how do I improve my online reads?

[schwerd2]

What are some tells to look for or ways to improve your reads online?

When I play cash games online I usually 4 table 50 NL. I have only tracked 5,000 hands so far and I am a loser -2.5bb/100. I use PT and PAHUD for my reads but other than that sometimes I am lost.

I am a consistant winner playing live 1/2 NL 200-300 max. I find that the players are much easier to read from all the physical tells, and from just observing the way they play when I am out of hands. Everything is MUCH more obvious and I am able to lay down big hands that I wouldn't be able to laydown online. My hand reading is much better. Sometimes you "just know" what someone has or when you are beat.

I am moving down to atlantic city next month and plan to play 95% of my poker live. However, I would like to be able to beat these online cash games eventually, not just for the money, just to challenge myself and know that I can do it. I want to make all those red stats in poker tracker green.

Any advice from the consistant online winners? Perhaps a way to better interpret PAHUD stats?

[_TKO_]

The best way to improve your online reads is to take notes at every opportunity. Start by noting the strange plays. Once you are comfortable with that, then you can add in some other notes. You should probably switch to one table to start this off, then go to two.

[bernie]

Play less tables.

b

[midfielderdave]

betting patterns are very helpful of course, and in some cases the length of time between actions could be a tell. cute bets could be a tell also.
just keep good notes and look at the stats to try and narrow down their hand ranges. if they're super Laggy, note how they react when you play back at them, what situations they might steal in, do they ever show, etc.
learn to trust your instincts but also refer to pokertracker and PAHUD if you're not sure about what to do.

[Hofzinser]

Have you tried staring into their souls?

[Gildwulf]

You will need a pair of bolle sunglasses from the Party store.

[Allinlife]

the gut feeling is way---too overrated for online nl games.. you don't need that to beat small stakes nl..just a solid tag game will do you good.

1st of all, it's good that you are seeking advice, but beaware that 10k hands of losing stretch is not so rare. secondly, best advice I can give you is to post on ssnl, and verbally state your reasonings/justfications behind your moves. it's a hard habit to develope, but that's how I taught my friends to improve their reads on betting patterns.

[RyanCMU]

Playing less tables, and taking notes is a godo start...

Rely less on your instinct and think things out rather then just relying on your first thoughts more.

Remember you dont have to make your decision when the action is to you super fast, take your time and assess the situation.

[johnnyboi1016]

play on one table, 2 AT MOST if the action is too slow. try to take notes EVERY chance you get, whether it be someone slowplaying a hand, betting it out very strongly, check raising w/ a draw, whatever it may be. as you see more patterns, revise your notes bit by bit.

if you really want to improve your reads, you need to be staying out of hands more. watch everything you possibly can as a 3rd party bystander. it is often very easy to be in a hand and misinterpret someone's intentions or put in "emotional" notes like "fish, horrible player" which won't serve you any good. will definitely agree that trying to juggle 4 tables at once isn't doing you any good.

on a side note, out of your 5,000 hands databased, do the numbers look pretty solid? are you playing a TAG style and getting outdrawn, or outplayed? post up some of your stats if you could.

[DoomSlice]

To be perfectly honest, you don't need any reads at all to be a winner (even a big winner) at the NL50 games. My guess is that 1) you have some flaws in your game other than no-reads or 2) you're on the wrong end of the variance scale.

Post some of your PT stats so that we can review them.