What Most People Simply Don't Understand About Poker

How Your Physical and Mental State Affects Your Results in Poker
What is the real day to day life of a poker grinder like? It is kind of crazy that this gets discussed so rarely because what you do away from the tables is just as important as your strategy.

How do you prevent tilt for instance?

This is something that is especially important for inexperienced poker players who often suffer the most from poor emotional control at the tables. Indeed, as I have stated before, I believe that the number one bankroll killer for beginner level poker players is without a doubt, tilt.

But what if we dig a little bit deeper and talk about how mood, mental and physical states can affect our play and the likelihood of tilting even before we sit down? In other words how about we look at some of the main root causes of the problem instead of looking for band aid solutions?

Tilt is going to happen to us no matter what in this game from time to time but it is certainly within our control to lessen it's impact. Professional athletes have all sorts of pre-game rituals and use mental imagery techniques to get themselves prepared.

Why shouldn't poker players? If you take this game seriously (and especially if it is your job) then you should be mentally and physically preparing yourself for the grind before you even sit down to play.  

I want to stress here that I am not a psychologist or a psychiatrist and I have a very limited academic background in the subject (a few college level courses). 

However, I have played poker professionally or semi-professionally for 10+ years now so I have had ample experience in understanding how my own physical and mental states can affect my results.

What follows will be based on what I have learned in that time. Let's start with some of the more obvious stuff first.


Poker and Nutrition


You are what you eat, literally. Everybody probably already knows this but it bears repeating here. You are going to feel way better about yourself if you choose the rice/chicken, salad and green tea rather than the big mac, fries and a coke.

This is not to mention what all those extra calories are going to do to your waistline! "Bad food" is often loaded with sugar and leads to insulin spikes which can affect your mood rapidly. Healthier choices that have more actual ingredients found in nature will often have the opposite affect and provide you with a much more stable mindset. 

I don't want to sound like some health nut here trying to sell you on the benefits of eating right. You already know all this. Everybody does and it is a personal decision whether you heed that advice or not.

However, something that I have found as it relates to poker though is that you should always eat a moderate portion before playing a session. Even if you eat healthy food, if you eat too much you will often get that lethargic and bloated feeling afterwards which is not conducive to making the quick high quality decisions that online poker demands. 

This is indeed a bigger problem though with a lot of high fat/high sugar "North American diet" foods that are popular today. They are extremely calorie dense and if you eat out in restaurants a lot the portion sizes are often enormous as well. It is much harder to OD on the chicken salad than a huge plate of pasta.

So at the very least, if you are planning a poker session try to make sure that the meal you have beforehand is of a moderate size and of course preferably healthy. 

You can always snack on something during your session if you get hungry. Again preferably something healthy like apple slices and almonds. Prepare these ahead of time so that you can just grab them out of the fridge during a washroom break.

I discuss all this in more detail in the poker pro sections of my new Elite Poker University.
 

Poker and Exercise


Regular exercise simply helps me feel better both mentally and physically in life and improves my mindset and results at the tables immeasurably. Ask yourself this, have you ever done some strength training or fitness and said to yourself at the end, "well that sure was a waste of time!"? No of course not! You probably felt great once it was over.

Those endorphins are pumping, you feel energized and proud of yourself. Sure it might have sucked during the session and you may have felt like quitting. But afterwards you always feel a natural high. And then of course there are the long term health benefits and lowering of stress levels which is what directly relates to reducing the impact of tilt.

The problem for most people though is just getting started. They will procrastinate and put off going to the gym for another day. Soon enough of those "another days" pile up and they have all but quit exercising altogether. I know the feeling.

We all lead busy lives and it can be so easy to make excuses and put it off. If this is a problem for you then I suggest prioritizing fitness as the first thing that you do in the morning no matter what. I have really taken to this of late myself because I have been traveling a lot and often don't have the easy access to a gym that I normally do.
So in order to make sure that I stay on a regular exercise schedule I do some light strength training and go for a jog on most days as soon as I wake up. And I literally mean as soon as I wake up. I crawl out of bed and start doing some sets of pushups, tricep dips and body squats for 20-30 minutes. I then put on my running shoes and I am out the door for a 30 minute run at the beach, in a back alley, where ever. I try to do this at least 3 or 4 times a week.

I should mention that I typically wake up at 6am and this is a great time to safely run anywhere even if you are in a completely foreign place. If it is raining heavily then I may just do some jumping jacks, burpees or Tae-Bo type stuff in my hotel/guesthouse room. Anything to get the heart pumping a bit. I think music is a great motivator as well so I always listen to something uplifting and inspiring like Trance. I highly recommend Armin Van Buuren's weekly show "A State of Trance."

I complain vigorously to myself on most mornings both before and during these exercise sessions but I always feel like a million bucks when I am done and throughout the rest of the day. Don't allow yourself to make excuses. 

There is always time in every day for this crucial element in your life and poker. Start first thing in the morning before you do anything else if procrastination is a problem for you. Eventually it will become a habit and you won't even need to think about it.

Everything that I have written about so far was probably a bit mundane and you have likely heard a lot of it before. However, sometimes we need to be told things again and again for them to really sink in. 

You should also know that nobody is perfect as regards nutrition and exercise. I regularly screw them both up myself. The important thing is to keep trying to create and maintain better habits and if you fall off the train to pick yourself back up and get on it again.

Good nutrition and regular exercise will pay big dividends to your bottom line at the tables by allowing you to think more clearly and thus make better decisions. It will also greatly improve your overall mindset and lower your stress levels which is a huge key to reducing the impact of tilt. 

Let's move on.


Poker and Your Mood


Understanding how your mood or mental state can affect your game before a session is something that rarely gets discussed but it is so important. Now once again I am not a trained psychologist here so I don't want to dig too deep into real mental health issues such as clinical depression.

I don't really have any personal experience with this kind of major debilitating depression either. If this is something that you suffer with though, then you may want to re-evaluate how it affects your game and maybe even put poker on hold for awhile until you get control of it. 

For most of us though it is the more run of the mill stuff like being in a bad mood due to a stressful day or feeling mildly depressed (the normal kind that most people get from time to time) due to some life event or even just feeling lonely. These states of mind can affect your game more than you might think.

We all have bad days and I know that on my bad days I am more likely to have a much shorter tilt leash than normal. Whereas it might normally take 5 or 10 bad beats/coolers in a short period to get me off my A or B game on a bad day I might be feeling tilty after just 3 of them. My overall decision making and the likelihood of making mistakes will also suffer on my bad days.

So it is important to recognize your mental state or mood and address it before you even sit down to play. Just because you are a bit short of temper or mildly depressed does not mean that you need to cancel your session though. It just means that after you recognize the problem you decide to allocate 10 minutes before the start of the session to some meditation or mental imagery. Shutting the door and having a quick "time out" of simple deep breathing exercises can often dramatically improve your mood. 

Sit cross legged, close your eyes and start slowly breathing in deeply until your lungs are completely full. Exhale just as slowly and do this 50 times. If you would like some sort of relaxing background atmosphere while performing this calming exercise here is 2 hours of Thai Buddhist monks chanting. 


This simple meditation technique may seem tedious at first but you will be in a much better state of mind to play poker after doing this. It should not take more than 10 minutes of your time and you really only need to do it on those bad days where you feel a little stressed or depressed. 

Most professional athletes prep both physically and mentally for hours before the actual game begins. Surely you can find 10 minutes to make sure that you are in a relaxed state of mind before loading up the tables. Ideally, do this before the start of every session!

See my complete guide to tilt control by the way, right here.


Poker and Substances


This is going to be a bit of a difficult topic for me to get into because different substances affect people in different ways. However, I can discuss what works (and more importantly what doesn't work) in my experience.

Let's start with everybody's favorite, alcohol! I had some nights very early on in my poker career that were either very memorable or very regrettable due to playing while inebriated. I have both won and lost several thousand dollars in one evening while playing under the influence. I am (proud to admit?) that I also won my first poker tournament while hammered even though it was only for about 1k. 

Overall, I may have actually been up a little bit in my playing drunk career. But it was after one final night where I had been dealing with a lengthy downswing and tilted off about 2k at 1/2 and 2/4 that I told myself that this needs to stop. Truthfully, in today's tougher games my results probably would have been much worse at these stakes while playing in this state.

I simply do not play anywhere near my best if I have had one too many. I play much more aggressively than normal (although this is not always a bad thing) and tilt harder and want to jump stakes if losing. This is why when I chose to take this game seriously and make it a profession I swore off playing while drinking alcohol completely. 

I do not drink and play period. I do believe that there is some truth to the idea that a light buzz (one or two beers) may make some people feel more loose and possibly even play better. I choose not to go down this path at all though.

Alcohol and poker can be a lethal combination for your bankroll and it is really easy to go down that slippery slope of feeling the buzz and having a few too many. I am not here to screw around in this game. I have had absolutely zero tolerance when playing poker for many, many years now. No alcohol at all. This is what works for me. 

I personally do not use any drugs when playing poker or at all for that matter either. I definitely don't want to come across as preachy about this topic or belittling those who do though. Many people for instance use marijuana on a regular basis because it makes them feel more relaxed. I think that if this is something that works for you then more power to you. This is something that only you can know and I don't really have much more to say on the subject. 

The same would go for all of those prescription based medications that are popular these days such as Ritalin for ADD. If you feel that this positively affects your concentration at the tables then I would say that it is probably a good thing then. Just be totally honest with yourself about any of these substances. Are they +EV or -EV for you at the tables? 

The same can be said for energy drinks and caffeine. For me personally I rarely drink either of these while playing poker or in general. I will sometimes have a single cup of coffee in the morning but that is all. 

I am one of those people who gets negatively affected by too much caffeine or energy drinks in my system. However, maybe you are different and it helps you concentrate and think more clearly. Just be honest with yourself and cut them out if they are harming your game or your sleep in any way. 


When NOT Playing Poker is +EV


Despite taking all of the precautions and steps above there might be some days where it is just better to simply not play poker at all. You always have to remember that the games are there around the clock 365 days a year. Taking one day, or even a few days or a week off is not that big of a deal especially if you do not play this game for a living (most of you reading this do not). It is simply more profitable sometimes to not play at all. Recognizing this is another one of those pre-game prepping skills that I talked about above. 

One of the most critical times when you need to be on the lookout for this is during a prolonged downswing. We are often taught to just battle through it and keep your head up during these dark hours. But truth be told, sometimes the best thing that you can do during these periods is to simply limit your play. The reason why is because even if you feel completely fine in your day to day life, these downswings have a way of eating away at us. They lead to negative feelings even before we sit down to play and fatalist and poor decision making while at the tables. 

Sometimes downswings can simply be so lengthy, even for a winning player, that breaking through it could take weeks or even months of big volume. There are very few players who can get in there each day during these periods and consistently keep their wits about them. They are indeed some of the biggest winners in this game.

This is not a skill that can be learned over night though. It takes years and years of practice and a deep understanding of the long run nature of this game. This is why it is often better for newer players at the micros to simply take some time off when things have been going poorly for a long period of time. 

This will allow your mind to get away from the game for a bit and stop the negative thoughts and feelings that can have a devastating impact on your play. If you don't want to get away from the game completely then instead of playing you could choose to conduct a thorough session review or database review. Often I make my biggest breakthroughs during these periods and I come away feeling much better and ready to go the next day. 

Another time when it is sometimes better not to play at all is when you are really tired. We all lead hectic lives and sometimes you are simply exhausted when it comes time to play your session especially if you typically play at night. Sometimes the wiser decision may be to take the night off and perhaps watch a training video or read a poker book instead. Again, the games will always be there tomorrow. This is about not knowingly sitting down to play when you know that you are only capable of playing your B or C game at best. 

But more often than not being tired is simply due to a lack of sleep. A lot of people suffer from insomnia these days. I get it from time to time myself. It is important to know that you will not be capable of playing your best on 4 hours sleep. And no amount of caffeine or energy drinks will fix this either. Once again, the games will always be there tomorrow. Use this opportunity to study the game or even just read something totally unrelated to poker. Reading a good book is the best cure that I have ever found for insomnia.

Lastly, we will all go through some difficult setbacks in life such as the death of a close family member or a divorce. It is definitely advisable that you limit your play during these periods or even stop for awhile altogether. You will be too distracted and emotional during these periods to play your best. Poker is just a game. There are much more important things in life. 

Final Thoughts


I hope that this article proved useful to some of you out there. 

You really get what you put into this game and it often goes well beyond your actual play at the tables these days. 

You certainly don't need to spend hours and hours studying advanced poker training to get ahead these days.

Because most of your opponents at the micros these days have an absolutely terrible approach to the mental game (i.e., they just sit down and play whenever they feel like it and sometimes tilt off a few stacks when things go bad). Oh well right?

Not alright.

If you take this game seriously and you want to get ahead then you need to start understanding that your mental and physical state are just as important as how well you play AK in 3Bet pots. In fact arguably much more important. 

People always think that the biggest winners have this secret technical knowledge or mathematical formula that allows them to win so much. No. What they actually have is an ability to be on their A or at least B game literally all of the time when most others coast along on their B or C game and dip into D, E or F when things don't go well.

At the micros you can often succeed by simply not making the same tilt inspired mistakes that the vast majority of your opponents make on a regular basis. This starts before you sit down at the table and fits into an overall positive approach to life. 

From the very basics of eating the right foods and getting regular exercise to recognizing your mental state before sitting down and perhaps meditating for a little while in order to focus your thoughts and release all negative energy.

And sometimes it involves simply having the wherewithal to recognize when you are too tired, inebriated or in too poor of a mental space to play. Simply keeping yourself from playing the game during these times alone can have a big positive impact on your winrate.

In today's tougher online poker environment you need to approach this game like a professional more than ever if you want to get great results. 

Most people focus almost all of their energy on getting technically better at the game when at least half the battle simply revolves around being mentally stronger than your opponents on a consistent basis. 

By focusing some real attention on this aspect of your game for awhile you might be surprised at how much it can affect your results at the tables.

Lastly, for my entire poker strategy for crushing small and mid stakes games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

Let me know your thoughts below on how you think your mood and mental and physical states affect your play at the tables. If you enjoyed this article please "Like" or "Tweet" it below!

poker mental game

The Best Poker Players of All-Time (This Will Shock You)

Inspirational poker players
I think it is important to have someone who you look up to in poker especially when you are just starting out. These are people who inspire you to achieve the success that they have and maybe even go beyond.

These people have the power to show you what is possible even if you currently have little to no results at all. They also typically display the attitude and work ethic which is necessary for long term success in this game.

Biggest Online Poker God


Nearly all of my play over the years has been online and so naturally my heroes in the early days were almost always online poker players. The overwhelming majority of my play has also been in cash games so naturally they tended to be cash game players as well.

The player who inspired me the most was definitely Dusty Schmidt who is better known online as "Leatherass." He was sort of the original mid/high stakes mega grinder on Pokerstars back in the day.

I would read all of his blog posts religiously, drool over his million dollar a year graphs and study and re-study every training video that he ever put out, literally. 

I actually originally chose to be an instructor at DragTheBar, even though I received offers from much bigger training sites, in large part because he was a lead coach there at the time.

Even though it has became cool to bash Dusty in recent years on popular forums like 2+2 because he is a "bumhunter" and a "nit" (have I mentioned how idiotic these people are before?) his impact on almost an entire generation of young online poker players is undeniable. 

And also, even though I never went on to have anywhere close to the success that he did (although my priorities did change with regards to this game a fair bit) his impact on me was huge.

Edit: I was heartbroken to hear of the passing of Dusty Schmidt in late 2021. My thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.

For those who knew him in the online poker space, he was truly a legend.


Best Poker Players of All-Time: Present Day Poker Heroes


I think there are still many players out there these days who are blazing a path like this for a new generation of online poker players. Doug Polk, better known online as "WCGRider," for instance is now regarded as the best heads up high stakes poker player in the world.

I remember the famous prop bets and playing against him at NL25 in what seems like just a few years ago. Randy "Nanonoko" Lew is another great example of what dedication and a great attitude can do for you in this game. He has been a top talent for years in mid/high stakes cash games on Pokerstars and is a long time and very popular member of Team Pro Online.

There are other guys who are much less well known but whose blogs I love reading as well such as Tim Stone. It's become cool to hate on him a bit as well because he uses seating scripts and sometimes types a few words differently than the rest of us. 

However, this is a guy who has dominated mid stakes cash games on Pokerstars for years and lives a ridiculous life traveling all over the world.

Another blog that I love to read is "The Rant" by talented Supernova Elite SNG grinder Aaron Barone. Even though he is an SNG player I still learn a lot from his posts such as his outstanding work ethic and ability to overcome adversity. 

He is also a good friend of mine in real life so it helps me keep up to date on his current travels as well. In fact, I interviewed him on my blog right here.

There are many more stories of great poker players these days who can inspire you. I always chuckle a bit when somebody emails me saying that I have inspired them at the micros through my results and blogging over the years. 

I am flattered by it really because in relation to the people mentioned above I have accomplished very little in this game.

However, I am glad that I have had the power to provide guidance to even a couple of you out there. I know that some of the people listed above had a big impact on my poker career. 

If I can do that for someone else as well, then that is awesome.


Everybody Needs a Poker Hero


I guess the point of this short piece is to say that you should stay inspired by what is possible in this game even during your darkest hours. The reality is that only one person can be the best heads up cash game player in the world. 

But Doug Polk has shown that with the right amount of dedication and focus that it is possible to go all the way from the micros to the very top of the game. 

If you play online MTTs then maybe that player for you is Chris Moorman with an all-time best of well over 10 million dollars in cashes.

If you play live cash games then maybe Tom "Durrrr" Dwan inspires you with his amazing bluffs and sixth sense for the game. 

Or maybe a hardened veteran who blazed paths for all of us like Barry Greenstein or Doyle Brunson is somebody who you look up to. Heck, if you play live poker tournaments then maybe Phil Hellmuth is your man!

Never stop dreaming in this game. Very few of us will ever achieve the results of these people however their power to inspire and show us "what is possible" can have a huge impact on our success. 

Study what makes them tick more than the actual technical details of how they play the game. 

Their character, work ethic and ability to see the forest through the trees, to use a tired old cliche, is often what truly makes them great.

Lastly, for my entire poker strategy for crushing small and mid stakes games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

All the best at the tables, unless you are at mine :) If you enjoyed this article please "Like" or "Tweet" it below!

poker hero

The Only Poker Hand Reading Guide You Need [2024]

Hand reading in 
micro stakes poker
Hand reading is really at the height of mastering the game of poker. This is the expert level stuff that the pros are best at.

Hand reading in poker is the ability to guess somebody's hand or range of hands correctly in any given situation. Being able to read somebody's poker hand is immensely important because it basically allows you to play perfect against them by making the right bets, raises and folds.

But hand reading sort of comes from the old school live poker way of thinking about the game where somebody actually calls out their opponent's hand. We have all seen examples of this by the TV poker pros especially, Daniel Negreanu in particular.

There is a lot more to it though.


Ranges, Not Hands


However the reason why hand reading (at least understood in this sense) is a bit silly in the modern online game is that we don't think in terms of an actual hand very often anymore. We think instead in terms of ranges.

So for instance when I am facing a bet on the river I might break down my opponent's range as such: he has the flush 30% of the time, a pair/two pair/set type hand that beats me 30% of the time, a pair hand that I beat 20% of the time and a bluff the final 20%.

In this way you can see that I never list any actual hands. I am more interested in the frequency with which my opponent has different types of hands. I am analyzing my opponent's range.

Whichever specific hands are included within this range are not important.


Poker is Not a Black or White Game


Another bad habit from this live poker old school way of thinking is seeing the game in a black or white sense. I can't tell you how many times in the past a student has told me that he is folding because his gut tells him that his opponent always has the flush here.

I try to gently remind them that their opponent rarely ever has anything 100% of the time. While it is true that they might have the flush X% of the time, they will also have a variety of other holdings in various frequencies as well.




It should be noted that there may actually be real cases at the micros where according to some relevant HUD data your opponent absolutely has a specific hand or type of hand 100% of the time. I will discuss this in a bit.

But black or white thinking about an opponent's holdings which is based off nothing more than a hunch is simply the wrong way to view the game the large majority of the time. Almost everyone has a range in every spot even if it is 90% skewed to one particular type of holding.


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Hand Reading: Old School Versus New School


It may seem that I am bashing live poker so far in this article. I can assure you that this is not my intention. However, heavily edited TV poker shows and Hollywood depictions of the game have (for better or worse) often presented a distorted image of poker in the mind of many casual players.

In fact much of the general public still thinks about poker as a game of luck and machismo played in dark smokey rooms by mafia kingpins with guns on the table. The reality of course could not be anything further from this.

Modern day poker is a mathematical/logical skill based game often dominated by young college educated professionals seated behind laptops.

The popular depictions of poker in our culture though have created a way of thinking about the game that is often short sighted and devoid of any logical or mathematical thought. This is fine by me most of the time because it is this romantic allure of the game which still draws the casuals in.

The big call, the table talk, the bravado, the "poker face," the millions on the line! And the TV pros have done a great job in perpetuating this image and drawing in the recreational players.

But it often instills the exact opposite view of the game to what I try to teach on this blog, in my books and videos which is a systematic, sober, long run approach to beating low stakes cash games.

Indeed, for many people just starting out in this game they cannot begin to have success until they start deprogramming themselves of many of these myths and archaic ways of thinking about the game.

Daniel Negreanu even talks about this himself in his new poker training course.


The Micros (as Usual) are "Different"


Now with all of this said, the ironic thing is that once you have played enough hands at the micro stakes you can actually call out your opponent's specific hand in some spots and expect to be right a large amount of the time.

Those of you who have seen my training videos for instance will know that I regularly do this. Sometimes I am wrong (and I don't edit it out) but more often than not I am right.

I am able to do this because many micro stakes players have absolutely zero balance in their game. For instance when the 18 tabling 11/9 nit at NL5 raises my double barrel I can just look at the board and pick from the possible sets (or better) that he can have.

The Only Poker Hand Reading Guide You Need [2023]

This is because he literally has one of those hands every single time given his actions in the hand. I don't even need to look at the HUD data. Indeed, one of the main reasons why poker gets a lot tougher at higher limits is because people don't play like this anymore.

They do in fact have non-nut made hands, semi-bluffs and even air in a spot like this. Therefore, it is impossible to call out their hand.

Truthfully though this is still not a good habit to get into even at the lowest stakes and I should stop doing it. You should always try to hand read in terms of ranges even at these limits.

In most cases, especially on the earlier streets, your opponents will actually have many different types of holdings. And even if they are one of those absolutely no balance nits it is still a good idea to train yourself to think about the game correctly for when you face more quality opposition at higher limits.

This is something that I dive into much deeper by the way in my best selling poker book Modern Small Stakes.


Use Your HUD Efficiently


Your HUD can help a lot in this respect. By looking at the actual numbers you are forced to think in a more mathematical modern way about the game rather than the black and white "feel" approach which I have tried to warn against in this article.

So for instance if I am trying to assess my opponent's calling range on the flop I will look specifically at his Float Flop CBet%. I am of course assuming a proper sample size here. For many nits at the lowest stakes their Float Flop CBet may be as little as 10% because they play a fit or fold game.

Therefore, if they call me on the flop I will assign them a very narrow range of overpairs, top pairs (good kicker) and big draws.

However, with a more sticky reg or a recreational player who might float the flop 30% or 40% of the time I will assign them a much wider range of overpairs, top pairs, middle pairs, bottom pairs, big draws, weak draws and even total air on occasion.

I will therefore be more likely to bet again against this type of player on the turn unimproved. If they were to raise me on the turn then I will once again refer to the appropriate HUD stat (Raise Turn CBet% in this case).

I will again put them on a range of hands based off of the data and make my decision from there.


Perfection is Not Required


I want to also mention that I am not looking for perfection when analyzing an opponent's range with HUD stats like this. Often I don't even take the time to assign specific percentages to the various types of hands within their range.

I just want a general idea of the types of hands that I am facing and the rough frequencies with which I think they will show up with them.

So for instance, here is what I might say to myself when facing a double barrel with middle pair versus a nitty opponent who CBets the turn only 30% of the time. "I think my opponent's range here consists mostly of top pair and overpair hands.

Poker hand reading

While he may be barreling a draw or continuing to bet on a scare card from time to time, given the player type and the HUD stats, I think I am behind here much more often than not." And the obvious conclusion, "Therefore, I fold."

Some people take it to the other extreme these days though and go completely overboard with the math in a situation like this by counting card combinations and trying to get exact range frequencies.

Don't do this either. The most obvious reason why?

You don't have time to be doing this stuff while multi-tabling micro stakes cash games! The practical (not perfect) approach that I just laid out above is much more conducive to success in the real world.

Being off by a few digits is not going to affect your bottom line by any large degree in the long run. Being the world's greatest "poker theorist" but never having the time to actually play the game is what is really going to hurt your bottom line.


Final Thoughts


I hope that this article has shed a little bit of light on the idea of hand reading especially as it applies to the micros. I really think that the term should simply be retired and we would do better to call it "analyzing your opponent's range."

While it can be tempting to use the old school approach of calling out hands against many of the un-creative players at the micros these days it is better to train yourself to start thinking about the game in terms of ranges. And the easiest way to do this is to make good use of your HUD stats.

By constantly referring to actual percentages this will help you to start seeing the game more in terms of frequencies and ranges rather than specific hands. You can go check out my mega article on HUD setup for all of the exact stats that I suggest having on your screen.

Also, you should avoid going overboard in the other direction by overanalyzing every situation and using complex mathematical theories against very simple opponents. This stuff is often ineffective and impractical in the real world of multi-tabling low stakes online cash games.

If you hang around in poker forums too much and get caught up in every new "theory" that comes out it can become very easy to overwhelm yourself with a lot of nonsense that doesn't actually make a difference to your bottom line.

The biggest winners are at the tables putting in big volume day in and day out. They know not to oversimplify the game but also not to overanalyze it either.

They use simple but effective common sense, logical approaches bolstered by effective HUD use to dominate today's games. They analyze ranges to make their decisions, not hands. But they do so in a way which seeks efficiency and not perfection.

Lastly, if you want to learn how to start consistently making $1000 per month in low stakes poker games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.


Let me know your thoughts on hand reading in the comments below.

poker hand reading