Common Poker Mistakes: Other Mistakes

You may already have read the articles on calling too much, bluffing badly, and slow playing too much. Here are some of the other common mistakes you might see at a low limit Texas Holdem table.

Playing Suited Hands

We all remember a great win we had with an Ace high flush. It's a nice hand, someone who is smug because they have an Ace high straight or a nice set of Kings are blown out of the water by a flush. If you are chasing that feeling with a J 4 of spades you are wasting your money and your time. The chances of flopping two spades is around 8-1. Then you still need to find another spade whilst all the time fighting the possibility of a better flush or the board pairing and someone getting a full house. This is especially true in Omaha where the chances of your being beaten is greater because of the additional hole cards. If you play hands just because they are suited you're going to be a loser in the long term.

Protecting Your Blinds

Some books tell you to do it, some players might tell you to do it. DON'T DO IT! Think of blinds as an entry fee for playing the game, an ante if you will. Consider that every time the button comes around to you you are going to be once in the big blind and once in the small blind, it is just the nature of the game. If everyone at the table fold while you are in the blinds and the man on the button raises your blind what exactly are you trying to protect? A few cents, maybe a few dollars? Once you start protecting your blinds by reraising or staying in a hand you have no business to be in you are opening yourself up for defeat. If you flop a top pair with a weak kicker or a draw you find an excuse to throw even more money at the pot. It's a bad play, protecting your blinds is NEVER a reason to stay in a hand.

Playing A Good Starting Hand When You Miss The Flop

Good starting hands are always nice, after an hour playing with hands like J 6 offsuit or a pair of fives it is wonderful to look down and see a suited AK. So you proudly bet out with big slick and the flop comes J 9 2. Guess what? You missed the flop. You have nothing. Lay it down now!

So you refuse to lay it down. You keep in the hand looking for a Queen Ten to make you a straight or maybe an Ace or King to give you top pair. The problem is your opponent has Ace Nine or Ace Deuce. You are chasing a hand, he already has one. The odds are against you, you are gambling. Play like this all the time and you are fighting the odds. Learn to play craps.

Bluffing A Weak Player

If you try to bluff a weak player, you are a weak player. The problem with weak players is they don't like to lay down their hands. They lack the knowledge and ability to know when the odds are really bad, they just keep chasing that winning hand, and sometimes they might get it. Even if you do bluff a weak player once, this will turn them into calling stations. They are never going to get caught out like that again. Remember the article about calling too much? This is a beginner mistake, so while you lay the sneakyest bluff you can, the beginner totally misses it and just keeps calling with his low pair. While good players play their opponents and not the cards, while good players know when to holdem and foldem, bad players do not. Bad players see a mediocre hand and think all about the miracle cards that could turn their hands supernova. They are not thinking about your subtle and brilliant play, the way you just bet enough to turn the pot odds against them. You think they can calculate pot odds? Ha!

This is why bluffing is a common mistake in online poker. There are so many bad players out there who call too much. If a weak player is still in the hand be careful with that bluff.

Playing Weak Hands In Early Position

Position is often not considered amongst beginners. It is especially easy for online poker players to not really notice the position they play in. Playing marginal hands in early position will definitely hurt your bankroll. The problem is you don't know what the other players are going to do. So you bet your speculative hand and then find that four players behind you raise you. You probably wouldn't have bet that J 10 if you had known you were going to have four raises behind you. When you are in early position play tight, when you are in late position you can afford to play more loose because you have more information (the actions of the other players before you) to base your decision on. Position is a major consideration which all beginners overlook. Learn about position if you want to win.

Revenge

A cocky young player joins the table and starts typing crap in the chat box. He plays crazy hands and annoys the hell out of you. Then he puts a bad beat on you and gloats. Sure you were just about to go to bed, but that's not going to happen now. You want revenge, you want pay back, you want to show this little punk who the real table captain is. So you start chasing hands trying to get that magic revenge hand. Unless the poker gods are smiling on you that day you're probably going to end up giving him more money.

The fact is what you took as an arrogant young player running his mouth could just be a good steady player in high spirits who is playing well that night. He may seem annoying and arrogant, but that is no reason to go on tilt and start giving more money to him. The fact is he is probably in a very good mood after all his wins and is certainly not playing on tilt. You on the other hand are so intent on winning your money back that you are not playing your A game. Poker is a game, let people get under your skin and you are going to be a loser.

Raising With Flush Draws

Clearly, the way that you are going to make the most money from the pot is if most players are still involved in the pot when you hit your draw. Raising is often going to push people out of the pot which is fine if you miss your draw, but if someone has a pair that beats you what have you gained? Keep people in the pot, make your draw and walk off with the pot. This is the way to play a good flush draw.

Check Raising

Unless you are pretty certain that someone is going to bet this is a bad stratergy. In most cases the correct stratergy is to bet if you have a good hand. The only exception to this is if you hold the absolute nuts and you don't want to frighten players out of the hand. But over use the check raise and you are not only going to annoy other players but you are going to be giving them free cards and allowing them to stay in the hand long after they should have folded. They are then going to teach you that those free cards came at a price when they catch a nice hand that beats you out of the pot.

Calling With Second Pair After The Flop

You hold J 9 and the flop is K J 3. It is never correct to check and call. You should either check and fold, bet, raise or fold. If you are second on the flop the chances are you will be second when the hand is over. The chances of improving your hand are the same as the guy holding the King, and he already has you beaten without improving his hand. Remember, good players lay down good hands when they know they are beaten. Don't throw your money after a weak hand with a check call like this, it shows weakness and anyone with a half decent hand is going to make you pay for that weakness.