Size Up Your Opponents and Isolate
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 3:46 PMIn any ring game or tourney when you sit down at the table, one of the first things you want to do is start sizing up your opponents, or should we say "sizing up your prey". In any ring game or tourney match when you are facing 9 other players at your table, you want to start isolating the weaker players from the stronger ones. What normally may help determine the weaker players from the stronger ones, could be any of the following criteria:
Weaker player signs to look for:
1- Determining a player's "weak spot" in terms to betting amounts: In most players you will be able to notice that they have a soft spot in betting amounts. What this means is that for example on a $1/$2 NL game ....you may notice that a player will fold to any bet of $25 or more. Playing this "safety zone" for you, may have its advantages. So if you can spot a player that $25 seems to be a fair bit of money to them to bet / gamble on, play that soft spot by isolating them and continuously betting $25+ in a pot, if you know they are not holding a strong hand range. Also, when you're holding weaker cards yourself, it may be easier to push them off their hand, in this situation.2- Be aware of players, that have bad "acting" skills or "expression" skills: What this means is that some players are not very good at masking a strong hand or either a weak hand, by their simple facial expressions or body language. Weaker players may not even notice that they are giving away these simple signs of strength or weakness, by their reactions to looking at their hole cards or looking at the flop or community cards. Some signs to look out for are: Expressions in the eyes, "the little kid in the candy store look" / "surprised look" when they hit their hole cards, sets, draws, etc. Their mouth can also give them away, by a simple grin or smirk, when hitting or not hitting their cards. Make sure to pay attention to players when they look at their cards, comparing the match to the flop/community cards.
3- Nervousness signs when hitting a strong hand: Players will often get very anxious in playing a strong hand and will try to speed up the game by asking "is it my turn yet" and you should pick on this. Also, in being nervous ...players may also be shaking as they put in their chips for a bet. Hand shaking will normally mean that a player is strong.4- Players who like to chat, will get really silent when hitting a monster hand: A lot of players who love to chat and be social while playing poker, will often get very serious and concentrate on the action, when hitting a strong flop. Most players may not notice this, but a lot of them will tend to be very quiet and concentrate on the action and betting patterns when a big hand is at stake or when lots of money can be made with a strong hand. If you're buddy sitting across from you normally likes to chat you up back and forth when playing, but then all of a sudden it's like pulling nails to get any words from him/her ...beware the player's strong hand possibility.
5- Be aware of players, who chase straight draws or flush draws: A lot of more junior or amateur players will fall into the trap to chasing after their straight draws and flush draws and you can normally pick up on this after quite a few hands have been played to see this pattern. Whenever you see a bunch a straight draw cards or flush draw cards on the community and then bets go in and the player folds most of their hands, make sure to pick up on the weakness. It usually means that these weaker players, tend to chase their straight or flush draws and will put quite a bit of money into a pot, only to fold when they didn't hit and by you putting in a sizable bet to push them off their cards. This is one of the biggest mistakes done by more junior or weaker players.
There are many more signs to look out for to spot the weaker or stronger hands in weak players, but these should give you a starting point. Remember to pay attention to betting patterns and details like facial expressions, body language, etc ....and this will be an easier method to spotting / isolating the weaker players from the stronger ones.