My Weakness Is Reading Hands

[yimyammer 0]

OK, I don't know if I'm just lazy or if I have a malfunctioning brain, but I feel like my mind goes blank when the flop comes and I can't seem to think clearly. I try to think about what hands I might be up against, but the pressure of the moment or something else causes me to draw a blank.Does anyone else experience this?I know that I have to overcome this to improve as a player, so I hope to get some advice from those that are good at reading hands. As it stands I tend to play from my gut and act too quickly and find myself in bad situations, making bad folds or missing good bluff opportunities.So, can anyone give me some tips on how you go about reading hands in the middle of the action (preflop, flop, turn, river)?Do you have a method for working through your thought processes?I need something to help me get my brain focused so I can make more intelligent plays/decisions.Anyone?For what its worth, I think part of my problem is that I have played too much low limit, limt holdem, where it doesn't really matter whether I have a read because in most circumstances no one will fold and I have to hit a strong hand to win. So I go into auto pilot and just wait til a have a strong hand or a monster and then bet knowing I'll get paid off. It's not that way in no limit and since its so hard to hit a hand in hold em, I feel I have to find ways to win those smallish pots where no one has a monster versus bailing out because I fear the nuts. My fear is exacerbated by my weak hand reading skills and I know this is really holding back my game.

[iggymcfly 0]

You can't just do it instantly like a light bulb. Just pay attention to your opponents' action and try to figure out what their bet means. An initial flop bet might just mean I want to see if anyone will call if I bet. Or it could mean they flopped a straight. You don't really know yet. But if you pay attention to their action on all streets, you can usually get some idea of what kind of range they have and if you have a decent chance of being ahead. If I was going to give advice for reading hands, it would be to not try to get everything from one bet, and remember the action from all streets and see what range of hands fits all the action. Poker's a game of incomplete information and it's hard to know exactly when you're ahead, but if you can get a good enough idea even to know that you'll win the hand 60% of the time or something, then you'll make money there in the long run.