The Four R's

No time for a big post here, so this is just some ramblings I've been thinking about lately. Specifically, I've been musing on the subject of hand reading over the past few days, and something I've realized is that there are four basic types of information that we base our reads on at a poker table. They are:

1. Absolute Data. These are things that are definite and indisputable; i.e., they are things we know for certain. For example, such things as the position of the opponent, the board texture, and the villain's bet size are absolute. When you're a beginning poker player, these are the things that you should focus most of your attention on mastering-- and turning into hand ranges. I talked a little about this back in Lining up the Levels in my discussion on board texture. The good news is that these data are easy to implement; the bad news is that they yield relatively limited information.

2. Trends & Tendencies. These are the tendencies and penchants that our opponents display when we play against them. Typical T&Ts include VPIP, PFR and positional stats. One of our best tools for accessing this data in real time is a HUD, such as the ones that PT3 and HEM provide. The good news with this type of data is that they give us a pretty good snapshot of how the player typically operates; the bad news is that they are highly dependent on sample size-- i.e., you simply need hundreds, if not thousands of hands on an opponent to draw significant reads, especially when using such things as 3bet and check-raising stats.

3. Notes. These are arguably one of the most useful types of data to accumulate on the opposition, and can provide very specific hand range reads. Things like "Villain plays AXs from late position but not EP" or "Only 3-bets with the JJ+" are invaluable nuggets of info to have the opp. The good news is that narrowing ranges can be made relatively simple if you have some good notes on a player; the bad news is that it takes conscious, concerted effort to regularly take notes and update them.

4. Feel & Meta-Game. This category includes all the touchy-feeling things that are difficult to put hard data against. It's more of a "qualitative" notion than a "quantitative" thing. Further, it's more relevant when we're playing level-3 poker; i.e., "I think that he thinks that I have a small pocket pair so if he bets here he probably has overcards to the board" type of thinking. Another example might be if our opponent just saw us make an outrageous bluff or big laydown, and how this might affect his hand range. This area also encompasses things like "is the villain tilting?" and, if so, how is that affecting his starting hand selection?

Gotta run....
All-in for now...
-BUg