Hello Everyone

Can someone recommend some resources for developing hand reading skills at the table?

I do my best to pay attention to EVERY hand but I'm still not really sure what to think about. When someone open raises I literally think in my head "Aces, kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines, he'd probably limp eights, Ace king, queen, jack, he'd probably limp ace ten ........"

Not very efficient.

I wish I had a better system, but I've got no idea where to start.


Thanks!
RA

Just some general thoughts:
it sounds like you learned about ranges and equity calculators before you learned the fundamentals of poker. I'd try, for now, taking a step backwards, and try to follow opponents plays in terms of why they are doing them and try to figure out their exact hand and if they're strong or not. Don't just calculate your range vs their range. Also , hand reading develops over time, not right away.

Thanks Bryce!

I think you're right, I'm waaaay tf overthinking these situations where there is some really simple stuff going on.

I'm struggling to find a starting point. What should I be thinking about when I'm in a hand or even watching a hand.

What tendencies am I looking for and what do I do with this information.



RA

That's a really really complicated question actually. The standard answer is it depends, and as you get better at live poker you'll get better at "chunking" ie being able to look at the relevant information rather than all the information.
I wouldn't over complicate things pre flop; just use a standard reliable range and know what hands you're playing in each position.

Try to think old school for now and come up with 3-4 hands you think your opponent is most likely to have. Then try to narrow it down to 1 hand. If you're off think about what observations of your opponents made you "read" them incorrectly. Over time you'll get better at putting people on hands. Look at how they put there chips in, how they initially reacted to their cards. If they take a moment to think longer than usual try to think about what it was that caused them to think.

Post flop, live poker is about perceived ranges and the psychology of your opponent.For example- Is v genuinely tilted? Is v protecting a big stack and going to leave soon? Is v itching to play a big pot? Are they on their A game now or their B game or C game? Try to put yourself in your opponents shoes and figure out how they perceive the strength of your hand. I'm good at making loose connections and can often gauge what my opponent is thinking about. It just takes time. It's way too big of a subject. Try to imagine how your opponent sees the game and imagine you are literally them playing their hand.

Just as a general suggestion really bad players won't be able to make the laydown, they'll call your bets with weak holdings so don't bluff them just wait. Mediocre players will lay down too many hands. You should be able to figure out who the really bad players are and who the mediocre players are by watching.

A lot of the most winningest players in live poker are just people who play the same group of people and learn how those players play day in and day out until they know how to beat them. They could tell you something like "that over there is jonny, he gets nervous with AK and is always trying to set mine. after about 5 hours he usually blows up. He's one and done On the flop and jams his flush draws. etc etc"

If this sounds dumber than the stuff you learned on gto wizard or wherever, that's because it is. It's also how you win in most games.

Not always the best mindset for humans, but for game play I'd start at the bottom. What's the worst hand they may have for that position, stack size and previous action. That's only 'one' hand to memorize and then all the rest are better by default, eh?

Of course every human is different, so you need to adjust your 'worst' thinking based on what you've already observed from this Player. If the intel is limited then you use default 'ABC' thinking until proven otherwise.

I found that once I stopped worrying about their best hands (and thus what I would lose to) I developed more confidence in how to play against their whole range.

In the most simplest terms .. when you have KK it's better to know that JJ is in their range rather than fret over losing to AA even before the chips go in. GL

Hey, I would say to try and make more basic, general observations, and as you become more studied and gain experience these observations will naturally gain complexity. So for example here, rather than trying to think of the exact hands he could have, you could say something like 'he has a tight UTG opening range' or 'he has a wide BTN opening range'. Afterwards you could go and check what exactly those ranges look like and over time you will get better at visualising them on the fly.

Similarly postflop, you can start general. Instead of guessing at exact hands, you can just make observations like 'he will cbet very often and so gets to the turn with most of his wide BTN opening range', or 'he probably doesn't have many super strong hands since he didn't cbet the flop'. Again, you can review afterwards and develop these basic ideas into something more sophisticated as you learn more.