Any beginner will find it very interesting to realize they can dramatically increase their winnings by avoiding only a few mistakes! There are only so many mistakes that will lead a player to lose and most of them are easy to avoid. Understanding what you need not to do in the game is as important if not more than knowning what to do. Here are the most common beginner’s mistakes:
Having no pre-defined bankroll strategy
Many new poker players have a very bad approach to bankroll management. In fact, most of them invest in buy-ins more than they can afford. Poker has a luck factor that will influence your winnings and losses so all players must be aware they are going to encounter bad beats, suck-outs, and they should plan ahead to be less affected when their time comes.
Proper bankroll management starts by defining how many buy-ins you want to keep behind you and that should be 25 or more. Whenever you are not backed by other buy-ins you risk losing your entire bankroll. Defining a treshold in the limits you are playing will ensure you have a longer Poker career.
Not knowing enough about Tilt
We’re humans and humans have emotions. It’s inevitable; you will be on tilt from time to time. You can try to rationalize in order to avoid being on tilt but chances are your emotions will dominate your logic and you will be on Tilt anyways. Now what can you do when you’re on tilt?
Some players will start playing VERY badly when they are tilted, start to throw their money everywhere and profit the other players instead of themselves. Whenever you think you’re not playing your “A” game, take a break to change your ideas.
I came up with a few tricks that will prevent me from going on tilt too often and others to pass over my emotions in a shorter amount of time. They’re simple; listen to classical music when playing and playing the harmonica between two sessions. They are personal tricks and you should come up with your own.
Fearing of other players
Whenever you fear another player your decisions will be affected. If you begin playing at a table where you fear a player or if you develop fear toward another player you place yourself in a losing position and create a weakness in your play. You should never ever fear another poker player, remember that.
Being friendly at the table
Money is just a mean of conducting the game and you must remember your goal; leave the game with more money. If you make decisions out of pity for a friend that’s playing the same table you are placing yourself in a losing position.
Playing too many tables
Know that: playing a single table allows you to know your opponents more and exploit their vulnerabilities! It’s true that you can play 8 tables but it’s a different style of play.
Whenever I join a table I gather information about my opponents; how many tables are they playing, are they overall winning players or losing players, etc. When I find one of my opponents is playing over 4 tables I put him right away in a category. Tight player less likely to bluff. These players are very easily bluffed out of pots and you can know they will rarely bet pots twice unless they hold a solid hand.
You can play multi-table but know that it adds to your vulnerabilities!
Playing too many starting hands
Poker is a game of luck. Your only power over that luck lies in the selection of your starting hands, if you play hands with poor expected value, you will get poor value from them in the long run. Selecting winning hands before the flop depending on your position is key in gaining most control over luck.
Become attached to the pot
Bad decisions result from being attached to the pot. One you put money in there it’s no longer yours!!!
Become attached to a hand
Had you ever heard of someone’s fetish hand? Try not to have too many marginal hands or you will become attached to loss as well!
Bluffing from early position
Poker is a game of position. Don’t try to bluff too much out of the blinds or early position, guessing what your opponent has before seeing him act leads to bad decision, you will only win out of luck, not out of good play if you don’t play tight in early position.
Ignoring other players tendencies
There exist 3rd party softwares that allows the collection and analysis of other players tendencies. Keeping statistics of your opponents and writing down notes on them can be a big advantage over any other player.
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Tags: beginners mistakes, expected value, player, poker player, Tight player, winning strategies, winning strategy
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