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Original article found at:
http://www.pokertips.org/strategy/beginner-mistakes.php
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Common beginner mistakes
When people sit down in a game, they want to play. Often, this means they
even will play hands like J 4 .
This is a cardinal no-no. Hopefully, the articles on this site will help
improve your starting hand selection.
This goes without saying. Sometimes the gambling and money aspect of poker
gets to people too much. They become greedy and play in games they cannot
afford or games where the competition is simply too stiff.
At first, stick to a consistent, lower limit. Learn how to play and beat
the game before you play in higher-stakes games.
Bad beats will happen. Losing sessions will happen. Annoying opponents will
happen. Live with it and do not let your emotions sway your judgment at the
table.
If your hand needs improvement, the concept of pot odds can help you
determine if you should call to see the next card on the board. Few beginning
players understand pot odds, and they often call too much. This site has a
section about pot
odds, as well as a pot
odds calculator to help you better understand this concept.
When most people think of cards, they think of two colors, red and black.
The suits are displayed like this:
Well, I have news for you. Some online poker rooms give you two display
choices: the traditional two-color deck and a four-color deck. A four-color
deck would have four unique colors for the four suits, like this:
While this may seem unusual at first, it will make things much easier on
you with time.
Believe me, if you use a two-color deck, there is a good chance that you
will at some point misread your hand. You might think you have a flush when in
fact you do not. Using a four-color deck is a simple way to prevent yourself
from making stupid mistakes.
This is a mistake that brick and mortar beginners make. When you want to
make a raise, you should not say, "I call your bet and raise you XYZ." Your
initial action is considered your final action. So if you say, "I call ..." it
means you just want to call. If you want to raise, say "raise" and state the
amount you want to raise, if it is a no-limit game (the amount of the raise is
obvious in fixed-limit games).
A lot of people learn how to play poker by playing in a similar fashion to
other people. They may just imitate others at the table, or they may try to
play like a professional they saw on television. This is the wrong way to go
about playing poker.
Many people who play poker are simply bad at it. Imitating a poorly-skilled
player means copying a lot of their bad habits. Furthermore, trying to imitate
what one saw on television is also a recipe for disaster. What is shown on
television is almost always a tournament, and their hands are highly
situational. The reasons for the professional's decision probably has little
applicability to your own game.
It is important to understand how to make decisions at poker. Succeeding at
poker is not done through imitation; rather, it is done through understanding
the complexities of the game.
All gambling involves luck. While luck tends to even itself out over the
long run, people naturally focus on the short run and on their fluctuations.
Because gambling involves randomness, people will often blame or chalk up
their luck to some random event that coincided with how they fared at a
certain gambling session. This may be as innocent as believing in a lucky
shirt. However, some people take these superstitions too far. They start to
believe that if they constantly move seats or change their socks that they
will somehow become the next WSOP winner.
You cannot affect the "luck" factor of gambling. Luck evens itself out over
the long run. The only thing you should concern yourself at the poker table is
playing well. If you play very well at poker, you will win over the long run.
If you do not play well, you will lose. It's as simple as that.
Having a suited hand is a plus. However, you should not play a hand just
because it is suited. The first two things to consider about a starting hand
are the ranks of the cards and if the cards are paired. These are by far the
most important factors in the value of a hand. After this, you should consider
if they are suited or connecting.
A hand like A K
is much, much more valuable than a hand like 10 3.
A K
is a top starting hand, whereas 10 3
should be thrown in the muck.
This may sound obvious, but many beginners make the mistake of calling to
see the flop with any two suited cards. The probability of flopping a flush or
a flush draw with two suited cards is just under 12%. This is fairly low; you
need other reasons to play a starting hand besides it being suited.
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