Studying Your Opponents While Playing Online Poker
It is critical to your success as a poker player to observe your opponents and their actions even when you are not involved in a hand. Analyzing your opponents' play will allow you to gain insight into what your competitors may hold. This will allow you to make better decisions, win more pots and lose fewer chips.
The best way to do this is by observing hands that are shown down to the river and seeing what your opponents will typically bet and call with. This can be valuable later in a poker game, especially when you are involved in a similar hand, trying to decide what your best course of action is. If you know an opponent tends to bluff in a certain situation, you can be a little more confident calling them this time around. This can make a significant difference, as instead of folding, you can use this knowledge to call your opponent and win a large pot later on.
Bodog Poker provides an easy and innovative tool that keeps these types of notes on opposing players. This note-taking feature allows you to keep and access notes on any player whom you may come across during that session. It's a clever function - one that allows you to store and access information on any player during that single session of poker. To use this feature, simply click on the "Notes" tab above the chat box, then select the player you wish to keep notes on in the drop down field and proceed to type in any notes or hints about your opponents' play into the "Notes Box." You must save the note in order for it to be stored for that specific session.
Remember that poker is a game of information, so the more notes you have on your opponents, the more knowledgeable you can become on their tendencies and playing habits. However, because of our anonymous tables feature, once that session of poker is completed and players leave the table, you will no longer be able to keep records of their play as you will not know their player name.
One final thing about observing opponents - your opponents may be observing you. It is important to remember that just like your opponents, you are also prone to repetitive behavior - and this information can be stored throughout the rest of that session and used to the advantage of others. This is why it is important to mix up your plays from time to time, so as to avoid giving your opponents too much insight into your game. For instance, you may wish to limp and then re-raise pre-flop with big pairs from time to time, instead of always raising with them. This way your opponents will be unsure the next time you limp in a hand as to whether you have a big pair or, say, suited connectors. Mixing up your play in this situation will not only allow you to limp with more drawing hands, but will keep your opponents guessing as to the cards you hold.
Download our poker software and get the jump on your opponents today!