Putting Players on Hands

Good poker is not just about playing your hand well it is also about playing your opponents hand well. It might seem impossible to accurately work out what your opponent is holding, especially when you cannot see them in person, but it is a skill that comes with experience and some logical deduction.

One of the key tricks to putting someone on a hand is to not try and single out the exact two cards they have in front of them but to instead assign a likely combination of hands known as a range of hands. Instead of trying to work out their exact hand - try and work out the most likely four or five hands they could have based on their actions.

For example, if a tight player raises from under the gun, don’t worry about working out whether they have aces or kings, instead logically tell yourself “They raised from under the gun, they therefore have a strong range, which is most likely something like AQ,AK,JJ,QQ,KK,AA.

Another example could be that you bet on a flop of 9c2d10c and your opponent calls. Instead of worrying if they have aces or three tens, you might say “The flop is draw heavy and they didn’t re-raise, which means they probably don’t have 22,99,1010, top pair or an over pair. They probably would fold most pairs under 88 so their range is most likely club flush draws, 78 or JQ for a straight draw or middle pair”.

You will find that you will not only get better with experience with this method but it will also take a lot of the pressure out of your decision making process. It may seem odd to make your decision against multiples of hands when you are in reality only up against one, but this method will give you a much clearer idea of how strong you and your opponents are in a hand. If your hand is ahead of most of the hands you put in their range then you can feel good about getting your money in, if you only beat one or two hands in a big range, then in the long term you will do better to fold.

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