Are there like any real signs I could watch for to "quickly" figure out which players are good and which players aren't?

Recognizing a bad player is pretty easy most of the time, but what if a good player is adjusting his game to these bad players, which in turn would make him seem like a worse player to other good players?

Say, a good TAG shouldn't play KQo from UTG most of the time, but this guy adjusted his range, since he knows a lot of players will just call behind him with worse kings & queens.
How do I separate these players from the actual bad players?

I'm a decent TAG player, but I'm playing a bit scared and I'm pretty sure I'm easily abused by better players who can play a comfortable LAG style against me. So how do I avoid these players?

This is a tough question to answer as there are so many variables and you have very, very little information when you first sit down. There are some nonverbals you can look for that can give you an idea of player type (chip stack preferences, clothing, etc), but those are not 100% accurate.

When I first arrive at a table, as I'm setting down my chips and emptying my pockets to get comfortable, I watch the table for signs of observation. The people I notice that watch me and make eye contact as I'm sitting down are the players I watch closest for the first few orbits.

I think there is only one way and that is the better you become at poker, the better you will recognize how bad everyone else really is.

Playing actual good poker aside, good players are more likely to:

-Be playing deep
-Act quickly and clearly, never wanting to slow down the game, especially pre-flop
-Know some of the dealers, floor, waitresses, and other players
-Have tidy, or at least not super messy chip stacks
-Calmly add/buy more chips after losing a big pot
-Deflect, cliche, or ignore their way out of talking any real strategy at the table
-Watch you and other players closely, whether they're in the hand or not
-Appear comfortable and patient in general
-Come to the defense of an obvious fish if someone is berating them or their play
-Have betting and checking motions that are consistent from hand to hand

^Many of these are ways to recognize regs. Regs are more likely to be good players, but the correlation is far from perfect. Be careful on that.

Basically look for signals that are robust to changes due to adjustments for the table. For instance, if someone's LP range is wider than their EP range, that's a sign that they're probably decent. If they're capable of 3betting light. If they check back in spots where a cbet is unlikely to work. etc. etc.

The other comment I'd make is that just classifying players as "good" or "bad" is not all that useful. I mean, yes, it helps, but there are many different types of good and bad, and we don't want to treat them all the same way. You'd deal with a good TAG differently than you'd deal with a good LAG. Bad players can be bad in a ton of ways, and exploiting them depends on how they're bad. Also, you might not be able to tell right away whether a player is good, or if they just haven't done anything observably boneheaded yet. On the other hand, if you see someone raise pf nine times in the first hour, you can be pretty confident they're LAG, and adjust ranges accordingly.

The "quickest" signal is how many pots they are in. Even a small sample size of one or two orbits gives you some decent starting info.

Are they limping a lot? Probably bad loose passive, especially if they are limp/calling.

If someone plays one hand an orbit and comes in for a raise, they might be decent.

Someone who defends their blinds with a crap hand is clearly loose and bad.

Everything they do gives you a little more information, so you keep refining your book on them as the session continues.

If someone folds their sb on a limped pot they're probably not bad.

The problem with this type of question is that there is no definition of what "good" is. At a 1/2 table, people will pick up that I'm better than most players. If I'm playing in Bobby's or Ivey's room, they'd think I sucked horribly. And both are correct.

The only answer is that if you see someone playing the same way or better than you'd play the situation, they are a good player in relation to you. It doesn't matter if I think they're terrible or not.

Key indicator is raise size. The smaller the raise the better the player.

Someone who folds a lot of SBs and walks around looking at the stacks at the other 1/2 tables probably knows what he's doing.

Guys who play A-rag under any circumstances probably don't.

At the majority of LLSNL games this is surely incorrect.

At LLSNL the majority of the time we should be value-betting, and there is no real need for balance given how unobservant/unwilling to adjust our opponents are.

As such, the larger sizing for raises/bets is generally more optimal in my experience at LLSNL.

Obviously, at your level, things are way different, and I'm nowhere near qualified to answer any questions about that.

It's easier to rule guys out of being good than ruling them in. Limp UTG? Bad. Show down junk from the SB? Bad. Limp/Call from OOP, show offsuit connector? Bad. T5s? Bad. They say "why you raising my blind?, you know I'm defending". Bad. Raise flop then show top pair, no kicker? Bad. Call flop and turn, show down 55 on a QJ49x board? Way bad.

After an hour, the guys who haven't showed you anything have a chance to be pretty good.

If they sneeze and blow their nose with a $100 bill I'd be concerned.

I think the above mostly refers to regs with the bold points a little more leaning towards indicating actual 'strong' 1/2 players. I would add to the last point "do not pre-maturely motion towards folding/betting/calling"

Signs I look for that tell me a player is thinking/strong:

-they never show their cards when they do not have to
-they look at other players when they are first checking their cards / the cards are being dealt
-they watch other players react when the flop is dealt

The last point makes me smile because on many occasions I will find myself going to a flop heads up and me and the one other guy are staring into eachother's eyes while the flop is dealt. The cards are out there but neither of us has seen them and neither wants to be the first to break the stare down. One time I literally said, "So should I look first or do you want to look?" The guy told me to look first.

some of my main indicators are:

Bet size: if they are betting an air cbet of $45 5 ways when the pot is $175, or when they raise to $15 in a 2/5 game with aces in the BB after 7 limpers

Do they top off: I am a top off maniac. I am full 100% of the time. When people milk their last 25 bb's hoping for a spot to double up, to me it is a sign of a bad player.

Showing emotion/tilt: they do this when a bad player calls a two outer on the river with a big pot and hits it. They slam their hand on the felt and say something to the effect - "you called me with that?" and they look like they are about to snap. To me, I want people to make those calls all day long because in the long run it will always work out in my favor.

Sympathy Seekers: I hear them crying to one of their other fishreg buddies "Your not gona belive this. I flopped a set. I checked, a guy bets and I call. I c/r the turn and he jammed it I called he had an overset can you ****** believe this **** (like he had to walk all the way over to their buddies table to tell them this? How is it going to help his game.

People who check dark: They call a pf raiser and before the flop comes out they habitually hit the table and say I check.





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good players dont call loose from blinds
good players dont limp
good players fold to 3 bets
good players bet/fold
good players dont bet with stupid sizings (like 10 into 50, or 20 into 10)

There is a place for limping imo even for good players

agree. It's not always about being aggressive and open raising the button with ATC.