Almost as important as knowing how to bet is the skill of knowing what to make of the bets advanced by others. One might think, "Well, if I know how to bet, clearly I'll know how to interpret the bets of others." This is not automatic. It would be true if everyone always bet just as you do. But they don't. Sizing up other people, therefore, is the first step in understanding how to take on opponents in poker.

The first question is, of course, what the bet might mean in an honest, competent and clear-thinking world. Does the person really have a high pair? Is this person playing for a "draw hand" (one that has maybe four out of five cards necessary for a flush or a straight) with favorable odds? The details of this consideration involve speculating or intuiting what sort of cards would cause a competent player to say whatever it was that was just said (i.e., bet, call or raise). The second question is often even more important: What are the chances that this player is either bluffing or making a mistake? Put differently, can I rely on what was said, or need I discount it because the player is insincere, incompetent, or self-deceiving? A good player will beat a poor player because the good player understands the following reasons why another person may have bet the way he or she did when the cards would normally call for a different response:

Sometimes the bet of another person is not useful for playing with that person, but may impart information for evaluating the bet of a third player. For example, if a number of players fold, it might tell a subsequent player that the hands still in play could be strong. With an unusual distribution of cards such that several hands are very weak, it is more likely that the playable hands are stronger than usual. For players still in the game, this creates a bluffing opportunity, a chance to steal the antes. Likewise, it is possible in Hold'em to find situations in which it is very unlikely that two other players both have the hands they are communicating in their bets. The absolute certain situation arises when you can account for three cards, such as aces, and each of two other players are betting as if he had an ace in the hole. The bets of others can be looked upon as a perfectly correct method of "talking" about the cards. Frequently, just by listening to the other bets, one can get a notion, if not a good understanding, of what another player's unrevealed cards probably are.