Hand analysis is one of the most important things you can do to improve your poker game. It will help you determine how you can play your hands better and make more money at the table.
You can do this by recording your hands and analyzing them online. This will help you spot mistakes and “leaks” in your poker game.
Thinking in ranges
When performing poker hand analysis online, it’s important to think in ranges. This will help you to understand what your opponent’s possible holdings are.
The old school approach of putting your opponent on a specific hand will fail to show you the full picture. The new school approach of using ranges helps you to understand your opponents’ play and how best to exploit them.
For example, if your opponent raises preflop, they can fold, call, or re-raise. This means that their range has forks into a variety of different hands.
These forks can be useful, especially when you’re looking at them postflop. It can give you a better idea of whether their range is wide or tight by a certain percentage point, and what type of hands they will be bluffing with on later streets.
This can be an invaluable skill when it comes to making profitable in-game decisions. However, it requires practice to master and is one of the most difficult aspects of poker to learn.
Taking notes
When performing poker hand analysis online, it’s always important to take notes. It may seem like a waste of time, but it can be extremely valuable for your future success at the table.
One of the best ways to do this is to watch your opponent(s) play over a series of hands. This will allow you to get a good feel for their style and tendencies at the table.
Taking notes online is much easier than doing it in the brick and mortar felts where you would have to go to the card room with a notebook. Thankfully, there are plenty of online poker sites that allow you to take notes without raising anyone’s eyebrows.
The biggest issue with taking notes is that many players will use them as a way to pigeonhole their opponents into a certain category. This can be a big mistake, especially since the majority of players won’t take this extra step.
Keeping track of your hands
Poker is a game built on hands, and you need to keep track of yours in order to perform well. The right software can help you to do this and also help to improve your overall game.
Keeping track of your hands is an essential part of any poker player’s strategy, whether you are playing in a cash game or tournament. It can make a huge difference to your results and give you a valuable insight into your opponents’ strategies.
One way to keep track of your hands is to use a heads-up display (HUD). HUDs overlay player information on the table so you can easily see how a player is playing against you, as well as their tendencies in certain situations and positions.
The best poker tracking tools will give you a wide range of stats on your opponents, which can help you to analyze their games and improve your own. They will also identify leaks – areas of your play that are costing you money, so they can help you fix them.
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