Life in the poker world would be much easier if we could sit down at a table and automatically know exactly how every person at the table plays. If we knew exactly how every player played, we would be able to bluff them with ease and know when they had the nuts. We would also have an easier time extracting the maximum amount of chips from them. Thankfully, this isn’t too far fetched. It may not be as easy as just looking at a player, but after come careful observation at a table you should be able to have a good idea of how they play.

When you first sit down at a table, take some time to watch the action extra carefully. Within a few hands you will be able to identify the loose player at the table. He is probably the one entering or opening a lot of pots. The aggressive player will be opening and actively trying to take down the pots. The tight players won’t enter into many pots, but when he does he always shows good hands. This is fairly basic, and the challenge comes when finding the predictors of how a person plays a specific hand.

Whether it be from their poker education or just out of habit, players condition themselves to play a certain way given the fabric of their hands. For example, most players will raise with pocket aces when there is more than one person in the pot in order to isolate their opponent. Players will have hand predictors that will give you clues to what kind of hand they are playing. Finding the predictor of a loose player will be easier than a tight player because a looser player will be involved in and show down more hands. You will be able to see what they do when they flop an open ended straight draw. Will they bet at the pot, or will they just check and hope to hit their card? What is a big bet to this opponent that will get him off his draws? Pay attention to the situation as well. Was he in late position when he made that bet? Was it a multiway pot? Why did he make that move in that situation? The idea is to try to get inside your opponents head so you can have more information about what his moves mean when you are in a pot with him.

The more you start practicing identifying your opponents, the faster and more effective you will be at outplaying them. One valuable method of practicing this is to take notes on what your opponents’ actions are. If they called a bet to hit their gut shot, write down the hand, pot size, and bet amount. Review it and determine if he was getting pot odds, or if there was some other reason he was calling the bet in that situation. If you or another player made a big bet to get him off his draw, write it down so you will know in the future what bet amount he will fold to. These notes will also be useful for future study to identify opponents who have similar playing styles to those you have played previously.
Source: PokerBlog.com