The 10 Worst Poker Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When playing poker, many players are prone to making the same fatal mistakes. Below, I have attempted to outline these problems in the hopes that the reader may identify any negative tendencies in their game and make the necessary changes. Mistake 1 - Playing Short-Handed with Little Experience - First of all, short-handed play requires more skill. You don’t have the luxury of simply being patient, which forces you to play weaker hands. You’ll be playing more hands per game, and this will put you at a distinct disadvantage when competing against more experienced players. Beginning players also may not have the bankroll needed to weather the high fluctuations of such a game. These fluctuations can lead players to go on tilt, which is always a huge mistake. Playing short-handed requires a whole different mindset. Start by playing in regular games and gain experience. Only then should you start branching out into the deeper water of short-handed games. Mistake 2 - Bluffing Too Much - Bluffing an opponent is a great feeling, but if you do it too much you’re bound to get called. Betting with a weak hand is a surefire way to decrease your chip total. Be careful and don’t get too cute. Feel free to bluff, but do it in moderation. Mistake 3 - Playing Position Wrong - You want to play as many hands as possible from a late position, and these are hands that you’ll want to play aggressively. Going later allows you to see what your opponents are doing. If you’re in the early position, you want to play fewer hands. Mistake 4 - Getting Too Emotional - When players get too emotional, they are bound to make mistakes. At all times, try and remain detached from the game. Stay calm. Bet with your brains, not with your heart. Mistake 5 - Focusing Too Much on the Cards - Play the player, not the cards. Learn the tendencies of your opponents and try to make sure that few hands ever make it to the final card. Instead, you want to use the knowledge of your opponent to force them to fold long before then. Mistake 6 - Thinking You’re the Best - Despite what you think, you are not the best player out there. In any given game, anyone has a chance to beat anyone else. There’s only so much you can do about this. What you can do is realize that you’re going to lose a lot of the time. Practice, however, will ensure that you lose far less than those around you. Mistake 7 - Not Asking for Help - Whether you learn by watching others or asking for advice, you must get help from time to time to improve. And, of course, there’s simply no substitute for actual game experience. Mistake 8 - Playing the Wrong Stakes - The difference between a $5 and $10 game can be huge. It’s always important to play in a game with stakes which you can afford. The higher the stakes, the higher the level of competition. Start small and slowly move up as your skills and bankroll improve. Mistake 9 - Being Predictable - Be aware of your betting patterns. Mix things up. Remember, while you’re studying your opponents, they are studying you. Mistake 10 - Not Knowing When to Quit - Knowing when to quit, either after a big win or big loss, is absolutely vital to poker success. Being hardheaded will only get you deeper in the hole or ensure that your winning streak comes to an eventual halt. Get out while you’re ahead (or at least while you’re not too far behind). Poker Resources Featured Poker Room: Full Tilt Poker Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker The Best Place to Talk About Gambling Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shane_Rivers

Profiting from mistakes in poker.

I'm sure you've heard that "poker is a game that takes minutes to learn but a lifetime to master." The rules are relatively simple and easily explained and most people become proficient at the basics fairly quickly. With basic strategy almost anyone can become a break even player fairly quickly. Understanding the nuances of the game and being able to recognize opportunities to exploit your opponents weaknesses takes experience. Ten thousand hands would be a good start. It is this experience that gives you a the sense that your opponent will lay down a winning hand if you come over the top with a big reraise or tells you that your pocket aces just aren't good enough and to fold. The problem is that if you aren't careful experience can fool you. Because there is an element of chance in all forms of poker much of the outcome of a decision is out of your hands. Some percentage of the time you will make the right decision and lose the hand. Suffer a bad beat in other words. Bad beats aren't necessarily a bad thing, because if you can keep from going on tilt, it means your opponent was putting his money in when he was an underdog. If your opponent do this consistently then over time they will make you very rich! Sometimes you make a bad decision and benefit from it. In other words you make a play that over time is statistically a loser but win the hand anyway. Mistakes are part of being human and will happen no matter how good you become. Occasionally you will get lucky and not pay for your mistakes. The problem is when you either don't recognize the error or chose the believe that it was your superior skill instead of dumb luck that allowed you to win the hand. If you make a routine of this type of hubris you will develop habits and leaks in your game that will cause you to go broke no matter how developed your other skills are. Remember to evaluate your decisions independent of the outcome. Going when your pocket aces trip up on the flop is rarely a bad decision. Calling an all in bet from a strong player with your middle pair is almost always a bad idea even if you catch a runner, runner straight and win the hand. Getting lucky from time time is one of the greatest pleasures in poker, just don't make getting luck a key part of your strategy. Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker

Common Poker Mistakes To Avoid When Playing No Limit Texas Holdem Tournaments

1. Early Position Raise : One of the biggest mistakes I see players make is not respecting someone who raises in early position. Remember he has another 8 people after him at the table who he has to fade, so chances are that he is holding a big hand. 2. Protect Your Hand: Don't give players an opportunity to draw out on you, make them pay for it. If your holding top pair and there is flush or straight potential, don't let them get any free cards to draw out on you with. Bet the pot or double the pot as to thin the heard. 3. Thin The Heard: If your holding an average hand, say pocket 10s and there have been no preflop bets yet,, go ahead and make a bet, I prefer to triple the pot. You certainly don't want the guy next to you who has King Deuce to hit his King on the flop and beat you. Your bet should thin the heard down and will lesson your chances of getting out drawn. 4. Chip Lead: Listen people, if you have the chip lead tighten up a little. There is no sense in getting involved in too many pots. I see it all too often, someone has the chip lead and calls a raise with crap. Then he catches one of his cards and gets committed to the pot and ends up losing 20% of his chip stack to the pocket rockets. You want to hold on to the chip lead, don't play anything but good cards and let the other players on short stack weed themselves out and you will find yourself at the final table. 5. When you have the nuts and someone betting into you: I was watching a friend of mine play a tournament online and although he made several mistakes that I corrected him on, the biggest mistake he made was pushing someone out of the pot by re-raising him on the turn when he should have slow-played the hand. Let me give you the scenario. My friend Mike was dealt 10-hearts and K-hearts. Someone raises preflop and there are 4 callers including Mike. On the flop came K-diamonds, 10-diamonds, K-spades. Yes, he flopped the dead nuts. The first player checks, the second player who was the original preflop raiser bets $100. Next player re-raises $100, the third and fourth players fold, lastly its up to Mike. He just called the bet which was the proper play. Next card on the turn was 3-spades, no help to anyone. Original player in first position bets $200, second player calls, and what does Mike do, raises the pot $600 and the other 2 players drop out. You need to ask yourself "What am I trying to accomplish with this bet." What was Mike trying to do, make everyone fold. Number one he has the dead nuts, he already has position so it is imperative to give the other players an opportunity to catch their card. The proper play was to continue letting the player bet into you, then take him off on the river. He might have had 2 diamonds and hit his 3rd diamond on the river and you could have taken all his chips. You want those players to get so committed to the pot that they simply cant lay down their 2 pair or their flush or their set. Remember in no limit poker you can always raise the pot or even go all in on the river so its really quite simple. If your playing NL Holdem and someone is betting into you when you have the dead nuts and are in position, let him continue betting into you and do the raise on the river as to maximize any chance you have at getting most or all of his chips. 6. Common Sense: Common sense supersedes all the advice given to me over the years. Use your head for crying out loud. My friend Mike was on the big blind and there were no raises preflop, so he got to see the flop for free. There were 7 people in the hand and the flop comes A-hearts, K-diamonds, -10-diamonds, now Mike was holding crap, 6-7 off suit. Well nobody bets and it comes around to Mike and he triples the pot. It goes around the table and one guy calls, another raises, then another goes all in. Of course Mike folds but common sense tells me with a flop like that everyone got a piece of it, whether its a gut shot straight or 4 to a flush or just top or second pair. My experience has been that usually players discard their low cards and stay in with their big cards or pocket pairs. When a big flop like that comes up common sense tells me when there are 7 other people in the pot that a few if not all of them caught some part of that flop. What a horrible time to try to buy one. Chalk another mullet move up to MIKEY lol. 7. Play like a champion: Try to imagine yourself at the WSOP final table playing for 1.5 million. Then ask yourself how would Doyle Brunson play the hand. Take your time and you will probably make the right call. Remember skill will only get you so far, you also have to be lucky and not get too many bad beats to snap a big tournament off so don't get discouraged if you made the right play and lost the hand. If you played the hand like Doyle would have played the hand and you get a bad beat, well that's just part of poker so you might as well get used to it now. 8. SURVIVAL . Your goal of course is to snap the tournament off, but your first priority should be to get into the money. Just use your head and play smart. 9. Study Your Opponents: Study your opponents and make note of their tendencies. For example, if you have a player that calls just about anything, obviously it would not be wise to try to steal a pot against him as he will probably call you with his low pair. Conversely, if you have a player like that and you have a strong hand, bet more than you normally would as you will probably get a call out of him unlike if your playing against a good player that would probably fold his average hand. 10 . Realize The Amount Of Players Left In The Tournament And Where They Stand In The Money: If your in a tournament that pays the top 9 places and you have 11 people left in the tournament, this may be a good time to steal a couple of pots if your in position. They are trying to get into the money and wont risk their chips unless they have a premium hand. On the other hand, once everyone is in the money, if your going to play a hand make sure it is one where you are willing to risk a large part of your chip stack on. My experience is when it gets down to the money players, you see many people on the short stack going all in so although it may be tempting to play that 9-10 suited, it may not be a hand you want to risk a large amount of chips on. Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet PokerStars Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker About the Author: Visit Online Casinos to read more texas holdem strategies and to find the best online casino and poker room bonuses. Our Online Gambling Guide provides everything the online gambler needs to find the most trusted sites. Read more articles by: Kevin Venclauskas Article Source: www.iSnare.com