Reading opponents at the poker table: what do you look for?

when I played poker offline, I paid attention to how opponents played strong hands, external behavior (look, body movements).

Online, unfortunately, you can’t read opponents like that, but notes help, where I note ridiculous bluffs or playing with weak hands

Playing online, I look for pre folding before it's your turn.
This tells that the player is probably pre-occupied with other activities and is not focused on the game at hand.

My tactics are always the same. From the beginning of the tournament, I just watch my opponents, their hands and bets. I accumulate this information and sometimes make notes. These observations give me an idea of my opponents and what to expect from them.

When playing live the things I always look for are betting patterns - are they raising a consistent amount, is that size varying and are they playing too many hands out of position? Players that vary their betting pattern tend to give away strength - someone who always bets 2.5X and all of a sudden goes to 2X may be telling you that they want action because they have a big hand. Another one is knowing the size of the pot to their stack - if their focus is in the middle and not paying attention to their own stack, are they betting with a big hand?

Online it comes down to identifying players that are multi-tabling - the ones that may be playing a simpler strategy because they have a ton of tables open. Knowing those that aren't as focused on one table you might be able to get them to show their hand strength easier by looking at how often they are playing hands - less hands...better cards and use that to narrow the range quicker, allowing you an edge when the board doesn't line up with that.

in live poker almost everything may be added information. do your opponents drink or smoke ? how carefully do they pay attention to the action when not in a hand ? are they friends with other players and the dealer/floor persons ? how are their chips stacked and how do they move them ? except for the friends part (on sites where chat is allowed ) none of that stuff is available in the online format.

Online you have to rely on betting patterns like bet frequency and bet amount.
Live you not only have betting patterns but have a whole host of others. From a player's overall demeanor to their reaction to community cards or reaction to your actions to general facial or body movements when they are putting chips in. You can gauge your opponent strength from these.

Tammy said:

When you sit down at the table in a tournament with unfamiliar people, what are some telltale signs that tell you whether a player is strong or weak? Can you give examples of how these tells may be different in live play vs. online?

Special thanks to @hobojim1247 for this topic idea!

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I play online games, so it's hard to rate. But during the game it becomes clear until you are transferred to another table, for example, there was a player who went all-in every hand

If someone is nervous they are likely scared especially during later stages of the tournament
If someone is cocky they are likely to put bluffs on
If someone is just there trying to avoid eye-contact or table chat I think they want to play pretty basic and safe. Only strong hands!

I have never played live poker, so i would comment on online poker. When a player is weak they tend to bet small bets, donk bets because they dont want to lose more chips. They tend to limp their hands.

When a player is strong, they checkraise more often, they raise their hands preflop.

I have been told I stare when at the table. It's not that I am trying to stare but watching for everything and anything. I watch all the action and players and you will be surprised at how much you can pick up at the table. We have all read the classic tells and I have seen them.

One thing i watch is bet sizing a lot. Its shock how often you will see someone bet the same size then all of the sudden the raise much larger. How many times I have seen them show up with AA or AK type of hands. After that hand they go back to their normal sizing. Suddenly next time they do it is again with a big hand again. I love this tell to avoid losing tons of hands but will also take a calculated rick vs them.

Another think i look for is how they handle their cards. Many time I have seen a player pick up their cards on the flop or turn and are ready to muck there hand before the action is to them.

Another live help is not looking at my cards until the action come to me. I will watch all the player but especially the one who act after me if they look at their hand. You will see players again holding their cards ready to muck before the action is to you.

What's good for online and live is just making sure you see the cards played at showdown. There is nothing like seeing an open raise from says UNG and UNG+1 call with 87o. If he is calling a EP raise in EP with 87o you can realize he is a loose player right, there. 87o is actually a bottom 50% hand. If he is calling 50% of hand in EP you can be pretty sure he is an overly loose player after 1 hand. I don't suggest you make that assumption based on 1 hand but many time it is pretty accurate.

Look for auto raises and auto checks. You can pick up how much they like the hand when it is an instant play.

Post flop watching how they bet is another big thing too. Some plyers are easy to read based on their bet sizing again just like the preflop situation. It may take time to confirm what it means but once you do you can make or save chips.

Playing online is kinda hard but if you keep some notes this will help. Now as for live this will take some intense observation lol because everyone has a tell even if they don't think they do,if you watch for it you can pick it up. That's why some wear glasses or play with their chips some never stop moving just trying to hide their tell but it's there if you watch long enough you will see it. Good luck and have fun at the tables.

I would certainly observe his movements and reasoning regularly, to then have an idea of how decision-making works at the table... to make or not to make a safe move against him!

Their actions, number of hands they playing and betting styles

I know some players who talk too much when they have strong hands usually they are trying to mess you up with all the talkings and that's why in this case I prefer to watch it carefully. Another good sign is betting timing and strategy usually weak players often limp frequently, but the strong players tend to raise or fold more often preflop.

Probably the oldest first, shaking hands. I've seen it too many times. It usually denotes a monster hand.
Timing tells, they take too long to make a decision after you've made the bet, if I don't have the best hand it means they most likely do.
Making a huge opening bet, if we are all still deep stacked, it's almost always AK or a small pocket pair.
Limping preflop then going all in if someone raises it, aces soo many times with the same people, they actually get callers, which always surprises me.
These are my local games, so results may vary.

When they first sit down : Chip stack, players gender, players age, and overall demeanor. Trying to determine if they are having a good run, or if they are under stress.

I haven't played live poker much, so I don't have a lot of experience in this area.....so I would probably wait a few hands playing a tight tight game, then it will be clear who is the tight player and who is the limper.

Online, let yourself be guided by statistics and repeated plays, weak players often have a betting pattern.
Living it is much more difficult, but you can observe a weak player until he trembles.

Live, spotting players who are confident as oppose to those who lack confidence. Nervousness, shaky hands and fingers, wandering eyes, the speed of which they put chips into the pot, can all giveaway tells in a player's game. You mostly have to watch for patterns in behavior.

Online, it's obviously more difficult, because you can't see the player. But bet sizing and how fast they click that bet or call button can giveaway some tells, too.

You can always tell how long someone has been playing live by how he handles his chips! Where he places them when he bets! How far he puts them in the middle or splashes the pot!

I have never played live poker, but for online poker if a player plays many hands its a sign of weakness, limping especially in the early stages of the game when the blinds are small is also a sign of weakness.

A good poker player never limps, unless the blinds are too high or wants to trap an opponent

As I play almost only on line, the tells I use are related to this kind of game.
I look for tilted people, maniacs and nits.
Bet sizes and changes in the game line are commonly useful.

One of the most reliable signs of a weak player is a draw that focuses on the number of hands on preflop.

maronza1 said:

I have never played live poker, but for online poker if a player plays many hands its a sign of weakness, limping especially in the early stages of the game when the blinds are small is also a sign of weakness.

A good poker player never limps, unless the blinds are too high or wants to trap an opponent

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Playing many hands sure is weakness especially when you want to trap your opponent(s) ...

Almost everything, the hands the eyes any gest of the person and of course the plays... For me more important are the plays of the player 😁