Everybody would agree that a poker player who can read hands is a good player. Thus, if you are seated at a table with a player who can read hands easily, you should prepare yourself for a hard game. You would be glad to know, though, that no player could read hands a hundred percent of the time so you can still steal blinds whenever the opportunity arises.

Invest Time and Chips to Know Your Opponents

The first step in learning hand reading is to know your opponent. Doing so requires patience. It also requires an investment of chips and time. After all, you are going to be making exploratory moves early in the game. This would cost you money, but if you play it right and tight, this need not cost you a lot.

Look out for Tells

Be extremely observant. You should be on the look out for little tells. Watch out for a raised brow, a slight twitch to the lips, a tightening of the jaw. Such non-verbal gestures can mean a lot of things. Further observation can reveal what such tells indicate.

However, do not lose sight of your opponents’ betting patterns. You may be too busy looking at your opponents’ expressions and gestures that you may miss how they actually move and act throughout the game.

Evaluate Past Hands

Be particularly observant of the hands your opponents bring to a showdown and think back on how they got there. Did they raise frequently or did they slowplay it? Think back on their pre-flop, post-flop, post-turn, and post-river strategy. What does their final hand say about your opponents’ overall game plan?

Remember that good players do not check, raise and call on the flop for no particular reason. Evaluate your hypothesis based on revealed cards, the board, flops, possible draws and rivers.

Track Betting Behavior

Observe your opponents’ betting patterns. Betting patterns may not be able to provide you complete information about your opponent’s strategy, but they’re sure to provide you with enough information so you can make informed and intelligent predictions later on.

For instance, an opponent who comes to the showdown only with a strong hand is someone whom you can probably scare into folding when he’s not holding premium cards. Try to raise him. If he folds, you learn that he’s not holding the best hand possible. Later on, it wouldn’t matter if you are holding mediocre cards yourself. You can still beat such an opponent since he plays only with his hand on mind.