Although many people will disagree, physical tells are overrated. And when we are in the online world, well, they are non-existent. So how can you make more accurate reads? The answer: Betting Patterns.

But Betting Patterns can mean different things from opponent to opponent. How do we categorize our opponents to put it all together? If you've ever read any of my posts, you know I love Q&A and lists. So here you go:

Q: What do you look for in your opponents betting patterns to help you in your reads?

A: 1. General Style. TAG? LAG? Tight/Loose. Passive/Aggressive. ABC poker/Tricky. I think most people already have a feel for this.

A: 2. Specific Play. How do they play top pair? How do they play a draw? How do they respond to pressure (bets)? You have to see hands at showdown and work the hands backwards to see how they played them.

Once you are armed with this knowledge, the next step is to exploit your opponent's style, which we will discuss in an upcoming post.

DK

Had a very strange thing happen online yesterday. I was playing on FT, 90 person tourney, deep stack. I was doing very well, playing TAG, since it was deep stack. I picked up a hand, JJ, and raised from late position. Everyone folded with the exception of one guy who had limped in. Flop wasn't impressive, no draws or anything. He checked, I bet, he called. On the turn he checked again, I bet again. In the conversation box, he typed "you must have JJ??"
I didn't reply. He was dead on. He called anyway. On the river I bet again and he folded. I showed my JJ, cause actually I was quite amazed that he knew my hand. In fact everyone at the table was pretty blown away by it.

So my question is, how did he pick up on this? I don't vary my bet sizes. I consistently open 3 x bb, whether I have AA, or 22, or bluffing. I consistently bet 1/2 to 3/4 the pot on the flop, turn and river when I am betting. I try to disquise everything by being consistant. The more I thought about it, the more it kinda freaked me out. I usually never play on FT, mostly on PS.

Had another thing happen in this same tourney. I was at the final table and had been chip leader for about an hour. At least 20 to 30 thousand ahead of everyone. I picked up pocket QQ. I raised from late position, 3 x bb, and the blinds and antes were very high. Everyone folded except the bb. He raised me all in. He had about $34,000 in chips. He had been bluffing a lot the last hour of play. With my QQ's I was eager to call. I swear to god I hit the "call" button, however the computer did something weird, and a few seconds later, I find out that my hand was folded. I know I hit the call button. So I ended up losing a large part of my stack. After the JJ incident, I'm thinking "conspiracy theory" here. lol My husband was sitting next to me and kept saying, keep your cool, don't tilt.

Well I was on tilt, and ended up making some dumb plays after that. But I still finished 7th out of 90, so I guess I should be happy. So anyway, how would this first opponent read me like this? Was it most likely a lucky guess? We had only been at the same table, maybe 15 minutes or so.

I always appreciate your posts. You taught me how to figure odds and outs, and how much to bet, the easy way, and I'll never forget that. !

Texas Terry

TexasTerry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Had a very strange thing happen online yesterday.
> I was playing on FT, 90 person tourney, deep
> stack. I was doing very well, playing TAG, since
> it was deep stack. I picked up a hand, JJ, and
> raised from late position. Everyone folded with
> the exception of one guy who had limped in. Flop
> wasn't impressive, no draws or anything. He
> checked, I bet, he called. On the turn he checked
> again, I bet again. In the conversation box, he
> typed "you must have JJ??"
> I didn't reply. He was dead on. He called anyway.
> On the river I bet again and he folded. I showed
> my JJ, cause actually I was quite amazed that he
> knew my hand. In fact everyone at the table was
> pretty blown away by it.
>
> So my question is, how did he pick up on this? I
> don't vary my bet sizes. I consistently open 3 x
> bb, whether I have AA, or 22, or bluffing. I
> consistently bet 1/2 to 3/4 the pot on the flop,
> turn and river when I am betting. I try to
> disquise everything by being consistant. The more
> I thought about it, the more it kinda freaked me
> out. I usually never play on FT, mostly on PS.
>
> Had another thing happen in this same tourney. I
> was at the final table and had been chip leader
> for about an hour. At least 20 to 30 thousand
> ahead of everyone. I picked up pocket QQ. I
> raised from late position, 3 x bb, and the blinds
> and antes were very high. Everyone folded except
> the bb. He raised me all in. He had about $34,000
> in chips. He had been bluffing a lot the last
> hour of play. With my QQ's I was eager to call.
> I swear to god I hit the "call" button, however
> the computer did something weird, and a few
> seconds later, I find out that my hand was folded.
> I know I hit the call button. So I ended up
> losing a large part of my stack. After the JJ
> incident, I'm thinking "conspiracy theory" here.
> lol My husband was sitting next to me and kept
> saying, keep your cool, don't tilt.
>
> Well I was on tilt, and ended up making some dumb
> plays after that. But I still finished 7th out of
> 90, so I guess I should be happy. So anyway, how
> would this first opponent read me like this? Was
> it most likely a lucky guess? We had only been at
> the same table, maybe 15 minutes or so.
>
> I always appreciate your posts. You taught me how
> to figure odds and outs, and how much to bet, the
> easy way, and I'll never forget that. !
>
> Texas Terry

First question..He likely had AQ..yes, some people limp AQ...in his mind you have a decent pair...probably not aces or queens..as he has one of each..KK you would probably raise a bit more as you don't want to see an ace on the flop...so..just a small deduction..nothing scary about it.

As for your qq issue..likely what happened was a quick disconnection...when you clicked "call" you had already been disconnected..system doesn't read you as online anymore and folds you...ask Phil Hellmuth how this works and he gets awarded a large pots...lol