Poker Strategy

Hand Reading and Bluffing
This is the fourth article in my series for Paddy Power Poker. Up until now we have focused on how to play our hands well, but to play our hands great we need to have an idea of what our opponents hold. This skill is called hand reading. Following on from this we will look at bluffing next week, as to be able to bluff well you need to have an idea of what your opponent is holding.

Hand reading is one of the most important skills in a no limit game. It is the ability to process all of the available information to come up with a likely hand range, or sometimes even a specific hand, for your opponent.

To be able to put a player on a hand, you first need to know a few things. Firstly, what type of player are they? Are they too loose? Too tight? Aggressive? Very aggressive? Passive? Luckily poker players tend to play in roughly similar styles, so at low stacks games against bad opposition you can usually categorise players into groups, and use that to gauge their hand strength based on their actions. This means taking time to analyse player’s play and to see what information they leak with their actions, especially bet sizing.

After each showdown you should check how the player played the hand, and use the opportunity to build up a profile of him or her. A lot of information can be gotten from big pots, however don't ignore the small ones. A player open–limping on the button with 67s and then checking it to the river and not winning a showdown tells you a lot about a player. A player like this is probably quite loose (though not necessarily) but is definitely passive, and doesn’t bluff much.

Once you have built up a profile of a player, you should have some notes stored describing how they play some situations and anything unusual about their play. An example of a note might be “Passive Pre–Flop, Aggressive on the flop with draws and single pairs, (called my raise with J8 and went broke on J hi board). This tells you a lot about a player and will stand you in good stead the next time you encounter him. The next step is to use that information to read their hands. This is usually a process of elimination.

For an example we will use a very tight aggressive player raising from the button after it’s been folded to him. Ok, so here whilst he is tight, his range is still quite large. He could have anything from 89s to AA (although he is more likely to have a better hand than 89s.– these types of players wont raise 89s every time it’s folded to them).

The big blind then re–raises the pot, and the button calls. Now the button’s range is much tighter, a tight player is nearly always going to have at least AQs or a pair here (and most will often fold AQ). When the button calls the re–raise, he will sometimes have a monster, like AA or KK that he is slow–playing, but he is more likely to have something like QQ or JJ.

The flop comes AJ9 rainbow (all different suits). The big blind leads out, and the button cold calls. Again the button’s range has vastly diminished. There is no flush draw so he cant have that, and he is very unlikely to have called pre–flop with TQ or KT, so he cant have a straight draw, (and he would fold them on the flop anyway). Similarly for 8T. So he can’t have a draw, and he is probably folding all hands that do not contain an ace, or a set. So his range now is AA (very unlikely but possible), AK, AQ + AJ (both are unlikely given pre–flop), JJJ, or 999. There is always a small chance he is floating us, and is going to attempt to take us away from the hand on a later street, but it is unlikely. A big raise on the flop may be a bluff, but a call usually isn’t!

If you were the big blind in this situation, you will have been following your opponent’s action and should be able to put him on the narrow range of hands that he could be holding. By assimilating this information you can then proceed accordingly.

The turn comes up a 5. Now you (the big blind) checks, as does the button. Here the button has given us even more information. He has chosen to keep the pot relatively small. A good player will bet with a set here, and usually check AQ or AK. That’s because he wants to build the pot with a set, and control the size of the pot if he only has one pair. Be careful though, because this is the direct opposite to what bad players will do!

So it’s unlikely he has a monster hand, AJ or a set. You cant rule it out, and you cant let this deceive you into calling a river raise, but its likely he has a one pair hand here, AK or AQ.

The river comes another 5. So what should the BB do? Well he should bet if he can beat AK and check if he shouldn't. It’s very unlikely a bluff will work, so conversely a big value bet will. A combination of good hand reading and the button’s tight predictability will allow him to play this river to perfection.

So to sum up, to hand read well you need to have a good idea of what type of player someone is. Then use that information to guess what their actions mean. Practise as much as you can, especially when you aren’t in a hand, and you should see a vast improvement.