Re: What do you guys \"read\"?
as per Nfinity's suggestion in the first ML Digest: this thread should get more attention. i really think this is an underrated skill here on the boards. why do i say this?
because a majority of the posts here pathetically lack them, if we get any at all. the best they have are stats. a couple reasons for this:
1. Too much reliance on Poker programs
2. Read too much into stats
3. Auto-pilot play because it works
4. Multitabling
5. SSH "told me" and unwillingness to think on your own
why these are bad:
1. you win less
2. doesn't work at higher levels- only against straight forward play
3. a dependency on online play- w/o programs, you fall apart in Live play (B&M)
4. when asking for help, improper advice based on bad reads (or lack thereof) leads to bad conclusions and future bad habits.
another reason possibly is because we at the micro level have resigned ourselves that
1. you can't bluff at the micros because they'll call you down with anything
2. we're happy if we're beating our "level" at xxBB/100 as others tell us that is a good win rate.
3. we'd rather complain about suckouts, bad beats, and people who play any 2 cards than push our minds to actually think if that suckout was actually our fault (making the pot too big where the mistake no longer was a mistake) or did we play our hand wrong.
4. duck our heads and barrel forward because "SSH said i will win X% of times, so i should keep blasting away"
I know a couple people will read this posting and think "bah, who cares?! these people play so much junk, it is impossible to get a read."- do you think it will get easier or harder as you progress?
Start pushing yourselves to develop hand-reading habits now. it doesn't have to be perfect; it isn't going to be easy; you will be wrong sometimes, but anybody can be content with playing 4-5 tables, grinding out 3-4BB/100 at $1/$2 stakes. if you're happy with that: that's fine. don't misunderstand me. but to progress to where the money is: we have got to do better than the little attention that was payed to this important thread, which got more attention from a poker program than actual reads.
why? it is either because people don't see it as that important to win or because people think it is easy- both are bad reasons. i'm going to be looking for some good hands played based on reads- any help is appreciated, but i do know most of Entity's posts all have very good detailed reads prefaced before each hand, so i'd encourage people to start getting examples from there.
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