Knowing what range of hands your opponent is putting you on may not seem like a crucial skill to the uninitiated. In fact, it may be the most important skill of all in a game like no limit hold’em. To be a successful online poker player, you must know what your opponents are thinking. If you don’t care about that, well, perhaps you should stick to video poker.

Advanced Poker Thinking

To a new poker player, first level thinking, that is, understanding the objective strength of one’s hand, is sufficient. Straights and flushes are good enough to bet, small pairs will be folded to a bet. However it is this kind of play that is easily exploited by skilled players. Intermediate players realize they must consider their hand relative to what their opponents are likely to have, and choose their actions based on a range of likely holdings of their opponents. A straight is probably no good if there are three hearts on the board and there is heavy betting in multiple spots. If it’s checked around twice by everyone in an unraised pot, your top pair top kicker is almost certainly the best hand.

Top Level Poker Thinking

The consistently winning poker player, however, engages in a third level of thinking. Not only do they consider the objective strength of their hand and what their opponent is likely to be holding, they think about the range of hands their opponent is putting them on. This is an important layer of decision making for a poker player. You may have a medium pocket pair with three spades on the board, but if you can figure out that your opponent has a flush high in his range of hands for you, you may be able to take this pot away, even if you put that opponent on a higher pair or even two pair.

How To Change Your Poker Thinking

You don’t need to change your thinking so much as add a level to that thinking. By the time you’ve gained some experience with poker, you should understand your hand strength instinctively. After determining what your opponent is likely to hold, start to think about what you would think an opponent who acted the way you have acted is likely to hold. Once you get the hang of this, you will be fully equipped to take on any opposition.