List of things to note about players in live situations.

jimbozo

I am a not very serious, below average poker player and want to improve my live tournament game. I have read a few poker books and know the basics about pot odds, starting hands, calculating outs, the importance of position etc. I intend to re-read the three Harrington books before my next outing which will be in a tournament over christmas.

There is however one area of the game I would like to ask you about and that is: What to note about what other players do with certain hands/situations.
It is a skill/ability which I have often heard mentioned by pros as among the most important. I am not sure about what information to gather/retain and feel that there is an advantage to be had be doing so. My question to you is:

'What information should I be watching out for?'

Ideally coming from this thread I will have a prioritised list of what I need to keep an eye on. Along the lines of:

Player A
* Sees a lot of flops
* Always protects his BB
* Draws a lot
* Slowplays monsters
* Will always bet an unrasied pot.
etc.

Player B
* Plays few hands
* Has not been caught bluffing
* can be pushed off a pot easily
etc

Anwyay I dont know what should be on this list, nor the order of importance of the items. I would espicially like to have the order of importance so that I can start working on recalling the most important bits of info and work my way down. I want to clarify that I am not asking about techniques/tricks for commiting this info to memory, I will do this in another thread. First I want to get that full list together.

I hope I have been clear enough and appreciate the help.

gerry87

Keep an eye on the two players to your left first and try to label them, esp if they protect their blinds or not, how many hands they're playing and what hands they show down. Then move on to the next player, it's easier than trying to take in a whole table when you sit down.

Gholimoli

Hi there,
To answer your question pretty much every thing a player does in relation to playing a hand is important.
But to actually priorities them IMO depends a lot on your own style.
For example I play a rather loose/aggressive style so for me the most important information when I get involved with some one in a hand is whether or not I can push them off the hand if I don’t hit my cards.
Its no good to me to play a pot with another loose/aggro player who will not let go of his middle pair when I decide to call his raise with 78 so I pay attention to this and try to keep out his way and only play him with better hands.
What you said in your post are all very important as it gives you more information allowing you to make better decision.
Generally you are watching to find out what sort of mistakes your opponent makes and then find the best way of exploiting those vulnerabilities.
Being too loose, too tight, too aggressive, too passive, over betting pots, under betting, too fund of slow playing, over rating hand values, not aware of self image, not caring about opponents image letting go to early, not letting go when they should etc.
They are all mistakes that people make that can be exploited.
The thing is not every one can exploit all of them .for example if my problem is that im too loose, I can not really be exploited that much at a table full of tight people who refuse to adjust to my looseness, or if im too tight then no one can really exploit me if they refuse to open up their range against me.
You watch out for these natural tendencies and adjust your own play based on these factors.
Your aware opponents are those who understand these factors and your most dangerous opponents are those who readjust to these correctly.
Try to stay out of their way until you feel comfortable that you understand what they are doing.
If a hand goes too showdown it can be a wealth of information even if its just one hand because based on how the hand was played you can tell how the opponents are thinking and based on that you can tell what level they are at and that will help you greatly in playing against them.
Good luck.
P.S im not really loose it was just an example .

ianmc38

Gholimoli wrote:

For example I play a rather loose/aggressive style so for me the most important information when I get involved with some one in a hand is whether or not I can push them off the hand if I don’t hit my cards.

Don't mind that twaddle Jimbo. Gholimoli is a tight nut-peddling nit

Glowingmind

i just watch for people going "woo hoo!!"

ianmc38

One thing I look for is whether somebody bets or check calls with draws.