The biggest mistakes that poker players make

Everyone makes mistakes in poker. It's what you do with them, how you adjust, IF you adjust, that makes the difference between the winning player and the losing player. There are too many mistakes that players make to ever possibly list them in a short article but this article will list the biggest mistakes that are made on a routine basis are and will show you what they are, how to identify them, and at the end, a quick way to figure out the mistakes you are making and correct them.

Raising with marginal hands in early position

On the surface, this appears to be a beginner's mistake, but time and time again you will see experienced players raising with marginal hands in early position. How many times do you get a hand like A-J or K-Q suited under the gun and think to yourself “oh boy, first good hand I've had in an hour, gotta play it” and open the pot for a raise. Don't lie to yourself. You know you do it. So you're probably wondering what exactly is the problem?

When you act in early position with a marginal hand, you face the dilemma of reacting to your opponents. If you are re-raised, then you are essentially throwing away the chips you've already put in the pot. Why? Because your opponent knows you've raised from early position so the range of hands they put you on is probably pretty high. Knowing this, they have raised you. This means they are not afraid of what you are going to do. They have a hand and they are going to play it. Your hand is no good and the three to four big blind raise you just threw out there is now gone (another big mistake is calling these raises, but most intermediate to advanced players are capable of folding to a re-raise with a marginal hand).

Giving away information about your play

There are advocates of varying the size of your bet based upon position, the strength of your hand, and the tendencies of the remaining players. Do it randomly, these experts say, so that you don't give away any information about the strength of your hand. The inherent problem with this method is people have a natural tendency to fall into patterns. Sure you might think you're raising four times the big blind 80% of the time, but more than likely you're doing it 95% of the time.

The typical mistake that players make is betting a certain amount based upon the strength of their hand. Some players will bet big with their good hands wanting to reduce the size of the field while others will bet less wanting to get as much money in the pot as possible. This is fine if you are consistent. The problem is when you start to vary. Say you're the type of player who likes to bet less when you have a good hand but when you are just looking to steal the blinds you raise big. An observant player is going to pick up on this and do two things. One, they are going to re-raise your big bets liberally because they know you have a weaker hand. Two, they are going to call your small bets often because they know there is implied value because you have a big hand.

Not making proper sized bets

This mistake contains errors on both ends of the spectrum. Players commonly bet too much or too little. There are several reasons poker players bet. These include getting a player to fold, inducing a player to raise, or getting a player to call. Each time we make a bet we have a desired result. The correct bet depends on whether you are bluffing or betting for value. When you are bluffing the amount should be the least possible to get your opponent to fold. When betting for value, the amount should be the highest possible to get your opponent to call.

Determining these amounts depends on several factors. What are your opponent's tendencies? Do they fold a lot when someone bets? Then you can make a small bet when you are bluffing. Do they call a lot when on a draw and you have top pair? Then you should make a large bet. Sometimes we want to make a bet to give our opponent the appearance of being weak. This again depends on your opponent. How have they reacted to other small bets or large bets? If they think a large bet is weak and we have a strong hand, then we should make an over-sized bet and vice versa if they think a small bet is weak. So again use observation to figure out your tablemate's betting thresholds, it's how to make money when you have it and lose less when you don't.

Putting the blame elsewhere

You've read everything about poker. You KNOW how to play poker. When you lose it's because you were unlucky and your opponent was a lucky donkey. This is the mindset too many players fall into. They start believing they are infallible and that the only thing stopping them from winning is luck. While luck might factor into the losses they are incurring, more often than not the problems lie much deeper.

Poker requires constant self-analysis and scrutiny. If you lost a big pot to that “fish,” ask yourself if there was anything you could have done differently? Could you have bet more? Could you have prevented them from seeing the flop? Look for reasons that YOU failed to win the hand rather than placing blame on everything else. If you are able to do this, you will likely find some holes in your game and gain some understanding of how to counteract your opponents. In time you'll find yourself complaining less and less about bad luck as you rake in the big pots.

Learn from your mistakes

So how do you go about learning from your mistakes? One thing you can do is to keep a journal or log of all your mistakes that you make in a poker game. Not every little mistake, no poker player has that kind of time. Record the big ones... the ones that hurt. These are the ones you need to learn from.

What often works best is to take a 3x5 index card and record the following information:

Hand action and outcome.
Observations on the players involved in the hand.
What you did right.
What you did wrong.
How you would play the hand if given the opportunity to replay it.

After recording this information, put it with the rest of “my mistakes." Once a month sit down and go through all of the index cards. Look for mistakes you are repeating and try and figure out why it is that you are doing so. By constantly refreshing your memory on your mistakes, you will find yourself much better prepared to handle a similar situation if it ever comes up in a game. Forcing yourself to think about these hands will eventually have you making more correct decisions than your opponents, and that's how you become a winning player.