I have recently moved up to 2-4NL at Stars and have noticed that reads can be everything at this level. I have had a tremendous amount of success so far and here is an example of why.

I usually will take up to ten minutes to chose my two tables to play at just by looking for the least amount of regular faces, as Stars has many online pro's at that level and up. Once I check out the game for a bit I already have a feel for who I want to play with and who I don't. Last night was a prime example of using reads to your advantage.

I sit down to the right of a player who seems to be overplaying many hands preflop. For example, he will call sizeable raises with Ax and he was raising big with hands like ATos and AJos, obviously the perfect player to get into a big pot with. For the first three rounds I had been picking up some big hands and hitting some big flops and not showing down any of these hands so I look like an overly aggresive player, which works out perfect for what the hand that I will explain.

I pick up AKs in MP and make it $12 to go, the player to my left calls immediately, he could have anything from 22 to KTos, I really dont know yet. Flop comes an ugly 467 rainbow but heads up I am betting this everytime(just my nature). I lead out for $16 in to a 28$ pot and he calls quickly....Ok well he could be on a small overpair but I really am feeling that my AK is good still. The turn brings a 5 and I slow down and check, he bets out $20, not much of a bet and I feel this is a horrible attempt at a steal, I call. Turn is another 4 and I check an he IMMEDIATELY moves all-in for about $160 more. I go into the think tank and I thing back to hands where I would make instant moves on people and about 95% time when I make an instant bet online it is usually a bluff trying to appear strong. I also thought back to a hand when I was choosing the two tables to play at and I remember he had made a big bet on the river with nothing and got called by bottom pair and lost. So right now I am almost positive he is holding a KQ or AQ type hand but this really isnt a +EV play to make. Well I went with my read and prior knowledge and made the call.

He shows AJos for ace high and I take a $380 pot down with Ace high King kicker. Here is a play where your read needs to be 100% on to make the call. In my spot I was about 90% and on a good run for the day so I made the call. Point is, although online, reads and tells are still going to be there, you MUST pay attention to every single hand to be a successfull poker player. There are pots to be won when you dont hit your flop.

I love the first half of your post 8) Great game selection!
I am glad you won the pot, but this guy is playing too great a range of hands for me to make this call. The hands that he could have hit a piece of the board with are the ones he would have called your raise pre-flop with. The hands you want him to have (AQ, KQ) are the ones he was raising with - wouldn't this over aggressive player have reraised with one of these?
One of my favorite tips on no-limit came from Barry Tanenbaum at UPF. "No-limit is not about making heroic calls with thin values for all your chips. It is about making your opponet make heroic calls with thin values for all his chips."
Best,
Mike

I am always looking to be at least a 93% favorite if I have all my chips in...But, great read on the player and excellent call.

BTW, what NL buyin is 2/4 blinds at Stars? I play PP, so I'm curious.

Martine, Im going to ahve to say that was a bad call (although you won obviously)
2 reasons:
1) The majority of the time you are going to lose making that call
2) Much more importantly, at that level, once people see you make that call, they will start making big bets at you in similar hands. It was pretty obvious by the way you played it that you had AK. He made the big bet because he KNEW you couldnt call with an inimproved AK. The next time you play a similar hand at that table, the observant players will make that same move with TT

The buy in is 400 which is why I like it a lot better. I used to play 200NL at Truepoker and the blinds were 2-4 and that was too much for that buy-in in my opinion.

Ice, it is funny you said that he made that bet becasue he knew I had AK. My buddy, who I am trying to teach how to play was watching at the time and when I saw that bet we both got quiet as I was thinking. And when I finally made my desicion to make the call I told him I am almost 100% sure he is making that bet because he knows I have AK. I usually will fold in that situation but I had been at the top of my game the whole day and could afford the loss but as I said I felt that my read was ON.

Another thing, if he would have bet around 80-100 on the river I would have likely folded. The quick all-in move was a real sign of weakness, most times it is, but this time especially with the type of player I was facing.

It seems the action at these tables is the best out of all the NL tables Stars have. I have played them all from .10-.25 to $5-$10NL and the 2-4 has had the best potential at making big money. Would you agree with that Ice?

Yeah, my win rate in the $2/$4NL is higher than my win rate at any other stakes including the smaller ones

I also hate that call. But from the hand aside, how much experience do you have playing the $200NL tables Martine? I play the $100 tables mostly for now but would like to play the $200 tables in the near future. I've sat down at the $200 tables 4 or 5 times and have had mixed success, but the games seem beatable and not a whole lot tougher than .5/1. I do agree that the 2/4 games seem pretty soft, but I'll have to wait ages before my roll gets there. Iceman if you also played at all three levels on Stars I would like your input also.

The call was not supposed to be liked or hated, this post was made to show everyone how important reads are at the table. When I have a read that is dead on I will make the call. This hand, this guy, this time, I knew that I was good. I've made bad calls on the river when I knew I was beat and I have actually had a made hand, this was a different situation.

My 1-2NL at Stars is limited but I have played months of 200NL at TruePoker and have done very well(blinds are 2-4 there for 200). I also had a few weeks a FTP's 200 table and had a decent win rate. I have had bad experiences at the 1-2NL at Stars. I started very profitable and in the end I probably am now just even but I didn't play much 1-2NL at Stars.

Ive been struggling to figure this out for quite a while, but my win rate at $1/$2NL not very good. Its not very good at any site. I dont know if its a mental block or what.
My win rate at .50/$1 NL is very good
My win rate at $2/$4 is very very good
My win rate at $5/$10 is pretty good (it only needs to be pretty good to make alot of money at these stakes)
My win rate at $1/$2 NL is mediocre. I shake my head every time I think about this. I hardly ever play it anymore.

Martine I completely agree with you on this call. My reads are half the reason I'm bringing in so much at the $100 max buy-in tables at Party. I don't understand why everyone else says this is such a bad call . In order to take our game to the next level, we have to get past the ABC poker mentailty and be able to make calls like this.

Obviously you made a brilliant call. You used all your poker knowledge and your gut, put it together and you knew he was bluffing. You are my hero and I applaud your poker instincts.


To me, reads and position are the most important concepts in NL Hold'em. The more I play, the less I think the cards matter. Is that how you see it too, martine?

Ice, that is real odd because if I could say the one table I really havent consistently beat it would be 1-2NL. The ONLY 1-2NL I ever beat regularly was TruePoker's $100 table. That site usually only had one running with a rotation of about 20 regulars and 3 or 4 fish that would come through each week, made things real easy.

Kenny, I understand why it was a bad call but I also was not looking to make the ABC play like you said. I am with you on the fact that I want to one day be "above" ABC poker and those are calls I am risking to make to learn(especially considering I was up two buy-ins on the day). Another thing I want to add that I had let this guy steal many pots that I had been in with and I was waiting and waiting to bust him when I knew I had him beat. I am not saying by any means that AK high is exactly "knowing" that I have him beat but that I knew right there right then that this was the hand to put it to a stop.

Martine, very interesting post and congrats on making that call and winning the hand. I don't know if I'll ever have the cajones to make calls like that; but I play at much smaller NL levels for now so the sheer dollar amounts makes it hard for me to fathom. I understand your logic behind making the call, but I'm curious to something a previous poster brought up. You said this player can call preflop raises w/ Ax anything. How were you able to so confidentally discount him having something like A5, A6. Whenever I play w/ these call anything preflop type players I'm always worried about them hitting some small pair and refusing to let go. I could and have seen these types of players make similar moves on the river; betting pot or a bit above (in your case I think his allin was about 1.5 times the pot). They figure there's a 50/50 shot you have either high PP or AK, AQ, KQ. Probably a better chance you've only got the latter given you checking the later streets. So their actually hoping you'll fold but figure they have a good chance either way: unpaired high cards they can beat while there's a decent chance you lay down an overpair given the very possible st8 or unlikely trips. Just curious. Thanks for the post.

Jack, my biggest worry was the fact that he had Ace rag and had hit that flop. But his river bet gave his hand away. If he had hit his trips or top pair with that board then he would have made a value bet on the river, something around $75. By him moving all-in and over-betting the pot to me it seemed like a complete steal. That is also a great way to gauge whether you make the call on the river, if the bet smells like he wants a call you are beat 90% of the time, if the bet is way out of proportion you just might be good with a weak hand. Hense the fact that over betting the pot with the nuts on the river sometimes pays off because it looks like a steal.