Observing Poker Betting Patterns

Betting Strategy, Observing Opponents
September 7 2008

The best way to figure out where you stand in a hand is to watch the betting patterns that each player employs in their game. Many players repeat these patterns over and over, and if you take the time to see how they bet in a certain situation, you can use this to your advantage. You’re mainly looking to recognize two things:

1. How does this player bet when he has the goods? Most players bet for value when they have a good hand. Wait to see them show a winning hand, and remember how they bet. What percentage of the pot do they bet with the lead? Then, when you see this occur against you, you’ll know that this player is serious about their hand. Depending on what you have, you can either fold out or make a big raise if you have a monster.

2. How does this player bet when they’re on the bluff? This one is just as important as the first one. Getting to see a bluff is not as easy as getting to see a good hand, but if you watch a player after a successful bluff they will often show some type of sign that they indeed bluffed the hand. A sigh of relief or a smirk are giveaways of a successful bluff. Just like in the previous example, remember what percentage of the pot the player bet when he tried to bluff. These bets tend to be more sporadic, but if you watch carefully you can often pick up a bluffing pattern on an opponent.

You can continue to take advantage of this information until the player either changes things up or leaves the table.

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