When to Trust Your Reads and Poker Instincts
While all good poker players have the skill to make difficult decisions correctly more often than not, great players also have courage on top of that to support their convictions. Once players learn to make accurate reads and succeed in deciphering the range of hands their opponents are likely to play under certain circumstances then you have the ability to act on your reads.
When examining your opponents’ play, trusting your reads and committing money to it sometimes is the only choice you have. If you have to second guess without good reason, you’re bound to fail.
Analysis in online poker
Since analysis is the heart of the game, you can put your opponent on any range of hands and take the appropriate action that you think is best. The tactic you apply is quite independent of the analysis you have made. Unless your analysis is right, you don’t have much of a foundation for selecting the best tactic.
Trust your reads when you’re playing online poker as long as they have been correct more often than not. What might appear to be a bad read could simply be a reaction to your opponent acting out of character for a hand or two.
Trust your reads if they’re working for the majority of the time. If they start not to work, it is using due to the interpretation of betting patterns done incorrectly, so pay attention to your opponent and watch their turn over at the showdown and adjust accordingly.