1-2NL Hand At The Taj

[jcl]

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As for hand reading, you'll have to trust me that it's almost impossible to put him on a hand. He's three bet several times with wide range of hands that were barely stronger than 27o.

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This is where a lot of new players get tripped up too. Hand reading isn't about working out what your opponent HAS. It's working out what he doesn't have, or more precisely, what he can't possibly have yet is representing. Cool as it may be to put him on exactly 74, does it matter to your decision making if he in fact has 75, 27, K2? Of course not. His 'hand' is 'air' (which includes anything that isn't the straight) or the straight. The way he has played it there is virtually no in between. If he were hard to read, it wouldn't be because you couldn't put him on 74 precisely but rather because he could have a good mix of bluffs, weak hands, medium hands AND strong hands (the straight) in this very spot. However, few people can merge their range this well (I can't) so his range is indeed polarised and not particularly hard to read.