Making reads in tournaments

[DrSayre]

I have read most of the threads in the Anthology of wisdom, but I haven't been able to find many posts on making reads during online MTT. I believe reading players may the worst part of my game. What are some specific things to look for while playing? Several times while playing I'm faced with a decision for all my chips (or most of them) but I rarely have good reads on the player. It's not that I don't watch, I just don't know what I'm doing.

[MJBuddy]

You pretty much just need a lot of experience and awareness to make reads; not everyone has x catch, and a lot of people hide their reads by faking weakness, even online.

Good place to start is with PokerAceHUD and Pokertracker so you can get a general read on hand ranges, but I don't rely and I really don't even use them for MTT, since my play on one rotation is rarely the same as one on another.

[hamnegger]

take notes on players (they have helped me a lot unfortunately i only get them from hands i play in bc im either multi tabling or reading this forum while playing)use good math principles to guide decisions. put players on a range of hands and figure how your hand does against that range. then measure that a against the pot odds.

[SpacaB]

I normally play tournaments while doing stuff, such as reading 2p2, multitabling, etc. I notice a big difference when I pay close attention, as you get to see some showdowns, and betting lines. Try to follow and make a read on each person's hand during every hand, even ones that you don't play. Reading is definitely one of my weaker aspects, and there have to be some tricks that I don't know, but practicing and paying very close attention to my table makes me more accurate. Take notes on any information that you pick up, because any info is valuable when making a big decision.

[brian8065]

I have a friend who is successful at MTT. I will be watching him after he wins a showdown, and ask him what the other player had. So often he says he doesn't know. I can't understand that.

One thing that I do, which is very basic, is look up what each player had after the hand ended. So many players don't even know how to do this. (Doubtfully this is true of the audiance here. I would assume most 2+2'ers know how to look up a players hands.)

You can really understand a player if you continue to do this over time.

[wulfpacker21]

just takes time and practice but. def. get pokertracker or pokeredge or anyone of the statistic trackers

[Mr_Donktastic]

PT helps a little but honestly I barely use it for mtts because people's play often changes significantly throughout a tournament and you usually don't have a good sample of hands on anyone to make accurate assumption based on PT stats (also, even if you play with someone in a lot of tournaments if they are good their stats will change at different stages so even if you have 1k hands on them it might not do you any good).

With that said, what you should be focusing on is 1)reading the player based on how they are playing at that time (last few orbits is generally good enough) and 2) reading the board and villians actions...

IMO just making reads hand for hand based on the actions and board is >>>>>> than making reads on players...IF you can actually make plays at that point.

But if you are down to shove or fold time (which is usually the case) just pay attention to how villain has been playing the last few rounds. It will be much more useful than w/e your HUD is telling you.

[raju]

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What are some specific things to look for while playing?

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I`m going to link you to this that soulman wrote the other day. He`s billed it as a reviewing HH videos post but it is much more than that.

Some of the stuff in there should help you with the above

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http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/favlin...amp;postmarker=

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[black666]

Definately watch for betting patterns (how much is the usual PFR, does villain c-bet, bet a draw,..) and make as many notes as possible.