Quote Originally Posted by BooG690
Quote Originally Posted by Galapogos
8. Always Put Your Opponent on a Hand: Even if your flopped top set on the driest board. Try to figure out what he has and play accordingly. That was the most eye opening thing for me when I joined a video site. These players always cared about what the other guy had, not just when they were afraid they were beat. Not only will doing this help you learn to read hands, but it will make you more money. You will have a better idea of how much of a bet he will call instead of blowing 2nd pair hands out with too large of a bet and only getting called by better hands.
This is definitely something I need to start doing. However, I'm only at 2NL right now. It's a little tough with everybody calling everything PF. When should I start worrying about putting players on hands?
Well as you move up obviously more players begin following something that resembles strategy so that coupled with experience makes it easier to identify specific hands they may hold.

But at your level just start with identifying how much they like their hand. The best thing about your level is they make it so easy since no one thinks of balancing their lines whatsoever. Then you'll know if you should be pot controlling a certain hand or throwing the big bets in to get his stack. Or if he can be blown off his hand by a double barrel. Pay attention to what they consider a nut hand and how they played it.

So while you won't be able to nail a very tight range when reading their hands due to the fact that someone may be calling 80% of hands pre, you will be able to read their hand strength, which is essentially the whole point of hand reading anyway.