What I'm interested in here is what the most important things are to look for--i.e., after a few orbits you should have at least some definite hypotheses on all of these.
So, here's my list:
1) What's the right raising quantity for the table? This is quite variable depending on tables. I'm generally looking to get 2 callers, although many good players like only 1 (and hence like to raise bigger).
2) What are the raising ranges of your opponents? I think this is probably the most important thing to figure out pretty quickly. Against some it is a huge mistake to lay down AQ to a raise (I'm talking about FR here by the way) because they're dominated more often than not. But against a few (definitely the minority in my game), it's a fairly big mistake to call a raise with AQ because YOU'RE dominated more often than not.
Depending on raising ranges, I also make major variations in my re-raise range: Against very tight raisers, my re-raise range is AA only. Against very loose ones, it's at least JJ+ and AK and usually with a healthy dose of SCs and middle PPs in the mix.
As 2a one might also add how they'll respond to a re-raise. There are some at my 1/2 who'll shove AJ or worse, but most will let the re-raiser have the initiative unless they have a really big hand.
3) What do they bet, and are there any betting tells? I was noticing tonight that several players would bet near pot on second pair, then check turn without improvement. Many will also semi-bluff with a half-pottish bet. Lots will check top set after raising. One player I was noticing bet double the (limped) pot with TP no kicker on a mildly drawy board, and that's a fairly frequent play actually--but some do that on 2 pair a lot, so you need to know your player.
4) Weak means strong players. Some will shrug or give a weakness comment when they bet on sets or other nut hands.
Those are the main ones I can think of right now. Certainly point 3) is a large area which could stand to a lot more differentiation.
I also wish I had some better physical tells to share. Honestly, my current status on that is that I feel like I have a pretty good sense of whether I'm ahead or behind or whether someone has a big hand or not, but I feel like I still have a way to go in that area.
Oh, and another one I wanted to mention that I just remembered:
5) Who is bluffable and who isn't? Basically, this amounts to who is capable of laying down draws or TP. Against these guys, I've often been semi-bluffing the turn at around full pot if I've been able to isolate and if I think they're drawing--or often repping a set by 2/3-potting if I think they probably have TP. Other plays are obviously also possible. Against stations obviously on a draw, I've also been full potting the turn (sometimes overbetting) on overpairs, TP I know is good and stuff like that.Statistics: Posted by Aisthesis — Fri May 30, 2008 11:56 pm
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