Rambling reads..

The s-man was over again last night for more high octane,adrenaline fueled.....tea drinking.We also watched Russia scud Sweden 2-0 to set up a mouth watering quarter final with the Dutch.When he left just after 11-ish I headed online to play some poker.I ended up only playing a couple of games with Juice, the 42 yr old half drunken birthday boy.I took 2nd in one $11,18 player turb and crashed out the other one.

I'm not sure the following will be much use as it's not really anything new but I did mention yesterday that I'd written a post on how to pick up reads online so here it is,written after a few smokes and whilst
two tabling.It's more for sngs, but some of it may apply to cash games.

Now I've made my excuses here goes...

From the moment you sit down to play reads can be picked up.If the site shows avatars and people choose to show online poker training/forum logos ( with obvious exception of Intellipoker!) that would indicate the player at least gives some thought to the game away from the tables.Where are they from and what time is it where they? Are they up late,possibly stuck ( down and trying to pull losses back) drunk etc?

Gameplay:Do they limp from early position at the start of the game as this is usually the sign of a weak player.Any player ( apart from me and Rosie!) can get a rush of cards ,but even just playing a lot of pots early on is often the sign of a poor player.

What do they showdown when they do this? Do they complete the small blind often if the pot is unraised? Folding everytime in that spot even when being offered good pot odds ( ie 25 chips to call into a 225 pot due to limpers) is usually the sign of a tight/multi-tabling player.When folded to them in the sb do they seem to be folding most hands or blind stealing when it's too early in the game to really matter?

If they do complete the small blind ,do they check down a losing hand when they miss the board? ( eg you have J2 and they have Q4 on an A59K2 Board)They're usually going to have a tight raising and calling range if they do check it down there.

I almost always muck my hand if the villains don't pay to see.The only exception is when I want to let the big blind know I'm only "stealing" because I have a genuine hand.( Thus allowing my tight image to remain and meaning I can steal later more easily) Players who are ego driven and always show bluffs or show when they think they've outplayed someone are usually fish too.

If you're only playing one/two tables Sharkscope can be very useful.As indicated previously,Losers are generally too loose early and winners play a tight game at that stage.In practice this means that loosers will be raising and calling with a much wider range of hands than winners.

I also note players I spot limping or min raising with AA/KK/QQ for future reference.I've learned that although once in a while I'll get caught out by that move,generally peoples bet sizes are an honest reflection of the hand they have.( certainly at $33 and under) Some players will trap and get tricky but they are rare at low levels.If their c-bet is small ,they've usually missed etc.

I also reverse that and if for example I have AK,raise preflop and get a couple of callers then I'll try and make my c-bet tell the "honest" story of what I want them to think I hold.If it's a low ragged rainbow flop then a monster hand probably wouldn't bet the full pot as there's no danger and I don't want to scare the villain away.I'd try and bet enough with my AK ( obviously I want to take it there and then with Ace high on a ragged low board) to make it seem that I had Aces and wanted action.If it's a slightly drawy board ( eg flush draw out) I'll bet more to make it look as if I'm trying to defend my monster from being outdrawn.( pot size or sometimes over)

Ok,as I've gone a bit off the topic of reads I think I'll end this post before it gets any more disjointed.

Hopefully I'll have some dang exciting news for UK/Euro bloggers to post about soon....