Knowing if an opponent is a losing player can help you infer certain things about him, depending on the game format and stakes. I’ve included some screenshots to give you an idea. Pokertableratings.com is a very useful tool to both size up opponents as well as track your own progress. Sign up for the site for free by clicking here. They offer some premium services, however the site is fully functional once you provide them with your email address and name.

PTR Player Summary

Summary by stake played

In order to view stats on a player simply enter an online player’s screen name in the box above or visit the site directly. If you don’t know any screen names to try, just click on one of the “Popular” links inside the search box. You get a few searches per day without registering, so if you get an error message go ahead and make a free account with the site.

The second picture on the left is a detailed summary of all of the hands played at a specific game type and stake. This is very useful information if you want to see how a particular opponent compares to others at a give level. It can also let you spot opponents that might be taking a shot at a higher level. Knowing that they are taking a shot can be beneficial information. Players taking a shot are likely to be playing in one of two ways: super tilt or hyper focused and tight. The tilty players likely had a bad run at their normal stake and decided to try and recoup their losses all at once at the higher stake (or they’re drunk). The hyper focused player made a conscious decision to try playing higher stakes and will be paying extra attention to his game. He will possibly be hesitant to call large bets and make big bluffs because he isn’t used to dealing with the bigger swings.

PokerTableRatings even grades players against the top 10 winning players at a given stake. Go ahead and give it a try by typing in any online player’s screen name in the box above. Try yourself, or if you haven’t played online try “Durrrr”. Once their states come up, click on the “Grader” tab to see their report card.