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Reading Poker Players Stack
Sizes
In poker, knowing things
about all of your opponents is very helpful in affecting how you
might play towards individual players seated at your table. As
for learning how to call a players bluff or guessing their hand, a
real poker table in which you can make eye contact, read body
posture and all the other tells, is much more conducive for learning
about your opponents than a game in an online poker room is.
However, online players still have much to work with. Don't be
like some poker players out there who think online poker is
debilitating to a players perception skills, because in actuality,
it is not.
The first and most
obvious clue you can use to find tells about another player is their
stack size. It is as simple as you might have guessed -
Players with larger bankrolls are the ones who win more often than
the other players with smaller bankrolls. Obviously, this is a
generalization and needs some further elucidation to find the true
power in this observation. The key is to take note of all the
players bankrolls when you first sit down at the table. Even
better, is to watch a few rounds before you sit down and enter the
pot. You will likely see that many of the players with smaller
bankrolls play too many hands. You will also probably see some
small stacks playing a very tight game, which is likely because they
have just graduated from a table with smaller betting limits and are
testing out new waters.
A good approach for
handling both of these players is one that includes both aggressive
and tight play. As for the player who plays hand after hand,
simply let them be the doer of their own demise. Do not try to
call their bluff, because there is no telling since they play most
of their hands no matter what. Eventually, the odds will
dwindle their bankroll down to nothing. At that point in time,
stealing their blind is more feasible if they begin to play a
tighter game in an attempt to stay alive.
As for the players who
are tighter than a cob of corn you know where, give yourself
permission to play aggressively against their hands. Even when
this player has good pocket cards, you can get them to fold.
Just keep in mind there is a good chance that this player may play
lose on a dime. Especially if their bankroll is getting low
and they go all-in, there is a good chance they will have something
playable.
Hopefully this sheds
some light on one component of the tells that players give in a game
of online poker (as it also does in the casino). Remember to
look for other things, such as response time to act and other
players overall betting patterns.
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