Reading Poker Players at the Turn & River

Video Transcript

"On behalf of ExpertVillage.com, my name is Michael Sohaski, and I'm here to tell you about reading the board and the players. Next, we have the turn. And this is actually an excellent card. Here we have threes. You never know, maybe one of your opponents now has three threes, maybe they have two pairs. That's okay, because I have the nut flush. Again, how do the other people play? Are they aggressive players? If they are, they can do the betting for you. If they are passive players, you can lead out with a bet. This way you find out where they are. Are they willing to bet or will they fold to you? Finally, we have the river. This here is actually a very dangerous card. The reason I say that is, if they hold a pair in their hand, they now have a full house. A full house beats your flush, beats your nut flush. So, with aggressive betting, you can force out the other hands. With passive play, you may have, unfortunately, wound up with the second best hand. Somebody with a pair now has a full house and you've lost. Something else that you can do, instead of betting or calling the bet, is simply to check. How do you check? You can announce check, many people will tap their hand on the table, other people will tap their hand and announce check. However, it must be made clear either verbally or with a hand gesture. A check is a good way to get to see another card if the bet is not raised. "