Rookie Poker Mistakes

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If you’re a fan of Texas holdem poker, January has been a banner month for watching the game’s great’s play for pots potentially worth millions. The global online poker leader PokerStars treated the community to an inaugural Players No Limit holdem Championship, a $25,000 buy-in event with an additional $1 million pumped into the prize pool. But unlike any other big buy-in tournament on the planet, PokerStars gave away hundreds of “Platinum Passes” – or complimentary entries into the high-profile event.

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Daniel Negreanu’s Rookie Mistakes 1 Jun 2009 PokerPlayer Texas Hold'em Whether you’ve only just got into poker or find yourself continually losing, Daniel Negreanu has some quick tips to improve your game. Rookie mistake definition: 1. A basic mistake, like one that a person with no experience of an activity would make: 2.

In the end, with thousands watching the action via Twitch live stream, Platinum Pass winner Ramon Colillas of Spain outlasted over 1,000 opponents to claim the crown in dramatic fashion – earning $5.1 million in winnings along the way. The novel new event was followed by the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), historically one of the most fun-filled stops on the tournament circuit. With buy-ins ranging from a few hundred bucks to $100,000, the PCA treated poker fans watching at home to nearly two weeks of nonstop flops, folds, and monster pots.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) also hosted its annual Main Event at the Gardens Casino in California. Finally, cash game fans were able to sweat high-stakes legends like Doug Polk, Brian Rast, and Jason Koon over on the PokerGo production of Poker After Dark. All of that, and January isn’t even over yet…

If you’re like me, you probably watched your fill of Texas holdem over the last few weeks – alternating with the NFL Playoffs on the weekend of course. But while I gorged on this smorgasbord of top-notch poker, I couldn’t help but focus on the multitude of mistakes I witnessed playing out on the felt. Thanks to PokerStars’ commitment to uninterrupted live streaming of its live events, poker fans like myself were able to watch hours upon hours of unfiltered footage. Every hole card was shown, and every street of action from preflop to showdown was aired for all to see.

As a result, we were given a glimpse into just how complex and complicated playing sound poker can be. And with so many amateur players on hand thanks to the Platinum Pass promotion, the game’s sheer complexity created many opportunities for mistakes to be made.

I kept a little journal going to document the misplays I noticed, more for the sake of my own improvement down the road than anything else. Even so, having finally sorted through my January poker journal, I thought it might be a fun exercise to list the six biggest mistakes recreational players still make at the Texas holdem tables.

Succeeding in this game requires study and discipline, along with a willingness to evaluate your own skills and strategies objectively. With that in mind, make a mental checklist as you read the rest of this page, and pledge to work on avoiding the mistakes below as your Texas holdem journey continues.

1 – Playing Too Many Hands Preflop Out of Boredom or Aggression

When you watch poker on TV, rather than the aforementioned continuous live streams, the onscreen product can be extremely deceptive. Editors have sifted through hours, or even days, of coverage searching specifically for dramatic hands. These hands are then strung together to create a compelling narrative, usually involving rivalries or runaway chip leaders.

As a result, many poker players who try to learn from their heroes on TV develop a distorted view of how Texas holdem really works. When they see a constant stream of big raises, bluffs, and all-in moments, they hit their nearest poker game ready to mix it up like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey.

Here’s the rub though… even active and creative players like Negreanu and Ivey aren’t playing much more than 10 percent of their preflop holdings. It might seem like they’re in every hand, battling for every pot and “going to war” with any two cards, but that’s simply a byproduct of edited poker productions. In reality, the best players do like Kenny Rogers once said and “know when to fold ‘em.”

Remember, leaving aside suits, the 52-card deck can produce a whopping 169 possible two-card starting hands in Texas holdem. Of the 169, you’ll have 13 pocket pairs that are usually playable (more on this in a minute), along with your premium non-pairs like A-K, A-Q, A-J, K-Q, Q-J, and J-10. Even when we throw in a few decent suited connectors such as 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, and 9-10 suited for good measure, that makes it 23 hands that are immediately playable in most situations.

You can learn more about the 169 starting hands in Texas holdem here, but suffice to say, a disciplined preflop strategy only gives you 13 percent of them to work with. OK, but what about folks who adopt a loose and aggressive style before the flop?

Rookie Poker Mistakes Games

Well, even if we add speculative hands like A-9, J-8, and 4-5 – suited or otherwise – to the mix, you’re still looking at 100 hands or more that shouldn’t really be played whatsoever. I’m talking about the 2-7s and 10-3s of the world, trash hands that – outside of extremely specific spots like heads-up play or a pure bluff – are more trouble than they’re worth.

Despite all of these facts and figures, I invariably watched lesser skilled players wind up in tricky spots while holding nothing but rags. Naturally, tournament circumstances like short stacked play and the bubble will necessitate opening your preflop range up quite a bit, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. No, the biggest mistake I saw while watching wall-to-wall tournament coverage involved players succumbing to boredom.

Remember, live poker plays out much more slowly than it does online – especially in a pressure-packed tournament setting. You might see 15 or 20 hands over the course of an hour, and most of them won’t be worth playing. Thus, barring a hot run of starting hands, most poker players are forced to be extremely patient, biding their time and picking up enough blinds and antes to keep their stack intact until the premiums finally arrive.

Unfortunately for many recreational players, the combination of TV-inspired recklessness with basic boredom attributed to folding over and over creates a temptation too strong to resist. After dutifully folding a series like 2-9 / K-4 / 10-6 / Q-7 / 3-J / 8-5 / Q-5 / 4-10 for an entire orbit, picking up something like A-2 or Q-10 can suddenly look like Aces in the hole.

Do your best to resist this temptation at all costs. Watching your opponents splash around and drag pots can make it tough, but if you can stay patient and stick to a disciplined preflop approach, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see your post-flop win rate rise in kind.

And when in doubt, keep the following data in mind concerning the odds and probabilities of picking up certain hands. When you know exactly how likely and unlikely getting a premium pocket pair (just over 54 to 1 against) or a suited connector (24.5 to 1), staying patient simply becomes a matter of mathematics:

Hand	Probability	Odds Against
A-Ks (or any two suited cards)	0.00302	331 to 1
A-A (or any specific pocket pair)	0.00453	220 to 1
A-Ks, K-Qs, Q-Js, or J-10s (suited cards)	0.0121	81.9 to 1
A-K (or any specific non-paired hand)	0.0121	81.9 to 1
A-A, K-K, or Q-Q	0.0136	72.7 to 1
A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or J-J	0.0181	54.3 to 1
Suited cards, jack or better	0.0181	54.3 to 1
A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, or 10-10	0.0226	43.2 to 1
Suited cards, 10 or better	0.0302	32.2 to 1
Suited connectors	0.0392	24.5 to 1
Connected cards (10 or higher)	0.0483	19.7 to 1
Any two cards with rank at least queen	0.0498	19.1 to 1
Any pocket pair	0.0588	16 to 1
Any two cards with rank at least jack	0.0905	10.1 to 1
Any two cards with rank at least 10	0.143	5.98 to 1
Connected cards (consecutive; 6-7 etc.)	0.157	5.38 to 1
Any two cards with rank at least 9	0.208	3.81 to 1
Neither connected nor suited	0.534	0.873 to 1

2 – Overvaluing Popular Hands That Aren’t as Powerful As They Seem

On the same note, many Texas holdem rookies – and even longtime players who can’t beat the game – have a tendency to overvalue certain hands. Speaking strictly for myself, I know I have a weakness for “set mining” whenever I find a small- to mid- pocket pair. Give me deuces through nines in the hole and chances are good I’ll find a way to see the flop, even though I know deep down I’ll hit my set only just under 12 percent of the time.

And after observing the January poker schedule closer than I should I admit to, I’ve noticed I’m not alone in the overvaluing boat. It seems like between pocket pairs and suited cards – especially suited Aces which can form the nut flush – recreational players just can’t quit certain hands. Unfortunately, the odds of Texas holdem ensure both pocket pairs and suited hands won’t connect with the board nearly as often as you might imagine.

Part of this phenomenon is confirmation bias, as our minds naturally remember those heated hands when 2-2 spikes a set on the A-9-2 to stack off big slick. Similarly, players who prefer suited aces always call back to times when they nailed the nut flush on the turn. What we don’t remember, however, are the other 6.5 instances (on average) where the same pair of ducks fail to find a third, or the suited cards wind up with a useless four-flush for a busted draw. The mind can be a funny thing, especially when it’s challenged by the rigors of a Texas holdem table.

To help you remedy the all too common mistake of overvaluing certain hands, keep the following probabilities and odds against in mind going forward:

Flopped Hand	Odds Against	Probability
118 to 1	0.8 percent	Flush
Straight (with connected cards J-10 through 5-4)	76 to 1	1.3 percent
Set (three of a kind) with a pocket pair	7.5 to 1	11.8 percent
Any pair (matching one of your hole cards)	2.45 to 1	29.0 percent

That J-10 might look pretty enough preflop, especially when you start thinking about all of the nut straights you can spike on the flop. But when you realize that J-10 – or any other connector for that matter – only flops a straight on 1 out of 100 hands, finding the fold button will be far easier.

3 – Blindly C-Betting in Position After Missing the Flop

Another common mistake employed by recreational players is following up a preflop raise with a continuation bet on the flop by default. At one point in the strategic evolution of Texas holdem, the “c-bet” was used almost automatically, with most hands playing out in clockwork fashion. The preflop opener would raise in position and pick up a call or two out of the blinds. Then, when the blinds wound up missing altogether, a single small bet from the aggressor was enough to take the pot down without a further fight.

When you’re sitting in a basic $1/$2 No Limit holdem cash game, you’ll still see this process play out over and over again. The preflop raiser might not have anything themselves, but after the action is checked their way, the default plan is always to bet and hope for a fold. The only thing is, Texas holdem strategy has evolved by leaps and bounds since the “old days” of Moneymaker and Farha dueling for the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Whereas the c-bet was routinely deployed back then, today’s top-level players utilize a wide range of postflop plays to disguise their true intentions.

Nowadays, if you fall into a predictable pattern of opening in position preflop and then following through with a c-bet, you’ll be eaten alive by thinking opponents. These guys and gals will prey upon your predictability, baiting you into a “standard” c-bet only to check-raise big on a stone cold bluff. Or perhaps they’ll simply call your c-bet and check for a second time, knowing most players are hesitant to fire a second barrel holding nothing but air. From there, after you check back to see a turn card, they can fire out a bet of their own to drag an easy pot.

Instead of relying on the c-bet each and every time you open preflop, try to work a variety of plays into your post-flop arsenal. The young guns like to go for a “delayed c-bet,” meaning they’ll check the flop back and fire their first bet on the turn, when the board’s texture is much more crystallized. However you approach the post-flop game though, make a point to be unpredictable by eschewing the one-dimensional reliance on c-bets.

4 – Bluffing Too Often Because You See the Pros Play That Way on TV

Among all of the insidious consequences TV poker has had on general strategy, the emphasis on bluffing has to take the cake. On some level, I understand why the editors behind the scenes love a good bluff. I mean, it’s been more than 15 years now, and I still get goosebumps watching Moneymaker pull off the “Bluff of the Century” against Farha in the ’03 Main Event. Bluffs are inherently appealing to everyone who enjoys poker, as it’s the players and not the cards who are deciding the ultimate outcome.

But while watching the live streams from the PokerStars Player’s Championship and the PCA, I couldn’t help but notice how the bluff has become played out. Rather than play with the patience I talked about earlier, many players wind up “punting” their entire tournament away on a single ill-timed bluff. Don’t get me wrong now, I’m certainly not advising anybody to abandon the bluff altogether. Deception is an essential skill at the poker table, and if you’re not capable of winning pots while holding no pair to speak of, you’ll be devoured by bolder players.

What I am saying, however, is to stop bluffing at every available opportunity. Way too many players believe they must win any and all pots they put a chip into. Under this mistaken belief, “over-bluffers” simply don’t know how to give up and live to fight another day. Nope, they decide that waving the white flag – even when it’s clear that their opponent has the goods – is a sign of weakness.

Just watch Kalidou Sow punt away his $25,000 entry into the PokerStars Player’s Championship on a disastrous bluff to get my drift. Here, Sow – no slouch mind you, as he’s won over $1.6 million by capturing several European Poker Tour titles in recent years – starts the hand with just under 50,000 chips. At the 250/500 blind level, that gives him 100 blinds to work with, plenty enough to make a push towards the final table and the big bucks.

With only K-Q offsuit in the hole, Sow three-bets preflop to signal strength. But when he’s called by the opener, who holds pocket Jacks, he should know something’s up. On a bricked out flop, Sow keeps firing with his first bluff, then he repeats the action on another baby card turn. Finally, with the river showing four to a straight, Sow inexplicably jams his last 34,000 into the middle on pure air.

It’s a courageous play, I’ll admit, but why not size the river bet at 20,000 or so? That way, even if the bluff fails, Sow still has 14,000 – still a comfortable 28 big blinds – with which to attempt a comeback. Instead, his all-in bluff is picked off and Sow is eliminated in a snap. Bluffing definitely has its place in poker, but it shouldn’t be a staple play you use whenever the board fails to cooperate.

5 – Trying for the Big Check-Raise Trap Every Time You Flop a Monster

When a poker rookie raises big before the flop, only to silently tap the table after three cards hit the felt, they’re trapping 9 times out of 10. Remember the tendency to fire off c-bets whenever you miss? Well, the opposite of that coin involves checking when you do indeed flop a monster. Recreational players always worry about scaring people out of the pot when they hold the goods. Thus, after flopping a set or some other monster, they invariably check with the intention of check-raising.

The problem with this approach, aside from its predictability, is that you’re hoping the opponent does your betting for you. Sure, the passive / trapping style will work some of the time, baiting a bluffer into taking a stab. But more often than not, you’re simply allowing the opponent to realize their equity by seeing a free card.

When you connect perfectly on the flop and you’re out of position, try firing out a wager the pros call a “donk bet.” You’ll be surprised to see how often this play actually works better than the check-raise, as your mark mistakes the donk bet for a basic c-bet and responds with a raise. From there, you’re sitting in the catbird seat, as you can either reraise and go for stacks right then and there, or flat call and give them just enough rope to hang themselves on the turn or river.

6 – Worrying Too Much About Physical Tells Against Unsophisticated Opponents

This mistake has become so overblown that I won’t even waste my time – “tells” don’t work like they do on TV. Every poker scene in the movies, and even edited coverage like the WSOP and WPT, finds a way to depict physical tells influencing the action. A player might smile involuntarily after a bluff, trying to signal strength but giving up the ghost instead. Or maybe they use a certain mannerism when they have it, like “Teddy KGB” infamously did with his Oreo cookies in the cult classic Rounders.

But leaving aside dramatic license, tells just aren’t a factor in your typical Texas holdem game. First off, you’ll largely be playing with strangers for a one-off session, so parsing the hidden meaning of their gestures and behavior is nothing but a guessing game.

Secondly, and most importantly, everybody already knows – or thinks they know to put it more accurately – about the role of tells. Because of this, hoodies and scarves are now the norm, as players seek to conceal their physical tells from the world. And even if their face isn’t hidden, most players today know how to calm their breathing and sit perfectly still while putting on a poker face.

The next time you play and want to gain insight into what an opponent might hold, try to focus on tangible metrics like timing tells (how quickly they act when its on them), range tells (which hands they regularly showdown), and other useful patterns. By honing in on what an opponent is actually doing, as opposed to what you believe they’re doing, you’re ability to read will improve by leaps and bounds.

Texas holdem was famously dubbed the “Cadillac of Poker” by Doyle Brunson for a reason. Using just two hole cards and five community cards, the game creates an infinite array of possibilities in terms of how to play every conceivable situation. Accordingly, players who aren’t perfect have an infinite array of opportunities to make mistakes.

Errors in judgment at the poker table are to be expected, as nobody on the face of the planet plays Texas holdem to perfection. Nonetheless, the best players in the world strive to identify and eliminate mistakes at every juncture. Now that you know about the basic mistakes listed above, do your best to spot them and purge them from your process as soon as possible.

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Rookie Poker Mistakes Against

Everyone plays casino games for fun or to win some nice prizes, however an online casino can be a complicated place for a first timer. Playing casino games is not just about getting the right cards, as sometimes even the right cards don’t guarantee huge wins, while mediocre hands played smartly can win you huge sums. There’s an incredibly variety of games, rules and skills that many players will have never heard of before.

It’s important that you should know some rookie mistakes which are made while playing online casino games.

Let’s take you through the top 5 rookie mistakes:

Giving the game away
When you are new in the casino arena and you are playing with real money, once you make your first good call or come up trumps in a showdown you might want to let everyone know that you are doing well, but acting superior only tells your opponent players what kind of cards you have got. So avoid it at any cost because this is rookie mistake number one.
The most important skill a casino player should learn is the art of the poker face and the bluff, it’s all about keeping your cards close and limiting how much your opponent players know about your hand.
Registering At Online Casinos Using Fake Credentials
Lots of people who are new to the online gambling world try to take the safer route and provide fake credentials on these platforms and register with fake email ids, names, and address. Although you might be able to sign up easily and privately using such wrong credentials. But if you win a huge amount you are not allowed to withdraw because of the incorrect credentials you have provided.
The top online casinos double check your personal details before paying out any wins. Hence, you should provide correct details and only then you will be able to withdraw your winnings. Please note, personal details provided to online casinos can be considered in safe hands, but make sure you stay safe.
Overplaying Hands
Overplaying hands is another common mistake made by amateur players. Players who are new to online poker games often never fold any hand equal to or better than top pair. The more you play, the less comfortable you will get with marginal hands. The contrast between the emotional effect of a beginner flopping bottom two pair and that of a pro flopping bottom two is night and day.
Ignoring the accepted payment modes
Lots of players who are new to online gambling forget to check the accepted payment methods at online casinos. They get so amazed by the bonus offers and graphics that they forget to check payment and withdrawal methods. Before playing the games you must verify that the online casino allows you to deposit and withdraw money through payment/withdrawal methods convenient to you.
Not Reading Bonus Terms And Conditions
You must carefully go through the casino bonus offers terms and conditions and understand the corresponding requirements to be able to avail offers like free spins, no deposit cash bonuses etc.
Most casino clubs newcomers won’t know about betting necessities, win tops, or even any of the withdrawal procedure that accompanies obtaining a reward. Getting free cash is astounding to the point that you discover it expects you to bet considerably more cash at the gambling club to get it out. New players essentially observe the reward, without considering the means to get the reward.

These are the top 5 mistakes new casino player often makes. So make sure to avoid these mistake and start winning your online casino games.

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