Quote:
Originally posted by pretermitted_child
In terms of practicing, I've found that playing against one opponent and working my way up to a full table is helpful. It's very much like learning how to juggle because one of the skills that you need to develop is spotting betting patterns, which is easier to do for one opponent than against nine (a full table), and developing a sense of the probability that the dealer will deal a card that will strengthen your hand or that, given the cards on the table, your opponent has a stronger hand than you do.
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It's a lot easier to focus on opponents' patterns IRL than online. That's because avatars aren't as distinctive as people. There's a lot more white noise, but you quickly learn to filter it out and focus on what's important.
That said, when starting out, it's very helpful, even when playing at a full table, to focus most of your sleuthing on one or two players. You do that, you're ahead of 90% of the idiots out there.
Another tip when playing with amateurs -- find the guy who looks like he's trying to pay attention to everyone. He's easily mislead. If you want to play tight, just play one hand with him loose, and he'll think he's got you pegged. You can take advantage of that for the rest of the session.
