Hand Reading

This is the sixth column in my series focused on six-max online cash games. So far, we have covered hand selection, basic strategy, pot control, playing draws, and using Poker Tracker. Now we move on to a much more difficult skill - hand reading.

Hand reading is the ability to process all of the information available at any point during a hand, and come up with a likely hand range for your opponent. Occasionally (rarely), you will narrow it down to a single holding; other times, you will have a feel for how strong someone is; and from time to time, your opponents will even let you know what type of hand they have. There are usually many signals given off during a hand by a player as to his hand strength, and it's your job to correctly spot and analyse them.

It is such an important skill because you need to use it in conjunction with every other aspect of playing poker. Before you make a bluff, you should make sure that your opponent is at least relatively weak. When deciding on what to do with a draw, you need to find out how strong his hand is. When you are faced with a large bet on the turn with a weak top pair, you certainly want to know what your opponent holds.

How it works in practice is that you use each piece of important information to narrow your opponent's range as far as possible. To illustrate this, here is an extremely simple example. We will play the part of the reraiser.

A reasonably good tight-aggressive player (TAG) raises from the button. We reraise, and he quickly cold-calls. The flop is A-J-5 rainbow. We lead out for two-thirds of the pot, and the TAG calls after a few seconds. The turn goes check, check. What should we do on the river with A-K?

There are six important bits of information in that paragraph. I'll go through them in order:

1. The TAG raises from the button. In today's aggressive games, this doesn't mean much - just that he has a hand that he wants to play. He probably won't raise with total junk, though.

2. The TAG cold-calls a reraise. The TAG is very likely to fold the vast majority of the hands he opened with. He is also likely to four-bet with A-A, K-K, and probably A-K and Q-Q. So, his most likely hand now is good but not great - something like 7-7, A-J suited, or A-Q offsuit. You can't rule out the possibility that he is trapping with a monster, but it's important not to worry about it too much unless he is a habitual trapper.

3. The TAG quickly cold-calls. Now, this is a timing tell, and not as reliable as the other information in the paragraph. But, more often than not, a quick call in a spot like that means that he has a medium-strength hand. If it was weak, he would at least consider folding it. If it was strong, he would consider four-betting. Some weak TAGs will often have A-K.

4. The TAG cold-calls the two-thirds continuation-bet on the flop. Again, here we lose a good portion of the TAGs range. Basically, unless there is history or he thinks you are overaggressive, he is folding all of his underpairs. So, he has either a good ace or a set. There are two very likely sets he could have, 5-5-5 and J-J-J. A-A-A is unlikely. He could have A-J, but most TAGs tend to raise that on the flop.

5. He checks the turn back. Unless this guy is very tricky, he is nearly always betting a set (or two pair) on the turn. So, we can now deduce that he almost certainly has either A-10 or A-Q.

So, with A-K, we probably should bet the river ourselves and hope he calls.

It's this type of analytical step-by-step deduction that enables skilled hand readers to perform what looks like magic to the casual observer. The best time to do it is at all stages in the hand, so that you aren't pressed for time (especially online, where you get only around 30 seconds per decision). Get in the habit of talking yourself through the hand mentally as it's in progress. After a while, this will become second nature to you.

You can practice your hand reading whilst not in a hand. Watch the action closely and see if you can guess what players will turn up with. If they turn up with something very different, try to understand where your thought process went wrong. Perhaps you misjudged the player. Or, maybe he was privy to some information that you weren't. Whatever it is, the chances are that you can learn from it.

A lot of players learn the basics of hand reading, but make elementary mistakes in its application. There are a few common mistakes that people tend to make. First off, they assume that everyone plays as they do. You often hear beginners say something like, "He can't have A-K, because with A-K, I would …"

This line of thinking is fraudulent, because the player in question is a separate entity, unless you are both similar players. A second mistake is not being flexible in your thinking. Don't get too caught up in what you thought earlier in the hand. In fact, it's a good guideline to pay much more attention to the last bet than any other action during the hand. Many players will check, or just cold-call, with a very strong hand early in the hand. So, when they start raising or betting the river aggressively, it's likely that they have a monster. A third and final note of caution is that when playing live, don't do your thinking out loud. It's very likely that you are either making a fool of yourself or giving away valuable information. Good luck!

Daragh Thomas has made a living from poker over the last three years. He also coaches other players and writes extensively on the boards.ie poker forum, under the name hectorjelly.