Hey guys,

Just reviewing my live game, I realise that I have a hard time figuring any tendencies from the players I encounter apart from the basic nit/loose preflop play, examples :

- how many times theyre folding to a 3 bet
- how often they fold on the river with a decent hand
- and so on.

How do you guys figuring out these kind of thing live, especially with the slow pace of the game, without any HUD?

Second question : how do you USE these informations against your opponent? Concretely? (examples?)

Thanks a lot for your help,

NIT/loose works well enough for the players you don't know and are unlikely to encounter again.

Work on the regs you are playing against often (you already have their basic TAG/LAG info ingrained...or should). First thing I do is watch to see what they are aggressive with post-flop. Slow it down if you need to by (1) only watching one or two regs per night and (2) take a small note pad (fits in your shirt or back pocket).....and hit the head to jot down what you learned in each hour.

How exactly do you find out how often they fold a decent hand on the river? Live or online?

That sounds impossible to me unless the call or fold percentage is 100%.

Here are some of the tendencies I look for(usually in low to medium level MTT's. If I am playing a larger buyin circuit event, I look for different things):

1. Big gap between open range and 3 bet calling\4 betting range-If I notice a player is opening a large number of hands, but folding to a raise often, I will start to three bet him light to 1) win his bets, and 2) get him out of his comfort zone.

2. Over values medium strength hands-Often times this is a player who is trying to play too fancy for the level of tournament. They try to show down after three streets of betting with TPNK or middle pair. This stuff may work when playing some of the more competitive tournaments where pros are playing wider ranges against each other, but it is very exploitable at lower level tournaments.

3. Puts villain on bluffs too much-Similar to the above, if a player will call multiple streets of betting with a bluff catcher, I will try to wait for a strong hand and value bet into him. There are guys who just won't ever give their opponents credit for making a hand, and will show down with any pair.

4. Calls draws with bad price-very common leak. Players see an OESD or a flush draw, and they call down multiple PSB's. They hit often enough for them to think this is a good play, but the numbers do not justify their calls. If you are playing one of these guys with a made hand and a moist board, overbet the pot and let them hang themselves. Occasionally, they will stack you off, but you will, for the most part, extract a lot of value from them.

5. Undervalues big aces preflop-A lot of people get fixated on the fact that AK is just ace high, and will just flat call with it. Be careful of these guys. There is a tendency to cap the range of flat callers below AQ or AK, so these guys can come out of nowhere and shiv you when you bet the flop with AJ, get flat called, and then bet an Axx rainbow board.

6. Narrow preflop range-Keep an eye on how many hands this guy is involved in. If he is playing less than 3 hands every two orbits, you can start to narrow his range. Be vary careful, though, of making this read with a small sample size.

7. Wide preflop range-Same as above. If a guy is in 10 out of two orbits, you can start to assume that his opening range is wide. but be careful of small sample size. It is very possible to just get 10 top 10% hands in 2 orbits.

Here are the non-technical reads I am making in live poker as well:
1. Is the guy experienced-does he stack his chips in commonly accepted ways (for MTT's, it is easy to spot someone who is not putting their big chips on top or in front)? Do they bet odd amounts? Do they stumble over common procedure or terminology?
2. Is he comfortable or tense?
3. Is he drunk, tired, angry, or in any other way emotionally altered?
4. Is he smart or stupid? (this is not always a great read, as I have met some players that seem dumb, but they still are able to play well)
5. Is he a beginner, a reg, an OMC, or a poker pro wannabe? I love they guys who are playing $65 dailies in their 'poker uniform' of a hoodie, a few gold chains, fancy sunglasses, and Beats over the ear headphones. Those guys are usually going to try some fancy plays they saw but don't understand, and are easy enough to catch

iggy you just got two of the most knowledgeable posters to answer you. follow their advice and just watch more and think about things. it will start to come to you.

Thanks a lot for your feedback and time!

OP if you are playing at 1-2 or 1-3 stakes , the table turnover is so constant ( usually ) that it is really , often , not that helpfull to try to get more tendencies on your opponents than just the basics. Now if you are at a much more static low stakes table or at higher stakes , then this certainly becomes a more serious issue. I am also just talking about cash games here, not tournaments.

I wait for them to show down a hand and work backwards from their to figure out their thought processes. Until I get a read on someone, I play a more passive style that leads to more showdown and I ramp up the aggression as warranted when I notice play that I can exploit.

The main things I probably look for are how they play made hands and draws differently, how they play strong hands differently from good but not great hands, and what situations they bluff in.

Here is the fun part. Just as you will make your read on a player in the first 20 or so hands, and then be apt to stick with it, so can you do this to your opponents. There are players, for example, who will play the first level or two of a tournament completely maniacal. Bet with nothing, show down with bottom pair after betting multiple streets, open 80% of their hands. Then they will, without changing their demeanor or mannerisms, slowly tighten their range. People still play them as crazy, but suddenly they are showing down with a lot more value hands.

The point is, in addition to being able to use reads against your opponents, that you can make your reads, classify your opponents, but you need to be aware that noone is required to be static. They can adjust easily, and any tendencies that you spotted early may lead you into quicksand later.