I've never played live. I've always assumed it's 'just' a case of simple observation, working out who's loose, who's tight. Part of that is going to be seeing what cards guys are showing down.
A guy played AA from UTG? Nothing unusual there.
He opened with 73s from UTG? That's different. Fair to assume he's somewhat looser.
Basically, the higher the VPIP, the wider their range, and the less likely that they're going to have hit any given flop.
Someone who's only opening the top 5% of hands is going to be much stronger on the flop (on average) than someone opening 50% of hands.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TaePoker
Is it as simple as, if they have a high VP$IP they're more likely to bluff
No, that wouldn't be a safe assumption.
Sure, they might be loose AND bluffy, but they could just be loose, but only go to war when they flop strong.
(Someone else could be relatively tight, but still love to bluff, especially when they sense weakness.)