villians and reads, its how we make da money right???

[phosix]

Hello forum,
I don’t usually like to post my hands because im paranoid or something like that. But I do like to participate in hand examples of others.
What I really like is hold em theory posts so I think ill start a general one I believe will help all of us. Id like to discuss what kinds of reads (questions we ask ourself about a player and then try to answer) we use to analyze a player. I just moved up in limits and went on a 70 bb downswing and then a 250 bb upswing(that was beautiful and unheard of) and another 80 down as of last night. On some nights my big losses where due to bad reads I though I had. And other nights I was nothing but profit being able to show down ace high at the right times and playing 88 and 77 like they were high pairs because knew what my opponents played and how. I was also able to fire the flop and turn to get villains to fold hands (even though I was probably still ahead of them, so that is no great feat)
This post I think will help us figure out what opponents need another chance to fold and what opponents we are just asking for trouble. And what opponents we need to check the river with and call with an aq to kick the kq kj or aj right in the nuts. [censored] like that

This has I think we can all agree that sometimes or most of the time we don’t play abc poker due to the fact that we do have reads on some opponents. Even when I played micros, I remember raising ak for a free card on a 87q flop and getting callers. When another 8 hits first position will donk. Id call them down suspect of that bet and sometimes lose and sometimes win against a 910 limper or some random guy tryin to be cute. But often If I did lose I did not lose to the 3 of a kinds they were representing. Very many situations come up like this (maybe I should have come up with a better example). But in order to navigate through these situations I think we should put our ?s we ask our selves about a player in order to get the read on them that is important and not something we noticed about them that will serve no purpose, sometimes I think our reads are useless because we are paying attention to the wrong things.

Anyways ill start my list of think I pay attention to. I also tend to pay much more attention to the 2 players before and after me since most money will be won and lost with them.
1. if I open raise, do they cold call or r/r with pocket pairs
2. do they limp or raise aj or kq pf
3. do they know im aggressive and use that against me
4. do they think I can fold
5. would they be more sneak with a strong hand or bet it out
6. what do they think I have
7. do they like to bet for value or snap off bluffs (from me)
8. Would they 3 or 4 bet the turn or river with less than the nuts
9. are they tryin to get me to bet next round or are they drawing
10. do they like to c/r a lot and if they do, do they only use as a bluff on the turn or do they only use it to get paid
11. do they limp with hands in ep that should not be limped with givin the game conditions (I raise a ep limper in a tag game, fired two barrels and checked river, villain showed 45 suited with a pair of 4s to win)
12. does villain back off of aggression
13. will villain be able to fold a better hand that I have right now
14. if villain calls the flop what kind of hand will he take on off with
15. if villain is calling turn would he call with middle pair or just a draw(very useful info)
16. does villain like to steal blinds with anything or never “steal”
17. is villain there for fun or money
18. is he a call down with any pair monkey?
19. is he a bet with any pair monkey?
20. and finally when ones suspects a bluff you should look at the board and think “if this guy is looking at the same board as me does he think he could actually get me to fold a better hand than his knowing I have at least a pair” ding ding ding sometimes I should take my own advice

any ways im not sure how much content you feel that this thread has. But I think some of the questions I ask myself help a lot and sometimes they hurt me and make me second guess my other read questions that I have already answered.

What qs do you all ask your self about a villain as you watch them play?

[SixForty]

I'll toss in a couple of questions that I like to keep track of for most opponents. I'm sure there's more, but these are some that come to mind right now.

- When does this player fold? If they fold preflop a lot, then when they are in, they have a good starting hand. If they fold the flop a lot, then they like to see flops but don't continue when they miss. If they fold the turn a lot, then turn semi-bluffs become very profitable. And if they fold the river a lot, then river bluffs are valuable. And if they show down a lot, then I've got to have a hand to show down against them

- Are they are bettor or a caller? Do they like to take the lead in the betting, or are they content to let someone else do the betting for them? And does this change much, if at all, depending on their hand? For example, did that person just check/call the whole way with middle set? Or did they bet the whole way with bottom pair? Some people just like to be the ones doing the betting, no matter how weak their hand is. And others are content to never bet, but just call along, regardless of how good their hand is.

- What types of hands are they showing down? Are they showing down lots of one pair hands, including middle pair or bottom pair? Do they never show down a hand unless it's top pair or better? Top pair, top kicker or better? Basically, what's their minimum hand for paying a bet on the river to see a showdown. (This gives you a good idea as to what your river value betting range should be) And does their minimum showdown requirement change by the number of people in the pot? For example, are they still showing down that middle pair when there's a bet and two calls in front of them?

[phosix]

nice post forty puts mine to shame and im op.

anyways that got me to thinkin about a couple more Qs
does villian
like to raise draws
bet any hand if i check to them but only call hands worth calling(on any street)\
keep any pp down to the river regarless of board