What are some of your great reads?

What are some of your great reads? I can usually get in the ballpark - like I know when people are drawing to something, when they have a pair, etc. I posted on here before how once I called down a guy for a huge pot and won with ace high because I just somehow knew he was bluffing. That was pretty funny. 99 times out of a hundred, I would have folded that hand, but the ESP kicked in.

My friend Kevin is a phenomenal reader, though, and it makes him very scary to play against in live games. He analyzes betting patterns almost unconsciously and comes up with these very accurate conclusions. This weekend with a terrifying board (three suited cards, three high straight cards in a row, and a pair on the board) he called down a guy with only top pair to go along with the board pair, and won. The guy he busted out on that hand was mad (the usual "How could you call a big bet like that when my hand could have been..." etc. etc.). Kevin just figured it out. He tried to explain it, based on when the guy chose to bet and how much, but in the end it's just a power that goes beyond most players I've sat with.

Another time in a tournament it was down to heads up play, me and this other random guy, and there was a pair of sixes on the board along with some face cards. We had been checking or small-betting each street, giving really no visible indications that either of us had anything worth talking about. Kevin, just recently busted out (he was on tilt pretty bad for reasons I won't go into) was sitting across from us and observing, along with another friend. Kevin leans over to the other guy, points at me, and with his hand under the table makes a number 3 and a number 6.

On the river this other player bets into me a little harder, I raise, he calls, and I show the trips to win the pot. My second card was a three, which didn't relate to the board in any way. The guy sitting by Kevin just shook his head and said, "WOW. How could you possibly know? I mean, okay, the six, but how did you know he had a THREE?"

Kevin later admitted that he was indicating that I had the THIRD six, not that I had a three-six... but the legend lives on anyway. He's good at this stuff.

My best reads I have are on my wife. I layed down QQ (overpair) against her when the J came up. Sure enough, she showed JJ. I sat beside her another time when the board showed trip 7s. She checked when the 3rd 7 came on the turn and I muttered to her, "slow playing your quads?" But I have played hundreds of thousands of hands with this woman and I can get pretty accurate.

But besides her, I had a terrible call on Sat night. I went to a home game. $25 NL. THis was the first time my group had played a NL home game. We usually do spread limit.

I entered a hand against Chip. I had position on him. The flop came with 3 spades. I had AJo and the J was a spade. Chip checked, I checked. 4th spade came on the turn. So I had a J high flush. Chip checked, I bet. Chip made a big deal about it, then called.

The river paired the board. He immediately be out a little less than pot size. My instant thought was, "You slow playing bastard!" and I almost mucked. But I noticed him sitting at the edge of his seat, staring right at me and breathing a little heavy. Classic tells for weakness. I thought about it for quite a while and called, hoping that he was accurate in his tells.

I called, showed my J high flush and he showed his A high flush. I told him why I called, and how he stared at me and breathed heavy. He said, "Did you also see me blinking? I was doing that for you as well."

Good read. I just second guessed myself.

I had a good read in an MTT online, but it was basically psychic and non-repeatable

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t600 (9 handed)

UTG (sneaky bastard) (t21860)
UTG+1 (t9200)
MP1 (t9090)
MP2 (t30503)
MP3 (victim) (t8333)
CO (t32493)
Button (t33845)
Psychic Zen (t7375)
BB (t8775)

Preflop: Psychic Zen is SB with K Club

, 9

.
UTG (sneaky bastard) calls t600, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 (victim) calls t600, CO folds, Button folds, Psychic Zen completes, BB checks.

So, for some reason, I thought that was a wierd limp from the big stack.

Flop: (t2500) 3 Club

, K

, 7

(4 players)
Psychic Zen checks, BB checks, sneaky bastard bets t3000, victim raises to t7683, Psychic Zen folds, BB folds, sneaky bastard calls t4683.

Everything in Poker Tells me to bet this flop, but for some reason I don't.
Easy lay down to the raise.

Turn: (t17866) Q Spade

(2 players)

River: (t17866) 5 Diamond

(2 players)

Final Pot: t17866

Results in white below:
sneaky bastard has As Ah (one pair, aces).
victim has 8s Ks (one pair, kings).
Outcome: sneaky bastard wins t17866.

Nasty.

probably the best read I ever capitalized on was in one of my .25-.50 dorm ringtable games. I was one off the button, and looked down to see 9-2o. Normally a hand I'd throw away in an instant, but I'd built up a pretty tight table image, so I figured I could juice up the pot a little PF, and if something scary hit on the flop, I could outplay my opponents (keep in mind I've been playing with these guys for months now). I raised to a 1.50, and everyone folded except the SB, the BB, and a guy in middle position.

Now, the SB, whose name is Steve, likes playing low to mid-level connectors, so I figured it was a coinflip against him if it came down to it, and the BB an mid-position caller probably had overs or Ace-rag.

Flop comes down 8-10-J rainbow, giving Steve the probable straight draw, and from the looks of it, completely missing the BB and the mid-position caller. Steve raised it a dollar (which was a pretty weak raise, so I was pretty certain he was on a draw), and the BB called, while the mid-position player folded. I reraised him 3, and at this point, I could be repping any number of hands (two pair, top pair, made straight, etc.), and plus, I also had the OESD. The BB folded after a minute, and Steve reluctantly called, and from the look on his face, I almost instantly knew he was on the draw.

The turn was a 9 of spades (which now put 2 to the spade flush out there) which I was sure gave Steve the straight, but you have to know something about this guy. He normally plays tight, with random lapses into gambling mode, and he's capable of laying down a hand if you scare him enough. He raised 5, and I quickly reraised him another 5. He thought and he thought and he thought, and after a minute, called. At this point, I was pretty sure I could get him to fold, because I could almost visibly see how uncertain he was about his hand.

The river was an 8 of clubs, making the board 8-10-J-9-8 with no possible flush draw. Now there was a lot of hands I could have, all of which I'd been repping hard (the boat with any pocket pair 10s or Js, and the higher straight with KQ). Steve checked, obviously looking to try and get a cheap showdown, and I moved all my money into the center lightning quick with bottom two pair and absolutely no kicker. At this point, I was sure he'd made the idiot end of the straight, and I was also pretty sure he wasn't going to call, what with there being so many hands out there that could beat him. My suspicions were confirmed when, after 5 minutes of deliberation, he showed his hand (7-6o) and threw it into the muck.

Not the biggest pot I've ever won, but I was pretty proud of myself for reading him dead-on and outplaying him.

The Harry Potter series is a great read...

Had a classic "weak means strong" moment in my last home tourny. I was sitting on AJs. Board brought 2,3,5 with 2 spades. I bet out and was smooth called. Turn was another 5. Opponent, starts moaning that this was going to be a short night and bets out weakly. I get out of the way and he shows FH 3's full of 5's.

I love those. One time in a game at my place, this guy visibly sighed and shrugged before tossing his minimum bet in the middle. His opponents immediately folded and we all started laughing, knowing he must have had the nuts - and we were all correct.

My best reads always end up in my taking a bad beat.

Happens so often, where I read a guy (particularly in tourneys), know I have him beat. Push to get him off the draw and lose to the draw when he calls. Infuriating to say the least.

One time I was playing a casual no limit game with a few friends--I limp from UTG with AT, all others fold and BB checks. Flop comes out T54. Opponent checks, and I bet pot sized. He calls.

Turn comes 5 to pair the board, and my opponent immediately announces "Awesome!". He then quickly overbets the pot. He's pretty new to the game, so I think to myself that this is a classic beginner strong-means-weak bluff, so I re-raise him all-in. He quickly calls and flips over 54. Good thing we were only playing for nickels and dimes.

Later he tells me that when he saw the full house, he was actually just excited about the turn card. I could've sworn it looked like an act though.

Okay, so maybe you'd call that one of my worst reads ever, and not one of my best. But the topic of weak-means-strong and strong-means-weak reminded me of this hand.

A few weeks ago, I have 7-9 suited and i limp in behind 2 other limpers. 3 of us see the flop and its 5-8-9 with 2 of my suit. A pretty solid flop for my hand. I made a pot sized bet and got 2 callers. Turn was a 6. I checked, one guy bet, and the other folded. Now there were two suits on the board, and from playing with this guy previously I put him on A9, TPTK. When the river came Ace of clubs I checked and he pushed all in confirming my read, and I took a big pot.

I was proud of that.

I was dealt kings in a live game, i was just about to bet right after the person before me when i looked at him and saw him look at his cards for awhile, i noticed him shake during his bet, and his heart breathe heavily. I told him nice aces and folded immediately. I was right.

One time i was dealt QQ heads up, my opponent thought for awhile, and bet 4x big blinds. i looked at him and realized there's only a few hands that can be thought about and then raised that much. I folded and he said damn and flipped over his KK.

One time my friend called my other friend on quads when he hit top set. He's one of the best ive seen.

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What are some of your great reads?

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What are some of your great reads?