Who am I playing against?

If you are playing online poker, then unless you specifically know your opponent, you have very little information from which to gain a picture portrait. 

But, in the live arena, this is obviously very different; as such, you should use the visualization of your opponent in order to help you make better decisions in the game. Here are some ideas of what we are talking about.

Firstly, take a broad perspective of your opponent. What nationality are they? This is very important because each nationality does have a certain style of play that has a sort of generic foundational base. 

How old are they? It’s not a given that all older players are tight and young players are aggressive, but this is mostly how the cards fall, so pay attention to the age of a player. 

Are they smothered in more logos than a Grand Prix racing car? If they are, then the chances are they are probably decent at poker. 

Is your opponent attentive or easily distracted? Are they focused on you or the woman in the skimpy dress shouting, “cocktails?” 

Another good way of deciding whether a player is experienced or not is the way that they handle their chips and their cards; a person confidently riffling two stacks of twenty chips probably knows what he or she is doing.

This is a lot to remember, so it is often easier to use these generalisations as a generic base from which you will later build a more detailed profile, but the main point is to start building a picture, and use the information when making your decisions.