Reads for online games

Every player has his own peculiarities that are to be found out. You should absolutely write these down in the player notes, so that you can access your reads in later situations.

Read 1: Villain makes minimum raises pre-flop with:

- strong pockets

The bad players, at least, like to make minimum raises pre-flop with strong pocket pairs like AA or KK, in the hopes of getting more callers, thereby winning more money. This is, of course, wrong since you are giving the opposition a chance to draw cheaply against you.

This read can be enormously important. For one, you can easily throw away a mediocre hand, and should you have a monster then you know that the opponent probably has a high pocket pair that he cannot fold.

- Hands with implied odds (suited connectors, small pockets)

Some players min raise these hands pre-flop to increase the pot on the flop if they hit their hand (set or better).

If it is known that villain raises such hands pre-flop, you should be careful on dangerous boards and make a good fold if a lot of action comes from villain.

Read 2: Villain makes minimum bets with:

- Draws

You will notice that many players often make minimum bets with a draw on the flop or first-in on the turn, hoping that nobody will bet after them and they'll cheaply see the next card (so-called block bets). If this is known, bluff raises can be made to get villain out of the hand or to get more value from his made hands.

- weak made hands

Villain is pursuing the same goal here as with the draws. He wants to get to the showdown as quickly and cheaply as possible and hopes that nobody will bet after him once he bets himself.

This read can be used to shake villain out of the hand. A strong raise in the right place will force him to fold.

- strong made hands

In this case, villain's intention for the min bet is different. He wants his opponents to stay in the hand (or for another player to raise) in order to win the most money from the hand. This behavior is often associated with the bet sequence min bet/(hero) raises/3-bet. Villain hopes for a raise so that he can raise again himself.

You can save a lot of money with this read. The sequence min bet/(hero) raises/3-bet often indicates a very strong hand and mediocre hands can usually be folded directly when it occurs.

Read 3: Villain overestimates top pair, top kicker

This mistake is often made by beginners. TPTK is a good hand, but it's seldom a hand with which you should push your entire stack into the middle.

If you have this read on an opponent, you can make a lot of money with large value bets on strong hands.

Read 4: Villain plays his draws passive/aggressive

A very important read. You can conclude directly whether villain has a draw. You can then protect accordingly and often save a lot of money if he hits his draw.

This read isn't as meaningful the other way around. You can often say exactly that villain does not have a draw, but you cannot say for sure that he has one because he would surely play other hands the same way. You can only add his draws to his hand range.

Read 5: Villain calls too much ("calling station")

Villain cannot part from mediocre hands. Calling stations are our favorite opponents. You can just make fat value bets and thereby win the maximum.

Read 6: Villain has a certain size for continuation bets

Many players make different sized bets for a continuation bet and bets when they hit something. If this is the case, you can steal the pot from him on possible continuation bets.

Read 7: Villain slowplays strong hands

The slowplaying of strong hands is very widespread. Slowplaying can be recognized by the checking of strong hands, but often by cold calls or min raises, too.

If you know how villain plays his strong hands post-flop, you can save a lot of money.

Closing words:

The list of reads presented here is by no means exhaustive. Every detail that you notice about your opponent could be important in a later situation and should be noted in the player notes.