Soul Read
word type: noun
- Making a crazy play in poker, supposedly because of a read that one has on an opponent
When to Use This Term
Usually poker players use the term "soul read" when they lose a pot. The most typical situation is when they make a big bluff and someone calls them down with some marginal hand, but it turns out that the marginal hand was better than their bluffing hand. In this case, most poker players say "man, that guy must have had a soul read on me or something" in order to mask their disappointment. In reality, 98% of the time, a "soul read" call is actually just a bad player making a bad call that happens to be right. In very few cases, good poker players actually do get great reads and make a hero call based on that read.
In some situations, soul read is used when someone wins a big pot with a big call. Once again, most situations where this happens is simply a bad call that turned out to be right. However, some poker players are capable of making great reads on a consistent basis. They are the true soul readers.
