How to Read the Poker Game

There are two reasons why reading the board is important, firstly it tells us how good a hand we have and we can tell what our opponent does'nt have, it's very useful to know both. This is simple enough to do but so many people don't pay enough attention to the board. This is a cardinal sin, you must be at least as vigilant as your opponent or they will have an edge over you.

Reading Your Opponents Hand

It can be tough to tell when your opponents have just a high card, one pair, two pair or three of a kind by reading the board. You will have to use other information to ascertain whether your opponent has one of these hands, you will rely on your opponents betting patterns and their styles of poker play(i.e. are they playing every hand and betting wildly, or, are they super tight and usually only play decent hole cards), you can use the current betting as a guide too, if they are betting into you then maybe they are strong, if they check then maybe they are weak, if they check and then call or check then reraise you should be more wary, they might be slowplaying a monster or at least have a strong piece of the flop.

Pair or 2 Pairs

Example: Board is A24/J/7, your opponent might have an ace. If they bet on the flop after betting pre flop, they might have an ace. If they did'nt raise pre flop, they might not have an ace or they might have a weak ace that they would fold to a big bet. You will have to rely on reading your opponent very much here; if they always bet no matter what the flop brings, you might want to not believe them, but if they only bet when they have hit the flop and they are betting right now, then save yourself some money and fold. If you believe your opponent has hit a pair or 2 pair or trips and you don't have a hand to outdraw them, there's not much reason to stay in the hand; fold your hand and wait for a better opportunity.

Example: flop is 449, it's hard to know where you stand on a flop like this. You can help yourself by betting pre flop to ensure that people holding hands like 46 or 45 will fold pre flop, plus others with hands like 89 or 910 are more likely to fold. If you don't bet pre flop then it's much harder to work out whether your opponent is ahead or not. If you have'nt bet pre flop, you will either have to let your opponents betting guide you, or you will have to bet on the flop/turn to guide you. You use your betting options not only to try and win the pot, but also to obtain information about your opponents hand.

Straights

All you need to do in order to spot a possible straight is look at the board and work out whether your opponent has the cards needed to complete the straight.

Example: flop is 789, this is quite a likely flop for a straight. Either your opponent had J10 or 56 and is well ahead, or more likely they are on a straight draw and hoping to make a straight. They could have A10 or K10 and are hoping for a 6 or a Jack. These type of boards are easy to notice the straight possibilities, or at least the possibility of your opponent making a straight by the river.

Example: flop/turn is 46A/8, this is a harder straight to spot, so your opponent will usually get paid much more on a flop like this. Plus there's an ace on the board so they will likely get some action from you when you hold AK and AA.

Example: flop/turn is 6A10/4, your opponent does'nt have a straight, but they might have a decent straight draw. This is called a 'double belly buster gutshot' and like an open ended straight draw it has 8 outs to make the straight (four 5's and four 9's, assuming your opponent has 78). This is arguably the hardest straight draw to spot and thus it's likely that your opponent will get paid well if they hit their straight.

Flush

It's pretty easy to spot a flush, there will be 3 or 4 cards of the same suit on the board, if there are'nt at least 3 cards of the same suit then your opponent does'nt have a flush.

Full House

You can spot a full house because the board will be paired. If the board is'nt paired then there is'nt a full house. Look out for this. A small percentage of the time, your full house will lose to a bigger full house, it does'nt happen very often though.

There are boards where it is more likely you would be facing another full house than other boards

Example: Board is AAK/J/Q, this is a slightly scary board texture if you hold AJ, there is a small possibility that your opponent might have AQ or AK, but this is very unlikely because there's only one ace remaining in the deck, thus the number of ways to make a higher full house is very small. Your full house will win the pot more often than not, but when you are drawing dead to a higher full house, you're likely to lose a large pot.