This forum is to learn about some of the common mistakes beginners often make, and what to do about it.
This counts on replaypoker, but also on poker with real money.
1: Always call the pre-flop (round with the first 2 cards).
Myth: you never know what will happen after the pre-flop, so why not calling. This because i could get a good hand.
Truth: it is true it can happen you lose a good hand, after folding it in pre flop. But always calling, results in lots of money losses from the blinds. And bad starting hands have worse odds than most beginners think they know.
2: Only playing great hands
Myth: why playing with middle or bad hands, if you play only the best, you will only win.
Truth: playing only the best hands, will result in winning almost all times. But just like my first point, it will also result in lots of losses from the blinds. But not only that, if you only play the best hands people will recognise that at some point. And then you will lose even more, because they will fold the moment you raise.
3: Bluffing to much
Myth: if you win the bluff, you get the money. And if you lose i should keep trying until i succeed, otherwise it was for nothing.
Truth: the most of your money will come from the best hands. Bluffing only helps when all other people fold. So this means if you will bluff a lot, most of the time someone will have something in hand. And because they will know that way you bluffed, they will most of the time not even trust it (what can be an advantage too, but not if you keep bluffing). While doing it sometimes, most people will think you are honest, and they will fold easier.
4: Never bluffing
Myth: the chance of a succeeding bluff is low, and result in failing most of the time. And that means losing a lot, so why even try.
Truth: in the long term everyone will get the same amount of good hands. Which means losing and winning money are somewhat equal. So the extra money will come from playing the bad hands well.
5: Bluffing randomly
Myth: why even care when to perform one. If i bluff randomly, how would they know if i’m bluffing or not. They don’t know my cards anyway.
Truth: there are several things to consider before using a bluff. First: the cards you have don’t matter at all when you bluff, only the ones from your opponent(s). Good cards are better of course, but betting on them has nothing to do with bluffing. Second: watch how much opponents you have left. Bluffing one or two people away, has much higher chances than six or seven. This because bluffing only works when EVERYONE folds. Third: watch how much outs there are (outs are the amount of cards, that can result in a good hand). For example: 10,J,9 means there are 9 cards that can make a pair, but also fairly high straight chances (but they are not high in the flop). About the 9 outs. The ones with a 9 will most of the time, think about people having a 10 or J, but this is with every hand. This means there are 6 real outs. This doesn’t look like much, but keep in mind everyone has 2 cards, not 1.And for in the flop this is a quite high amount. So you can try sometimes, but not to much. Q,Q,2 however means there are 5 outs: 2 queens and 3 two’s. But also if someone has a 2, he may consider folding because he has ‘just’ a 2, so there are now 2 real outs. You may consider bluffing now because the chances are pretty high now.
6: Playing tournaments with a buy-in (money needed to play the tournament) as high as your bankroll (money stack).
Myth: i have the money, so why not. The higher the buy-in, the higher the prize pool.
Truth: with a small bankroll this shouldn’t be a problem, because if you lose you get your money back in no time. Consider yourself now with (for example) a million (this also count for much less as this). you have a million, but start a tournament from 500k and you will lose. Now you have just 500k left. Consider now you had need months (maybe years) to get that money, and you just gambled it away in 1 tournament. Because of the element of luck in poker, it is not a question IF you will lose, but when. Even the most talented players in poker, will lose sometimes.
But using for example 1/20 of your bankroll, you can have a downswing (losing lots of times) and get out of it later. Now you can keep getting money.
7: Always bet or raise with good cards
Myth: i have a good hand, so the more i bet/raise the more i will win.
Truth: in the basics: the more money you will use, the more you can win. But there is much more to that. If you always raise or bet, people will recognise, and fold earlier. If you sometimes only check or call, people will think you have a bad hand and raise themselves. This can be (when played well) one of the best ways to make money in poker. You can also make a check raise in this tactic (what i will advise). This means you do what i just advised, but when you checked and another bets/raises you raise over it. This way you have at least the money they just used, if they all fold. Or they don’t believe you when you raise because you checked earlier, and they call or raise your bet, which result in even more money (assuming you win of course). You can also use a check raise as a bluff. They can think you tried what i just mentioned, and fold because of that.
8: Betting on a very good hand, with also very high flush chances.
Myth: i just got the straight i wanted, which is a low chance, so i will bet very high because i got a great hand.
Truth: it will happen sometimes, there are 4 cards of the same suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) on the board (the cards from everyone). This means the chances of a flush are very high (36% per person assuming you don’t have one). Which means, stop looking about the very low possibility you had by getting that hand. But look at the fact, that the possiblility of someone having an even greater hand is very high. 36% chance for 1 person, also means there is 59,04 % for 2. So this means with just 2 people, your losing chance is already more as the half.
9: Folding with the possibility to check
Myth: this hand will become nothing anyway, so why even trying.
Truth: the possibilty of losing for sure can only happen on the river (5 open cards). And your 2 cards not adding anything. For example: 10,7,J,K,6 and your hand is 2,4 . This means you have to play the board (using the cards everyone have). Only this means, you can never have the best hand, because everyone have ‘your hand’ . But even then it is possible to get a split pot, if the other person(s) also have to play the board.
About the folding: the only use of folding, is not needing to add more money to a losing hand. But when no one bets, you don’t need to add money anyway (checking). So folding when you can check, is just throwing your own money away.
10: Copying the behavior of the other people.
Myth: if other people bet high lots of times, and use much hands. I have to do a lot too, otherwise i never get the money. / or / if other people not use many cards, then why would i do. Because it will result in having more rounds with the worst cards.
Truth: actually the truth is just the opposite. The best way is to do the opposite of what most of your opponents do. If the table is tight (using not so many hands), people will fold earlier, so you could easier getting away with a bluff. If the table is loose (using many hands), people will use many cards, so bluffing won’t work most of the time. And using only good hands will probably earn good money, because people will bet and raise on middle hands.
11: Underrestimate your position:
Myth: i just play my hands on what i have, and don’t care where i sit.
Truth: the later you get your turn, the better it is (so dealer is the best position). The main reason is: you can see what the other people do, before you have to decide your move. This way you know if you have to call a great bet to play, or can easily check yourself to the next round. But most important: you can see other people’s actions, which give a bit away of what you can think they have. For example: if everyone checks, the chance is higher you can get away with a bluff. Or if more people go all-in (bet/raise all his chips), the probability someone will have a very good hand, is extremely high. So in short: it is a small giveaway of the other people’s hands. Have to say one last thing: this don’t mean the difference of making very high bets against checking or folding. It does alter it of course, but don’t change your actions very much on it. Only do that if you got fairly good reads (seeing what your opponent want) on it. I would advise however to play more loose on late position because a lot more hands are playable (sometimes even the worst ones possible).
12: Keep playing after a downswing.
Myth: i lost a lot of money now, so i should keep playing to recover my losses.
Truth: getting into a downswing could be the result of getting bad luck, but most of the times it is a result of tilting (not thinking clearly because of panic about losing so much, and want to getting it back as soon as possible). The right way is not playing at all, and take a break of at least a few hours, but probably a day. And trying it again when you know for sure you think the right way.
13: Betting too high on suited cards, connectors or even suited connectors.
Myth: i could hit the flush/straight, so i should bet high because if i do, i probably win.
Truth: it is indeed true that if you hit your flush/straight you probably win, and it is also true that your chances are higher with these kind of hole cards (your own two cards). But the thing many people forget is: even with these cards, the chances are still pretty low, because you need three cards to hit your combination. Even with the five community cards (the cards everyone have), the chance is low. But if you have placed a high raise on the preflop and someone have called that raise, it also means he probably have very good cards and will most of the time bet more on the flop. So you also have to call an high raise for getting a low chance of winning. What i also want to mention: the more people you have who want to see the flop, the sooner you CAN do this. This is because how more people are playing, how higher the chances someone have a good hand. With this in mind you also need better cards, and if you win you also get a higher pot because so many people did put money in it. But even with this, i still have to warn to not bet too high, because as i mentioned in the beginning: the chances are still low.
But the most important information i can give, is only play if you like the game. If you don’t, then what’s the point. Also (or actually especcialy) if you want to play for real money. If you don’t like the game, it will probably result in losing lots of money too, because your motivation will be much lower.
In short: i hope this helps to train your poker skills. And gl and have fun with playing poker, and winning tons of money 