Reading Your Opponents in Poker

Poker is a game of knowing the odds and reading your opponents. If you want to improve your knowledge of odds, do a Google search and memorize the tables. You can also find free poker rooms on the internet to try and hone your knowledge of these statistics by learning when to apply them.

Improving your ability to read your poker opponents is an altogether different story. There are no tables or charts to help you out with this one. Some people are born with the ability to read others. Some people have polished their skills for years, maybe even as far back as childhood when they played free poker with their grandfather (who would often let them win). Still for others, reading their opponents during a poker game is merely an exercise in futility. For anyone who has been bluffed out of countless numbers of good hands this can get extremely frustrating.

Allow me to help. The best way to read an opponent is to watch their betting. The easiest type of poker player to read is the guy who only bets when he has a good hand. I used to be this player. They crave rounds of "free poker" where no one is betting and their odds of getting a better hand go up. They also fool nobody when they fold all night long only to drop serious coin down because they just got a full house. If your overly conservative friend suddenly throws down a hefty bet, fold.

The second type of player is the consistent bluffer. This person's objective is to improve his odds by bullying everyone off of the table. In his mind there is no such thing as free poker. A tell that I've noticed about the consistent bluffer is that once they obtain a good hand, they "become smart" and decrease their betting in an effort to reel other players in. Then, once they have a committed player, they'll hit them up for their whole pot and, more often than not, win it. The one thing that gives away a consistent bluffer is their tendency to decrease their bets on big hands.

Most amateur poker players will fall into one of these two categories, whether they know it or not. Practice watching peoples betting habits, memorize the charts and before long, you'll be a winning poker player.