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Avoiding the Beginner’s Mistakes, Part One
Like any game involving cards, poker does involve a
lot of luck, but if you are new to playing Texas Hold ‘Em, then you are
also playing a game that takes a lot of skill. This is the hot game in
America right now, and as such everyone wants to play. If you’re new to
the game, then you should know that there are many common mistakes that
beginning, and even intermediate, players make. Avoiding these mistakes
like the plague will help improve your game dramatically.
#1 Mistake: Playing way too many hands.
This is the most common of all mistakes and costs
rookies the most money. This can be understandable. When you sit down
at a card table, you want to play. The problem is you need to know hand
strengths. J-10 off-suit looks like a good hand. It isn’t. Not enough
if you have to pay to get in, or if you are playing at a full table.
Too often players will play anything with an ace. If you have A-2, what
do you think your chances are when another player holds A-K? Card
rankings exist for a reason, and while you can get lucky in the short
term, in the long term no one is immune to the math.
This should be a basic, and
yet it happens. This often happens after several bad beats, or they
just become greedy. If it is because of bad beats, remember, you get
better players at higher tables. Even though this might mean less eight
person hands, it also means that at the end of the day these guys are
more likely to take your money than the others. Only play in games you
can afford, only ones that match your skill level. If you can’t
dominate a lower table, you are not ready for a higher one.
Emotions are good for most
sports, but they have absolutely no place at a poker table. Bad beats
will happen. Losing sessions will happen. Annoying opponents running
their mouths who don’t know how to play but get insanely lucky to the
point where everyone else at the table wants to break their neck will
occasionally clean you out. 1,000 to 1 mathematical bad beats will
happen. Deal with it, but don’t get emotional. If you do get
emotional, leave immediately and do something else until you get
balanced out again.
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