You must have the ability sit down at any money or free poker table, online or live and analyze the other players. I do think patience is the key ingredient when it comes to interpreting players and the most critical stage is when the game starts.

Why is this?
This gives you a chance to settle-back and take mental notes about the player’s actions. This is powerful during the first 30 minutes of a free poker game in particular as a lot of players like to go all in and hope they win the pot. I myself will only call these players with a high pair, or suited low connectors because I’ve played them before, and they will go all in with any two hand cards given.

What Mental Notes Should You Take?

The notes you should take in the first half an hour or if moved to a new table in any money or free texas hold em game are quite simple.

Determine which players are playing carefully and which ones are playing loose.

The ones who are playing loose are likely to bet on nearly every hand and call just about anything.You will find this a lot in free texas hold em games

People who are playing careful will continue to fold until they get the cards in hand they want or any pairs of AA’s, KK’s, QQ’s, JJ’s.

How can you tell if they are Bluffing?
This can be hard if you have not been paying attention to the overall game as can happen a lot with free poker or if you are playing multiple games online.

If you have been paying attention to the overall game you should have more of a feeling as to who is bluffing.

For example:

When you’ve got an ace and king of spades you’re feeling good about your whole situation. You are waiting for the other player to check or bet, to your surprise the player bets 400 chips when the pot is at 120 chips.

So you call the player and on the flop lands Queen of spades, Jack of Spades, and ten of hearts. The other player goes all-in in order to make you think he/she has the winning hand. You already know you’ve won it so you call the player’s bluff and go on to win.

That is very obvious but if you are facing a more conservative player then they could try to buy you in by betting low not over the pot before the flop and after. These Players really know what they are doing and most likely will have a full house against your ace high straight. Now your experience comes into play…have you marked who is loose and who is conservative?

Practical Player Analysis Tips

1) Players who take ages and hold back are attempting to bluff you into thinking they have nothing and wait for you to make a bet worth calling. (Note: in free texas holdem the player might be taking too much time because he/she is playing multiple games.) Filter these players out as this might be a habit for them.

2) Look out for players who anticipate until the last second and raise you all-in. They are attempting to buy the pot with a decent pair hoping you do not have any aces in your hand!

3) Everybody knows a chip bully. Every table has one. The only way to knock a chip bully off his high priced chair is not to be troubled by his/her large chip stacks. If you have it, go for it. Often, he/she is bluffing because, they want to pilfer the pot or blinds.

All Players Have Habits.

And from habits develop betting patterns - But What patterns might they develop?

A bad habit (for them) you will witness only too often is that some players will lose 80% of their chip stack. They get angry because they’ve taken a considerable loss but rather than cut their losses elect to carry on, often all-in until they lose all of it or earn back some chips (rare!). These players have given up and gone on “tilt”. The best course of action is to call them once the time is right. So bide your time and you’ll take their shirt!

Some players are extremely difficult to read simply because Know they are being read and are always modifying their technique. They will repeat themselves at some point but these patterns are very hard to spot. These players will take up most of your time! When you can read players like these..well you are probably playing WSOP!

I hope this article will help you fine tune your skills and has given you some strategies you can use at the tables. No player is impossible to read but if you can’t read players you will make the game impossible for yourself!

My advice if you have difficulty with analyzing other players or if this is all new to you is to get in lots of training in low risk games. Try low or micro stakes games or some free online poker games to get a feel for it all before committing any significant cash.