Poker Strategy - Hand Reading, Tells and Leveling

Hand Reading, Tells and Leveling

Hand reading is the process of making educated guesses about the possible cards an opponent may hold based on the sequence of actions in the pot. The term 'hand reading' is actually a misnomer due to the fact that skilled players do not attempt to put a player on an exact hand. Rather they attempt to narrow the possibilities down to a range of hands which makes sense based on the past actions of their opponent, both during the current hand and during previous hands played by this opponent.

Tells are detectable changes in opponents' behavior or demeanor that give clues about their hands or their intentions. Educated guesses about opponents' cards and intentions can help a player avoid mistakes in his own play, induce mistakes by the opponents, or influence the opponents to take actions that they would normally not take under the circumstances. For example, a tell might suggest an opponent has missed a draw, so a player seeing it may decide a bluff would be more effective than usual.

Leveling or multiple level thinking is knowing what the other opponents think about the hands. This information can then be used to the players advantage. Some players might be able to make educated guess about opponents hands, this could be seen as the first level. The second level could be thought of the aforementioned plus knowing what the opponents thinks the players hand is. It is an advantage playing at a higher level than opponents so players have to adjust their game play so they are on a higher level than their opponent.