Posted Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:35 pm GMT by markusgc
Is there a cure?
Maybe I have an unreasonable fear/loathing of being tricked, but it's more than that. Too often I see people over-playing marginal hands. Maybe it's my levels (micro ring games, $3.50/$6 Sit n Go's), but I've witnessed - and maybe focused on - people raising with crap out of position and betting with their ace-rag.
I have trouble telling when they've got the goods are just don't know any better. I'm generally pretty conservative, but aggressive when I've got something good. I do ok in tourneys by just NOT being an ass. Unfortunately, an ass or two seems to make it to the bubble with me, and frequently I find myself calling when they FINALLY have a hand, and in this case, a better one.
This isn't about them, how they play wrong, don't respect my raises, etc. It's about how you can tell or how you handle it. Any advice?
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Posted Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:49 am GMT by supafrey
You can make money all but ignoring what your opponent has in his hand. Play your game tight, ignore the "intricacies" you see on TV and play ABC push styles and you'll win money. Patience, young one.
Posted Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:07 am GMT by snoogins47
To a point, even a completely random-ass player is USUALLY going to have some sort of reasoning behind his play, even if it's completely bogus. The trick, is to try to figure out what sorts of reasons these might be.
Sometimes these even manifest themselves in predictable ways, like in the low stakes NL phenomenon of people being nits, but as soon as they have top pair, they pound it like there's no tomorrow.
The biggest tip I can probably give you as far as hand reading, aside from the obvious that you'll never stop improving at it, it takes practice, yadda yadda... is to make sure that every conclusion you draw is full of conviction, but not full of stubbornness. The unlikely hand can quickly become an overwhelming favorite to show up, if just one or two things change, regardless of the player. Your reads have to constantly be evolving, and always have to keep open the possibility that something weird is going on: you're flat out wrong, your opponent is mixing it up, your opponent thinks he has something he doesn't, all sorts of things.
For instance, your specific beef mentioned in your post is people "raising with crap" preflop. If all the pieces add up to one almost certain conclusion about your opponent's hand, but that conclusion also requires that your opponent raised preflop with 74o... well, there's a good chance he did that, despite the fact that you probably couldn't have seen that coming earlier in the hand.
Also of note: interestingly, the confusion that you're experiencing, while mostly a byproduct of poor players around you and inexperience, is exactly the sort of thing that experts will try to make you feel as well. Think about playing against an opponent who only re-raises with AA, KK, QQ, or AK. Now think about playing against an opponent who usually only re-raises with AA, KK, QQ, or AK, but is also capable of doing it with random thigns like 68s, A2o.. one of them is a lot more of a headache. It doesn't necessarily mean that the tricky person will fare better, but just that trickiness, whether intentional or not, can be quite deadly.
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