Beating Hold 'Em: Watching Players

The ability to watch and observe players is often overlooked in the game of poker, but is a very crucial part of any poker game. The ability to read your opponent is not easy, but when perfected is deadly. If you notice, most of the worlds best poker players look at their cards only when it is their turn, and when it's not, they are staring down their opponents.

How to do this, and turn it into success

On many online websites you can label players, and take notes on them. If you are doing a tournament, sit out the first couple hands and watch them, take some notes, and see what you come up with. This will help you to see what type of player they are (see players and their types). Once you begin play, continue to take into account when players get frustrated, when they get cocky, and when they are passive. Then, when you are faced with an "all-in" situation and you have a two pair showing, and you observed the player they forced you "all-in" is frustrated, you can see their mistake and call to hopefully take the big earning.

Another technique that I have picked up on while playing poker, is to only look at your hand when it is your turn. This does not mean go watch t.v or text, or browse the internet. It means you must watch every player, whether it is a simple fold, or a large raise (even if you have 8 2 off-suit and you know you're going to fold). This will once again help you to identify player types.

A big mistake amateur poker players make is being side-tracked. I admit, I used to do it all the time. I would play poker while my friends were in the room, and I would be watching t.v and socializing with them, not noticing my pot dwindling away.

The best poker players realize that poker is like any other sport, if you want to be successful you must put all of your attention into it. Do you think a football quarterback is thinking about where he is going to eat dinner as he is about to snap the ball? No, they are thinking about the play, where the defense is going to shift, and how they should react if they certain situations were to happen. If you can become that type of poker player, that has different strategies going through their head, reading what the other players might do, it will help you to make a decision that will benefit you, and leave the other players on their heals.

Poker is not a me game like so many people often think. Players find themselves thinking, "What should I do next?" "What is the likelihood that the flop will do this?" "How much money could I make on this hand?" When they should be thinking, "They raised, they are a loose-passive player, they must have a weak hand." "They folded, they are a tight-aggressive player that means they had lower cards."

If you are able to reach that level of thinking in poker, you will see your chip stacks grow, and life will be good.