Poker Book Club

Over the past 5 years or so, the game of Poker, and especially Texas Hold’Em, has gained massive popularity. As a natural result, hundreds of people every day sign-up with an online poker room account and start learning the game. Most of them, however, lack enough preparation and knowledge, and therefore will commit one of a few basic mistakes that every serious poker player should quickly eliminate.

Here are five of the most common of these mistakes.

1) Spending no time on hand analysis

Another common mistake. Since everyone is running about saying how poker is such an easy way to make money, most people who start playing the game do not think that there is actually some learning involved. Unfortunately, as with anything else, poker is not an easy way to make money. You will need to put in a lot of effort before the game rewards you.

Make sure to signup at some community forums (the best of witch is currently TwoPlusTwo). Make it a habit to save every problematic hand that you’ve had during a poker session. After you are done playing for the day, post all of your saved hands to the forums, and ask for advice. Make sure to give as much detail about the hand in your post as possible. Write down any history that you and your opponent might have had, what kind of player did he seem to be (tight? aggressive? passive?). The more detail you give, the more likely you are to receive a helpful response. Try to make a few poker friends online, too. There is absolutely no better way to evolve as a poker player than to have a few people to discuss the game with.

2) Poor Bankroll Management

Most beginner poker players are unaware of what proper bankroll management really is. They will deposit $50 to their poker account and dive right into the $1/$2 limits with a quarter of a buy-in. While poker is definitely a game of skill in the long-term, there is still a huge luck component in the short-term. This means that no matter how good of a poker player you are, there is a very reasonable possibility that you will go on losing in poker for many consecutive weeks (sometimes months). This is an entirely statistical thing — even the best hands can lose many times in a row. When a poker player faces a losing streak as this one, it is called a downswing.When a player is on a downswing, his skills can only help him to minimize his losses.

To avoid facing a downswing, make sure that you always have at least 25x buy-ins for any stakes that you want to play. If you are going to play a No-Limit $0.50/$1 Texas Hold’em game, then you should have at least $2500 deposited to your poker play. The higher you go up the stakes, the more conservative you should be (meaning, you should have more buyins in your bankroll), because the size of a downswing grows proportionally to the skill of your opponents.

Makes sure to learn as much as you can about bankroll management before proceeding — you will save yourself a lot of time and agony by doing so.

3) Being Too Cocky

Most poker beginners will inevitably get cocky at some point and start believing that they are poker prodigies. This usually happens when they are running hot for a longer period of time and the cards are being kind to them. They start believing that they are winning thanks to their superior skills, even though their actual poker knowledge is very limited. This in turn will result in bad decisions being made: they may move up the stakes to a level way beyond their level of experience, or they may start doing absolutely terrible plays at the table. With their minds clouded by their false sense of security, they are bound to lose their entire bankroll sooner than later.

Keep your ego in check and watch out for this trap. If you suddenly feel that you are unstoppable, post some of your hands to online poker forums for review. You will quickly learn if you are as good as you think you are, or if you’ve simply been running good. And try believing what the forum members tell you — they will most likely be right.

4) Not treating the game seriously enough

I’ve seen it many, many times. A beginner poker player has a few tables open, and in between his raising, folding and bluffing, he is chatting on Facebook and watching YouTube videos. “That Metallica song is so cool…oops, I’ve got Aces! Gotta raise it up! Gimme fuel, gimme fire, give me all that I desire, yeah!”

This kind of approach to poker will do you no good. The game requires absolute and full concentration. The field of poker is extremely competitive nowadays, and you will need every edge that you can muster. Most of the players out there are more focused on YouTube than on the tables, so if you can eliminate this clutter, you are already at a huge advantage. Turn off ICQ, Facebook and YouTube. Keep your tables open at all times and don’t ever minimize them. Even if you are not involved in a hand at the moment, you should still be looking at the tables and trying to get reads on your opponents by analyzing their play.

Poker is not an easy game.

5) Playing too many tables simultaneously

Understand that having more than 5 tables active at any given time is reserved for the most experienced players only. If you have been playing poker for less than 6 months, chances are very high that you have not yet mastered the game enough to be able to handle that much action all at once. It may seem to you that you can because you can click fast enough, but what this usually means is that you are not giving your hands enough thought. If you catch yourself playing poker and not making any money for a long period of time, reducing the number of tables played and paying more attention to what is going on at them should be your first move.

Make sure not to fall for any of the traps described above, and you are on a very good start towards becoming a long-term profitable poker player.

The author of this article runs a website called Poker Girls — where you will find biographies, pictures and news devoted entirely to female poker players.

These five common poker mistakes are made especially by novice players who do not prepare themselves properly and think winning at online poker is much easier than it really is.

Here are the five common poker mistakes to avoid:

Common Poker Mistakes #1 – Bluffing a Weak Player

Novice players don’t want to get out and simply lay down their hands. They lack the knowledge to know when the odds are bad and lack the discipline to fold.

They think they should try to win with every hand and get lucky, but if you want to win, big at poker you can’t rely on luck.

Good players play their opponents not the cards. You need to know when to hold them and when to fold them.

Learn to bluff sparingly, or you will become easy prey for more experienced players.

Poker Mistakes #2 – Playing Weak Hands in Early Position

Position at the table is another mistake novices make. It is especially easy for online poker players to not really notice the position they are playing in.

Playing marginal hands from an early position means the odds are stacked against you. The problem is you don’t know what the other player’s cards are and how they will play.

Players in early position should play tight, when you are in late position you can afford to play looser because you have more information fed to you by other player’s actions.

Mistakes #3 – Revenge Playing

A novice player thinks that if he plays long enough he is bound to win so when he starts to lose he chases his losses and increases his bet size in the hope of getting a lucky hand.

However, the harder he tries to win his losses back the more he loses.

An important part of playing poker is discipline and patience. All poker players lose in the short term and you are not going to win every session.

If you want to deplete your bankroll quickly, chase your losses!

Poker Mistakes #4 – Money Management

Most novice players don’t know how to manage their bankroll. They play in games they cannot afford or games where the other players are too experienced.

You need to play in lower limit games first, to gain experience and then move up levels slowly.

Sure, the winnings look attractive in higher stakes games, but the competition is harder too – don’t punch above your weight!

Poker Mistakes #5 – Not Knowing Pot Odds

Does your hand need improvement?

The concept of pot odds can help you decide if you should call to see the next card on the board.

Few novice players understand the concept of pot odds and end up calling too much and lose – don’t make the same mistake.

If You Want to Win Big, Prepare Yourself in Advance

The growth of online poker has seen a huge influx of players just seeking the thrill and excitement of playing. In many instances they don’t care if they win or lose, they just want the buzz of competing.

Another group simply think it’s an easy way to make money and lady luck will be on their side.

This however, is good news for players who are willing to prepare themselves properly. Sure its fun competing, but even better when there are plenty of novice players making the pot bigger for you!

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1. Playing Too Many Hands

An early lesson in poker is to realize the majority of hands you are dealt must be folded. I’ve known an amateur player turn round to me and say You’ve got to play the hand you are dealt, why fold. I was shocked and soon put them right. However, there are a lot of beginners that seem to ignore this most basic rule.

They will call with ace-rag out of position, even call a raise with it, they play any two suited cards or even any picture card. You can get away with playing loose like this in a game of no limit hold em but you must have a strong post-flop ability to be able to pull it off.

Situation dependent, most of the time you are looking to only play premium hands such as high pocket pairs, and very strong aces. Simply fold the rest.

2. Not Folding Mediocre Hands

After the flop has hit, amateur players find it very difficult to let go of marginal hands. Suppose they hit middle pair or top pair with top kicker, the will find it hard to lay down. Its a crazy situation to still be involved in a pot holding top pair when there are flush and straight draws on the board and players are betting like theres no tomorrow. I’ve seen people play online when they will see their hole cards all the way to the river even though the board has paired up, AND there is 4-to-a-flush on the board, AND a straight possibility. They just wouldn’t let go of their flopped top pair.

The best hand on the flop may not always be the best hand on the river. Play with caution and don’t be afraid to get out if the action heats up and you are holding a marginal hand.

A good way to look at it is to look at the board and think to yourself “What two cards could my opponent be holding for them to beat me?”. If you can narrow it down to one or at most two sets of hole cards you should be fairly confident in carrying on playing. If you have to say to yourself “I hope he doesn’t have X, or Y, or Z, or A, or B or C…” then you should really think about folding. The more combinations of cards that your opponent could be holding that beat your hand, then the more likely it is they are holding one of them. If there is only one or possibly two combinations of cards that beat you then continue to play but with caution. Bet out or raise to gain information on how good your hand is. If they fold, you win the pot, if you are raised then you are probably beat.

There’s no shame in folding. Remember, especially in a tournament, poker scores are based on the player that loses the least amount of chips.

3. Under-Betting The Pot

In no limit texas hold em you can bet out as much of your stack as you like in order to protect your hand. You should be using this to your advantage. Weaker inexperienced players on the other hand tend to bet small amounts such as $30 into a $500 pot. These kinds of bets offer good players fantastic pot odds to call and suck-out on the river because of the money they stand to make in relation to how much it costs to see another card. A bet of around 75% of the pot is enough to discourage players on a draw. Any bet under half the pot is normally not enough.

4. Over betting The Pot

It is an easy mistake that amateurs make. They make a half-decent hand and the adrenaline kicks in and they decide to over bet the pot by pumping $300 into a $90 pot, or they move all in pre-flop for 1500 in a sit-n-go while blinds are still 15/30. The trouble with doing this, is that it makes hands weaker than yours fold, while hands stronger than yours call. By consistently over betting the pot you are either going to win a small pot, or lose a big one. Quite clearly not the optimum poker playing approach.

5. Ignoring Position

Knowledge is power in the game of no limit hold em. The more information you hold about the round of betting the better position you are in to act on this information. Playing hands under the gun means if you bet out, you could face a massive re-raise from a later position. You could check post flop in the hope of a check raise but instead find the entire table checks after you. If you are playing from a later position you have the ability to see what the rest of the table is doing before you act.

Amateur players will often ignore position and play a certain set of hands regardless of position. you should be playing only premium hands in early position, and then widening your range of starting hands the later your position becomes. TJ’s plays badly from UTG but very well from a late position.

6. Failing To Protect Your Hand

Many amateur players are guilty of playing far too passively. They will simply check or call unless they are 100% sure they have the best hand in which case they will raise. By failing to bet, or failing to raise they will make it easier for their opponents to draw out on them who might otherwise have folded. If you find yourself against a tight passive player, raise more often than you usually would and you can find yourself winning a lot of small pots.

7. chasing unprofitable draws

Playing a drawing hand is only ever going to be as good as the value of the pot you are trying to win. You should always fold if someone makes a bet where you are no longer getting correct pot odds to call. Amatuer players make the mistake of ignoring these odds and will call all the way to the river in the hope that they hit. It is possible they do not even understand pot odds or know what they are.

As frustrating as it is when monkey players like these suck out on the river you have to remember that they are playing bad unprofitable poker and they will end up losing more money than they win. Just make sure you are in the pot when they lose

8. Bad Stack Management

Amatuer players often neglect their stack size when it comes to playing holdem. If you are playing a cash game you should always have around 20 big blinds to capitalise on your monster hands. If you are falling short, then reload your stack. There’s no point hanging on with £50 in a £5/£10 cash game only to flop quads next hand and miss out on a huge pot. If you are playing a freezeout tournament, you should stop calling pre-flop when you are between 10 times the big blind (worrying) to 5 times the big blind (critical). There is no option but to push all in with any Ace, pocket pair, suited connectors or any hand under the gun.

You are looking to have enough chips to maximise your big hands, or to keep you alive in tourmanet situations. Bad players will flat call hands when their stack is 5 to 10 x BB. Good players will push all in. Bad players will not reload their chips in a cash game, good players will.

9. Adapting Your Style

There is a big difference between playing cash games and playing tournaments. In cash games you have to be prepared to put your entire stack over the line when you know you are going to win more times than you lose, when you have a positive expected value (+EV). If you lose then you can just reload. In a tournament you have to be more protective of your stack as if it goes then your are out of the game. There are many other subtle levels, but these are the fundamental differences between the two games. Bad players are those that do not adapt their game accordingly and play tournament strategy in a cash game and cash strategy in a tournament game.

10. Trying To Imitate The Pros

The generation of poker players coming through nowadays are those raised on watching it on TV. People have their favourite poker players they have seen making big bluffs and talking the talk. Amatuer players seem to copy-cat these actions in order to come across more professional. what they fail to realise however that on TV they are only watching edited highlights. Not every hand is a monster raise, or a trap, or a bluff – in fact most of the time it is one player raising with a genuine hand and everyone else folding. This is unfortunately the less interesting side of poker but it (should) represent a large majority of your game.

We have a generic nickname for these kinds of players at the table. Those that come in wearing the shades, the cap, the iPod, talking about how other players should have played their hands, talking crap. The nickname given is “All the gear, no idea”. Make sure you are able to spot these players if they are on your table and more importantly make sure that you are not one of them yourself!

This article was written by Paul Vster a member of the StoneColdBluff UK Poker team. Play alongside him and the rest of the team exclusively on SCBPoker.com.