Reading Betting Patterns: Decoding the Art of Predicting Actions

Do you like fish? I hope so because this poker lesson will feed you some tasty morsels that will keep you satisfied for the short term and teach you how to fish so you can feed yourself for the rest of your poker career.

Later in the lesson, we will provide some common betting patterns in many low and mid-stakes poker games. Recognizing these patterns will certainly help you improve your skills. But learning how to read your specific opponents is the most important skill that can help you succeed in poker. If you can determine individual patterns and how someone plays in certain situations, you’ll unlock the door to the magic room where all their poker secrets are held.

Learning to Read

How do you learn to get inside your opponent’s head? You must develop the two important skills of observation and empathy. The power of words comes from opening up your mind and paying attention to everything around you instead of just paying attention to yourself. Heart, which is understanding others’ feelings, comes into play when you ask yourself, why? Much of this comes through years of experience at the poker tables, but you can even short-cut this process by practicing these skills in everyday life.

When observing play at the tables and starting the process of reading, you have first to ask yourself questions about your opponents:

• How experienced are they?
• What level are they thinking on?
• Do they understand all the factors that go into making a decision?

You can usually pick up a lot of this information by just watching the first few orbits of the game. Are they making common beginner mistakes, or do they seem to know what they are doing? If you play poker live, listen to table talk and see if you can pick up if they use poker lingo or are new to the game. If you’re playing poker online, do some homework to learn about your opponents, how long they have played, and how successful they are.

Mastering Poker Observation

After you have a general idea of whether your opponents know what they are doing or not, you should start taking notes on their patterns in common situations:

• How do they play pre-flop? Do they limp marginal hands and only raise with their strong hands? Do they steal the blinds often in a late position? How often do they 3-bet? Do they seem to steal from under the gun often?
• Do they often check/fold if they miss the flop after raising? Do they bet once and give up on the turn? Are they capable of double-barrelling / triple barrelling?
• How do they play their draws? Do they semi-bluff? Do they check/call? Do they ever check-raise?
• What happens when they hit their draw? Do they slowplay? Do they bet it hard? Or do they go for small-value bets?
• How do they play their big hands? Do they bet hard? Do they slow play?
• How do they play their marginal hands like top pair/weak kicker or middle pair? Do they call once and fold? Do they call all streets? Do they check-raise to define their hand? Do they donk lead the flop out of position or check?
• Do they tilt easily when things don’t go their way?

So that’s the observation part of the game. Now add the layer of empathy. Why did they make that decision? What does this say about them as a player and their overall game? These answers will help you determine their poker personality and an appropriate strategy against them.

Common Betting Patterns

Now that you’ve learned how to improve your reads, here are some specific betting patterns to watch. These can never be 100% accurate, and you should base your decisions on reads you’ve’ picked up from your opponents. Still, the following is a short-cut guide to some common betting patterns from beginner and intermediate poker players that you will see in no-limit hold’em’.

Same bet size on the turn as the flop

Not increasing their bet size on the turn is often a sign of weakness. They feel as they should be but are afraid to commit too much. This is often a hand-like middle or top pair with a weak kicker. You can often raise this bet and take down the pot.

Check/call, small bet on the turn

When someone checks, calls, and suddenly bets into you on a turn really small, this is often a “blocking bet” on a draw. They may have been interested in the flop, or they have a weak pair and picked it up on the turn. The small bet is designed to allow them to draw for cheap, so charge them more!

Check/call, check min-raise

Ever wonder how to read if someone has a set? This is a very common line for a group or other big hands. This is especially true on really dry boards like. They slowplay the flop, and when you bet the turn again, they realize you have something but don’t want to bet too big and cause you to fold.

Poker Tells Exposed

Can you guess the river card? Yes, it put a third flush card out there. Guess what… they have a flush! When someone calls fast, they don’t have to think about their decision. For example, they have already decided to chase the color, and once it hits, they suddenly start thinking. If the flush card doesn’t’ come, this pattern often indicates a missed draw that is now bluffing.

Min bet, min bet, big river bet

This betting line often happens in limped pots when a draw on board doesn’t’ hit. For some reason, people will bet the minimum as a semi-bluff on two streets, and then when they miss their interest, they decide to bet big to get their opponents to fold.

Limpers Strike

This is much more common in live play and is often the sign of someone with a hand they don’t want to see the flop with. This is most commonly JJ or AK, but it can also include other indicators in that range, like TT, QQ, AQ, and even AA, from a player who is scared of getting them cracked.

Pre-flop Surprise

You don’t see this as much online today, but it is something to watch live. It’s’ highly likely that the player has AA or KK and doesn’t want people to fold.

Continuation Bettor Checks

This is similar to the thought process behind the aggressive player who limps aces. If someone continues betting almost 100% of the time and now decides to check, this is a sign of a very big hand, and you should proceed cautiously.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve tasted some common patterns see if you can pick up others yourself. Poker is a game of observation, and betting patterns will evolve. It’s’ also worth mentioning that betting patterns will change as you increase stakes – so be prepared to adapt when this happens. If you remain observant and learn to pick up on patterns while asking yourself, “Why is this person betting this way?” you’ll be on your way to poker mastery.

Related Lessons

• • Poker Players and Table Image
  • Hand Reading – Putting Players on a Hand
  • Understanding Poker Tells
  • Studying Your Opponents