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Poker Magazine providing reviews of popular online poker rooms, Poker Tips, |
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Online Poker Tips - Hand Reading Online and OfflineIdeally when one plays poker they will always get exceptional cards and will win repeatedly simply because they have the best hand. It's a nice thought but not a very practical one, which is why strategy has become so important when playing poker both live and online. The core of most players' strategies is developed around their own hand and what they can do to protect and improve it. This seems logical since it's the only part of the game you can control, but what a century's worth of successful players have discovered is that knowing your opponents' hands is equally important. The very greenest of players may wonder how this is even possible without cheating. Indeed, it is this strong desire to know and control everything that has driven so many people to cheat whether it's by bots, collusion or hidden cameras. The good news is that there's a totally legal way to read your opponents' hands. In live poker, a lot of romance surrounds the idea of player tells – that is, little tics, movements or facial expressions that give away a player's hand. A lot of offline players are reluctant to come online because they think the anonymity of online poker makes it impossible to read hands. This misconception couldn't be further from the truth. Alternately, reading a player's hand has nothing to do with reading their mind; you're not a psychic, so it's not about guessing their exact cards but moreso about guessing the strength of their hand when compared to yours. In both live and online poker the most reliable tells rarely if ever have anything to do with a player's physicality. Most of the time, the easiest way to read a player's hand is by their bets. Some betting patterns – like an early all-in or an aggressive raise after the flop – are used by all players because they send a very clear message about that player's hand strength and intent. What some amateurs fail to realize is that every other bet they or their opponents make also sends a message, whether the player intends to or not. Apart from the obvious bets mentioned above, a lot of times you'll need to get to know your opponents a little before you can get a good read on them. The easiest players to read are maniacs and calling stations – players that frequently go all the way through to the showdown on nothing at all. They bet the same hand after hand, and they share their mistakes with the whole table. It doesn't take a genius to know when one of these players really has something, when they're trying to limp into a flop, or alternately when they're trying to steal the blinds yet again, but they follow very clear and simple patterns. Good players are much harder to read, which is why it's important to watch every hand all the way through – even when you've already folded – and to take notes on your opponents. While hand reading is an imperfect science even for the pros, you'll get more accurate with time, and the results will show in your bottom line. One thing to remember is not to let your new-found intuition give you false confidence. Even if you suspect another player is bluffing, if you don't have the goods to beat them then there's no point calling their bluff.
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