Worst Mistakes in Texas Holdem

The best thing I love about playing poker is that somebody always wins. If you’d like to learn poker and win a little bit more than you’ve been winning, consider if you’ve been making any of these worst mistakes a player can make in Texas Holdem:

• Playing too many hands. The problem with this is that the odds just don’t lie. Every now and then you’ll get a hand that defies the odds (and there lies the magic in poker). If, however, you want to keep your money a little longer, fold poor hands when you get them. You won’t win the game but your bankroll will love you. If you don’t have a strong hand pre-flop, don’t stay in just to see the flop. Many conservative players will only stay in if they have one of the top twenty hands pre-flop.

• Not betting aggressively enough. Don’t check when you should raise. Don’t raise with a little when you should raise with a lot. When you have a good hand, get as much money as you can into the pot without scaring everybody else away.

• Not using pot odds to figure out what to bet when it’s your turn. The worst thing you want to do is risk more of your money for a pot that is not worth the poker odds to try for. If your out odds are better than the pot odds, you should go for it. If your out odds are less than the pot odds, you should probably fold. Otherwise, statistically, you are giving away more money to a pot that you probably won’t win. You can use MagicHoldem to calculate your odds in real time while playing online poker.

• Playing too predictably (i.e. folding every time you have bad cards, or betting big every time you have a good hand). This goes along with those pre-select buttons which also telepath your playing style. Other players can’t see that you’re using the pre-select buttons. If, when it’s your turn, you appear to move with inhuman speed, the other players will deduce that you are using pre-select buttons. They’ll then study what you do and use that against you.

• Continue playing when you’re on tilt. If you are on a losing streak, it’s just not working out for you. You’ve got to cut your losses and walk away from the game. It’s hard to quit when you’re not ahead but you’ve just got to make yourself do it. Chances are whatever’s contributing to your losing streak will still be there the next game. Some people will set a limit to how much they lose before they’ll quit. Others will set a limit to how many hands they lose before quitting. Either way, lose before you run out of all your money.

• Playing above your bankroll. The reason why poker rooms have games with different limits is that players come with different abilities and bankrolls. Enjoy playing poker without worrying about your bankroll.

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