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Being In The Know

2009-04-04 16:51:23

Curtis Thomas

Know your enemy:

Know his hand range:
You should put your opponent on a hand range every hand and adjust this range as you gather information.

Know his showdown range:
Some players will check down or use pot control and keep things small with top pair second kicker, some go crazy with second pair, some shut down on coordinated boards, ect...

Know his shove range (blind vs stack size is a huge factor here):
Do they like to gamble?
Do they isolate small stacks with suited connectors?
At what point do they get it in with any pair?
At what point do they get it in with AQ,AJ, A10?
What do they show down versus 3-bets?
What do they show down versus 4-bets?

Take notes on these attributes and frequency they occur:

Does he limp/fold to a raise?

Does he limp/call and fold to C-bet?

Does he float the flop and fold to turn bet?

Does he check raise?

Does he fold to a check raise?

Does he fold to a 3-bet?

Does he fold to a 4-bet?

Does he donk bet/fold to a raise? On flop? On tun?

Does he shut down on the turn?

Is he a calling station?

Does he lead out or check with the nuts?

Does he seem to vary his play?

Does he seem aware of players table images?

Taking notes and paying attention will help you define your opponent, his style and his hand ranges. I will talk about how to use your reads in follow up articles. And as always in my articles I am speaking from my knowledge base at the micro buy-in levels. This is ABC, 123 level one stuff.

GG GL

ps- I am just scratching the surface of note taking and reads. Post your favorite notes/reads on players and I can add them to the list. Things like - "he likes to represent the Ace" or "will fold whenever an Ace is on the board", ect...

To Post a Comment!

Ceri_g Says:

Quote: "will fold whenever an Ace is on the board" At what point does a trend become a habit? This is a good simplistic question, but life always seems somewhat more complicated than this - but then with some players it doesn't. I may be treading on some of your later points, but when do you go with instinct and when do you go with being rational?

Posted On: 2009-04-05 12:51:44

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