Yes, another strategy article, which aims to give advice and improve your game. If you are already researching those, it is safe to say the information is completely different everywhere. Well, this is why we will say it upfront – the hunt for poker mistakes below is best suited for those who are not professional players. All of you who are not winning in the long term – we might just help you correct that today.
Before diving right into our list, lets begin with one poker mistake, which is pre flop and almost everyone makes. In fact, this mistake it’s not only preflop, it is also before sitting to play. We speak about the hellish words “preflop charts”, which everyone is guilty of writing in google at some point and time.
Please understand something ! 99% of time it will not matter if you include Q4 in your preflop range or not. No poker mistake come from including or excluding a certain hand. They are there cause of your actions post flop. Yes hand selection before you see the board is crucial, but at low and mid stakes it is MUCH more important to make the right decisions post flop. It is also the trickier gameplay element, so better spend more time learning post flop strategy and removing your mistakes there.
There are two valuable things to learn here. First is to find your leaks and correct them and second is exploiting these common poker mistakes in your opponent’s game.
Most Common Poker Mistakes Post Flop are….
Overestimating the strength of your hand. See ? We promised easy to understand and basic information, which so many players neglect. They spend time learning more advanced stuff, but forget to master the basics. The genius martial artist Bruce Lee said that he does not fear an enemy who practiced 1000 kicks once, but an opponent who practice 1 kick 1000 times. This is why you hear everyone preach about mastering fundamentals.
You are in no position to win money from poker, if you do not have an ability to understand the strength of your hand. Omaha is the main game where spotting these poker mistakes in others and correcting them in your game, can help you win a ton or save you huge amounts .
But not only in Omaha players make these common poker mistakes. In regular No Limit Holdem, many players overestimate how strong their hand is in certain spots. There are plenty of examples for this exact poker mistake.
One such example is when board is paired. Hero here is with Q9 here in 3bet pot, not considering that our opponent might have raised preflop with KK/AA or even A3. If you face huge aggression in such spot and you are NOT playing high stakes against seasoned grinders, you can be almost sure that villain holds premium hand, such as overpair, trips or even super unlikely hands like full house and quads.
You will be surprised how rarely recreational players bluff. On paper your hand is super strong, but in reality amateur player, who has no tendency to bet/raise all that much, will never start betting and bluffing out of the blue.
The saying goes – ” Play the hand you are dealt “, we hope the author use this metaphor for our daily life, cause if he uses this same philosophy in poker, he probably lost a lot of money !
A Poker Mistakes Which Even Experienced Players Make are….
Not understanding why villain is in the hand. No, this is not putting your villain on a range or how often he will be betting or calling. These GTO theories and practices often do NOT work on smaller stakes. These are ADVANCED poker strategies, which have their place and it is certainly not against random enthusiasts, who believe ”GTO” is the name of new Netflix series.
This poker mistakes occurs because even the best of us sometimes forget to ask ourselves why is our opponent in the hand ? Is he tilted ? Is the chasing draws ? Is he a call station ? Does he always call 3 streets with top pair ? Many questions and situations, in which if you only ask yourself the right questions, your brain will immediately start searching for answers. This is how you develop your poker thought process, which will lead in better decision making.
Most top poker pros, have these “instincts”. where in reality is just combination of asking the right questions. Many of your opponents will not exploit these poker mistakes in your game as well, which can be used in your advantage.
The Biggest Poker Mistakes You Can Make are….
Calling too much. More specifically – avoid hero calling And no, do not listen to Daniel Negreanu masterclass where he speaks about calling as the best thing after sliced bread. Remember , on low to mid stakes – when in doubt – fold. Yes you will miss on some value, but it is way more important that you will not lose huge river bets. On lower stakes players rarely bluff and almost ALWAYS bet for value.
Do not take the passive position post flop and just call and trap. Why would you let amateur players push you around ? Why would you make the cardinal sin of not building up a pot with your premium draws and strong hands. Calling too often is one of the huge poker mistakes which both exposes you to danger, prevents you from winning big pots and allows the villain to gain momentum.
You probably heard the saying, that most aggressive player wins – cards just break ties. Of course aggression must be calculated, but against weaker players, it should be as often as possible, for you to extract maximum value and reduce the risks. Premium draws especially always should be played with aggression. After all you are chasing big hand, which will be worthy of big pot. Not collecting only few big blinds.
A Neglected Poker Mistakes Post Flop are…..
Not adjusting your bet sizes . It is baffling how many players online even create their quick buttons with already made percentages of the pot raises and never deviate from that. If you always bet the same sizes in certain situations – you are being predictable.
Now you may try to argue that we promised not to delve deeply into mathematical strategies today. Simple answer to this is – we are not. The main point of adjusting your bet size is NOT to keep opponents guessing ! On lower stakes players will hardly notice how much you are betting and when. They will just continue to play according to the strength of their hand.
The idea behind varying bet sizes is for you to find the optimal sizes against certain type of players and certain spots. Notice at what size they are more inclined to fold, call or even raise you and use your bet/raise amounts to trigger the desired response. One of the most underused tools in poker. You can dictate the whole game by mastering how many chips you throw on to the felt, when it is your time to act. Spotting the bet sizing patterns of other players can make their poker mistakes very
A Poker Mistake Costing You Ton of Value is…
Not Check Raising Enough. Check-raising is by far the most powerful way for you to show strength. This act of aggressive play can be used to trap or make stronger hands to fold. Many players use it only when they hold the nuts. This is by far the worst way to include check-raising in your arsenal. It makes your moves obvious and instead of helping you extract value , it does the exact opposite. Villain folds and you wasted a good hand.
The best way to use this powerful tool in your arsenal, is by bluffing and semi bluffing often. As you know, most of the time opponents fold when they face a check-raise. It is the normal thing to do, since the tactic to trap with check-raising is older than the Earth. Long gone are the days, when you could slowplay your hand and get paid off frequently.
To combat this, you need to be check raising more frequently and keep opponents guessing. Advantages of using this weapon in your arsenal are many. Winning pots without showdown, making opponents fold stronger hands and getting paid once you have the nuts, are just some of them. Keep an eye for this one, as this is one of those poker mistakes, which almost all players make.
Finishing Words
It is very easy to follow these steps and remove these poker mistakes from your game, while at the same time keeping an eye out for some players who still have these leaks. The fatal problem are not the mistakes themselves, everyone does them. What prevents you from improving is not learning from your mistakes. This is why it is very important not to keep a good balance between playing and learning off table. While we are firm believers in developing as a player by playing more, but studying outside of the games is what makes the difference on many occasions.
Games are becoming tougher and tougher in regular sites, this is why we recommend you to explore some easier to win online poker rooms. To get the newest strategy articles first and maybe discover which are the most common poker mistakes when playing high stakes – Subscribe to our Telegram News Channel : @thepokeragentclubs
