Poker Hand Reading 101

Developing the ability to make accurate assumptions about what your opponents may be holding is the cornerstone of winning poker, but it doesn’t come quickly or easily to beginners.

One common misconception about professional players is that they are able to frequently put their opponents on an exact hand. This is rarely the case. What the pros do is put their opponents on a range of hands and make their decisions based on a rough estimate of their likelihood.

How do they do it?

Hand reading is ˝ art and ˝ science, but it begins with observation. You should view every hand as a story that must be pieced together with the following elements:

  1. What are your cards?
  2. What are the blinds?
  3. What is your position?
  4. What is your opponent’s position?
  5. How many people are at the table?
  6. How many chips do you have?
  7. How many chips does your opponent have?
  8. What type of player is your opponent?
  9. What type of player does your opponent think that you are?
  10. What is your opponent’s emotional state?
  11. What does your opponent think your emotional state is?
  12. What has been bet, who bet it, and how much?

After the flop, you have additional information to consider:

  1. What hit me?
  2. What likely hit my opponent?
  3. What are my outs?

How your opponent bets or reacts to your own bets will give you the final pieces of information to make an educated guess about where you stand in a hand.

Seem like a lot of work? You bet it is! Most beginners never get past thinking about their own cards.

If you want to accelerate your ability to read hands, you should treat every single hand as a learning exercise – especially the ones that you are not involved in! As you watch hands unfold, follow the action and begin building the “story” in your mind. Don’t be discouraged if you are often wrong. With time, you will start to see familiar betting patterns emerge.

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