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  #11  
Old 03-05-2007, 01:06 PM
afadeyi afadeyi is offline
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Default Re: observing your opponent

like an earlier poster said, and has been suggested by Dan Harringtong, start by trying to watch the two openents to your left and the one on your right. as you feel more comfortable or get a feel for what they're doing then you can watch one more player to your left and one more to your right. Dan Harrington also says he gets most of his tells from watching players hands, but does anyone know what specifically he looks for? Does he look for twitches or the way people throw their stips in?
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  #12  
Old 03-05-2007, 06:52 PM
EZgo EZgo is offline
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Default Re: observing your opponent

I believe a big part of the challenge (for me at least) is concentration level. I like to approach every hand assuming I'm NOT going to play in it. That's my first assumption. I am then consciously focused on what can I glean from this hand about my opponents.

Pick a few (maybe 3 max to start) patterns that you're particularly interested in, and want to exploit. For example, does he always continuation bet; does he ever overbet the pot and is that a sign of weakness or strength; does he check raise the flop/turn/river; does he only raise preflop with a monster; etc.

Look for these three patterns in your opponents to your immediate left and right, and slowly expand it as you get comfortable with it. It's already been said a few times in this thread, but start slowly. Don't try to do it all at once -- that's asking the impossible. There's no substitute for experience here. You have to experiment with what works for you, and always be challenging yourself to improve. This is what separates the best from the rest.

A HUGE next step is trying to figure out what level your opponent is thinking on. Read their actions, and determine if they are just playing their hand, or are they putting their opponents on a hand (2nd level), or are they thinking about what their opponents think they have (3rd level). I can't go any further. Generally, if you're playing small stakes, you can tell who is simply playing on the 1st level, and it's easy to exploit that fact. Try to pick out the opponents that are playing at the 2nd level or higher, and these are the players that you can try more complex plays on. This is very difficult to do, but is necessary to really get inside your opponents head.
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  #13  
Old 03-05-2007, 11:37 PM
smbruin22 smbruin22 is offline
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Default Re: observing your opponent

[ QUOTE ]
I believe a big part of the challenge (for me at least) is concentration level. I like to approach every hand assuming I'm NOT going to play in it. That's my first assumption. I am then consciously focused on what can I glean from this hand about my opponents.


[/ QUOTE ]

related to this comment although not that i do it, but don't look at your cards until it's your turn, then you'll pay alot more attention.

if you're playing tournaments especially or even cash games, try to watch the blinds when they look at their hands as they'll likely be in the hand or you'll be trying to steal their blinds.

i actually think it's pretty easy to figure out who plays alot of hands vs. very few.. the frequency of raising/continuation betting/bluffing etc. is alot trickier and takes alot of concetration and alot of time.
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  #14  
Old 03-06-2007, 01:18 AM
GiantBuddha GiantBuddha is offline
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Default Re: observing your opponent

[ QUOTE ]
Watch every single hand and try to put every opponent on a hand. Then see what they showdown and test your accuracy. See where you went wrong. Gain confidence from when you're right.[ QUOTE ]


Can't be done. Trying to learn by starting out with the impossible is a certain recipe for failure in any human endeavor.

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

I wasn't saying try to watch what every single player is doing with their hands, chips, whatever. But there's no reason you can't follow all of the action and think about what each bet and raise means. This will greatly improve your hand reading skills. Too many online players multitable before they really learn to read hands well, and you don't learn as much if you don't follow every hand.

As far as tells go, though, trying to watch everyone and figure out what everything means would definitely be too much for most people. Watching one or two players at first is solid advice. In fact, if you find a chance to play short handed live, you'll have a great opportunity to observe the same opponents almost every hand.
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