[Grunch]

[ QUOTE ]
1) What does Villain limp in with?
2) What does V raise pre-flop?
3) What does V cold-call?
4) What will he bet on the flop with (with or without a pre-flop raiser)?
5) Will V bet when checked to him in late position on the flop or turn?
6) What will he check-raise?
7) What will he "wake-up" with?
8) what will he call on the river?
9) Is he tricky on the river?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is good, but I think on the wrong track. 2+2ers in general are smart and analytical, and I think that's a common trait ammong successful poker players. So it's not a suprise that this sort of analysis is common among us. But I think that this sort of analysis looks at the trees, and forgets about the forest.

Things like GameTime+ and PokerEdge also are symptoms of this phenomenon. I'm sure they help, but I think there's a low ceiling on how much this sort of magnifying glass analysis can really help.

But these questions don't really address the broad strokes that make up our opponent. When we're looking at a flopped gutshot that was completed on the river and the opponent has been aggressive on every street, we should be asking ourselves, "Does our man's playing style fit this board?" and not, "Does this board fit our man's betting tendancies?"

Even if we could somehow achieve the ultimate in magnifying glass analysis and populate a SSH-style chart that maps out all the actions for all the starting hands for our opponent, we still would be wrong. Everbody mixes up thier play all the time; sometimes on purpose, very often not on purpose. An opponent may see an opportuntity to execute some play that's different from his norm, might be on tilt, might want "revenge" for a bad beat, or might be outplaying you. But the chart would be wrong.

I like to ask questions that are much more general than this. Things like:

Is the opponent passive or aggressive preflop?
Is he loose or tight preflop?
Is he passive or aggressive with draws postflop? Is he loose with draws?
Does he overvalue maginal hands?

And other questions which become apparent by watching our opponent play.