Dakota Kid Presents - Deadwood Nuts

Reading a Player in a Loose Hold�em Game

By
Mike Randall

   I played in a loose $3 - $12 spread limit game recently that was max bet often with multi way action much of the time. About half of the table was either loose aggressive or loose passive players. In other words the game had a lot of maniacs and calling stations.

   In one particular hand I had pocket eights in late position. Two players limped in for the minimum. In a limit game I would probably just call as I know that if I raise I will get called anyway. But in a spread limit game I often raise with medium pairs in good position if there have been no raises. In this case I hope the oversized bet will cause everyone to fold and I will win the blinds and the limper�s money. My plan didn�t work however as the button called and the big blind re-raised. The two limpers folded and I and the button called.

   The flop came out ten high rainbow, a flop that came close to making my hand good if everyone else is playing high cards. The big blind re-raiser checked. Now I put him on an ace face card hand and considered betting, but decided to check to the button. The button player was a passive player who would probably only bet if he had a pair of tens or better. So if he checks then I know that my pocket eights is good. He checks and the turn card is a small card that puts two spades on the board. This time the big blind fires out $12 and I have to reevaluate the situation. At the time I didn�t notice the second spade and don�t see how he could be betting when a small card comes. In most cases the best play is to fold a pocket pair when there is an over card on the board as most players will bet when they have top pair. But something feels wrong about this situation as he had not bet the flop. Therefore I still have him on two over cards excluding a ten, meaning he has to be buffing so I call.

   The river brings a small unsuited card and the first player bets the max again. I call him sure now that he is bluffing. He turned over ace jack of spades which had given him a spade draw on the turn, complaining as he did so that he hadn�t been able to win with good cards lately.

   Many loose players and new comers to hold�em see great looking cards in the blind and raise with them without considering there position. If you are in the blind you are handicapped with the worst position at the table. If you raise or re-raise with ace king or big suited connecters in the blind and you don�t hit the flop your in trouble. Your are either forced to try to bluff into the player behind you or to check to find out if he is strong or not where as if you had raised with the same hand in late position and missed the flop it would be much easier to take the pot with a bluff. But when you�re in the blind and the other player bets you won�t know if he has a solid hand or is just taking advantage of your weakness. In this situation where I chose to check the flop because of the third player it gave the first player a false hope that a bluff would work, which was flawed from the beginning, because he had check the flop.

   Reading players and acting upon that read is an important skill in poker and the more you practice it the better you will get.