ability. This is one of my toughest areas. Putting an opponent on a range of hands preflop is getting better but figuring someone on a draw etc. I still have problems with. You have them on a flush draw and seemingly are correct. I am still playing my cards and folding too much when I do not make a hand I am comfortable with. My basic personality is pretty nitty as my stats show, and I am not sure how to overcome this.

Cliff

most players at micro games are very much pattern players meaning they play similar hands the same way each time so
if they have a draw they call no matter what or
if they have 2nd pair they tend to call flop and turn and fold a scary board on the river or
they might like making min lead bet ito pfr or
they might like a check raise w/ any par vs pfr etc

each player has a pattern they like, your job is to identify their pattern
the key is to play enough hands to recoginize the different types of players and the patterns they like to play
i would say there are not that many types of players at the micros

TP- tight passive, very common almost never show aggression even w/ the nuts
LP- loose passive, most common style, call down any pair or any draw
LAG-loose aggressive, less common, except late friday/saturday night, bet/raise/check raise draws, top prs, middle pairs, botton prs,
no prs, main pattern is to overplay too many hands
TAGish- trying to play tight aggressive but not vey good at it yet, tend to wander into tight passive in difficult spots or close situations
FPS- fancy play syndrome, like tricky plays- do a lot of strange play that dont make sense

obviously all these are generalizations and each category is on a contineum, and few players are 100% in one category, but if they play TP 85% of the time then pretty easy to read, when you bet i need a very big hand or i fold

so bottom line is to play a lot, take notes, use stats to determine opponent style, believe your read based on their style. You wont be right every ttime(nobody is), but the more you play the better you get at reading their style and that leads to hand rang based on situation

ex. raised pot
tp- has Ax, typically x=T+ or is suited, a pocket pair, maybe connected broadway, if they were late caller in multiway a sOOted connector
lp- love any 2 sOOted cards, any Ace, most broadway regardless of raise

this is where a bit of work away from table really helps

write down player types, how they play, how you can exploit them, what hands they typically play in certain situations
e.g. vs TP pfr, dont 3 bet preflop w/ 22-jj, call for set value, if they have AA kk they will never fold their overpr post flop-stack city when hit set, but dont call down w/ second pair type hands postflop, TP rarely bluff, a bet means a strong hand
E.G vs known lag, top pr good kicker usually good enough to get it all in, preferably let them bet and you call till river, then shove, lags dont like to fold after a lot of money in the pot, they bluff alot and assume others do too

i did this when watching atta vids, helped alot, can put note by computer when you play

hope this helps HG

PS- i understand the nitty gene, as that is my natural instinct
but once you start trying situanional 3 bets w/ less than premiun hands that get opponents to fold
the inner nit really likes being the bully

hg

one other thought on hand reading postflop

it is critical to compare flop texture vs opponent range in each situation for instance

raggy flops t72 are typically safe to cbet vs TP as this misses most of TP preflop range, they turn their hand up, fold a wiff and call if they have something

raggy flops t72 less good to bet vs lag, this flop might hit their range(67, 78,89,9t,jt,j8,j9,qt,t8,A2,A7 etc) might get check raised by any pr or no pair, so might be better to check your overcards vs lag here

gl hg

HG, thank you for your insight and help. I have decided to only play one table at a time and worry more about studying the game than building a bankroll. I usually only play two anyway but am moving down. The more I know, the more I know I do not know.

Cliff

By the way I am definitely in the "tagish" column. LOL!

Cliff

cliff48 wrote:By the way I am definitely in the "tagish" column. LOL!

Cliff

do you have a stats program? if so what are your

vpip
pfr
3 bet
aggression flop
aggression turn
aggression river

Hi HG

I have both HEM and Holdem Indicator. Most of my stats are on Indicator as I only recently learned that HEM will work on the Merge Network (thanks Oldguy). Anyway my VPIP is 16 PFR is 14 3bet %3 AF is 2.1. Holdem Indicator does not list aggro by street.

Thanks
Cliff