Mistakes Advanced
Players Commonly Make
Every player at some time or
another makes mistakes. No matter how good you are, it’s just a
fact of life. It’s how we learn from these mistakes that make us
better players, however there are some mistakes advanced players
make time and time again. Throughout this article we will be
looking at some of these mistakes, which include; missing value
bets, lack of concentration, game selection, failing to learn new
games properly, taking advantage of free cards and extended tilt
before looking at some key points.
Missing Value
Bets
Value betting is a massive part
of poker and if you fail to learn where and when to value bet, then
this could be the difference between you becoming a good player and
a great player, coupled with a whole wad of cash.
It can be easy to see why this
isn’t the easiest aspect to master in poker. It can take quite a
bit of courage and a massive amount of trust in your game to
correctly target your value bets no matter how thin.
To successfully complete your
value bet you first need to put your opponent on a range of hands.
As you go through the streets it becomes much easier as there will
be more information for you to digest. Once you have this
information at your disposal you can then see how their range of
hands bares up to your hand and act accordingly.
Whilst the better players will
be thinking not only about their hand, but also yours, the
recreational will only be thinking of their hand, and their hand
alone. This means that our value bet range for the weaker players
will be much wider compared to that versus a more competent
player.
Lack of
concentration
Many poker players suffer from
lack of concentration whilst at the tables. This can be down to a
number of reasons, all of which there are little to no excuses
for.
The most common is having the
TV on in the background and flicking across every few seconds to
see what’s going on. There is absolutely no way that someone can
concentrate on playing sound poker whilst being distracted by the
television. If whilst watching the TV, you miss something important
at your tables it could be extremely costly for you, whether it be
a vital hand that’s gone on or something which has resulted in
you miss clicking, there is really no excuses.
Many players often like to
listen to music whilst playing a session and whilst this is fine,
it’s important to learn which music relaxes you without
interfering with decision making process. Studies were done on a
number of poker players that found, even though they didn’t
regularly listen to or particularly like classical music, it had a
calming influence on things like heart rate and concentration
levels while they were in a session. Something to
consider!
Game
selection
Game selection is one of the
easiest things to control as a poker player. It’s simple, you
either sit at a table or you can leave, no two ways about it.
However, the amount of players that will just fire up a load of
random tables and sit down to begin playing is
staggering.
People who do this can actually
be having a massive effect on their overall win rate and
consequently how much money they win at the tables. Whilst to start
opening a bunch of random tables isn’t the worst thing in the
world, it’s important that you quickly establish whether a table
is one where you think you can make a decent amount of profit, from
the players that are currently sat. If the answer is no, then you
need to move tables.
Most of your profit comes from
the bad players in your games i.e. the fish. As the games are
tougher these days, it takes a little more effort to dig them out.
Most, if not all, poker lobbies have table stats readily available
for you to divulge at your pleasure. These can be a quick and easy
way to improve your table selection process which will almost
certainly improve your win rate.
Failing to grasp new
games and playing too high
When a player gains confidence
and has a consistent win rate at one game, they often take the
impression that when they learn a new game they can start at the
stakes they are currently playing. For example, if someone playing
at $100NLHE wanted to try their hand at some PLO, more often than
not they would dive straight into $100PLO.
When learning a new game you
should treat it with respect due to the fact you may have little or
no previous knowledge or game theory behind you. Play some of the
lower stakes and work your way up, improving as you go along. It
can be an expensive lesson to dive straight into a level where you
are likely going to be the fish whilst starting out.
Taking advantage of
free cards
Taking free cards can be an
extremely cheap way in which to either improve your hand or slow
down the action in relation to the pot size. Many players try and
play too aggressive and miss opportunities where they can take a
step back and just take a free card.
By doing so your pot odds and
equity in the hand dramatically increase, coupled with the fact
that, if your opponent was planning on check-raising if you bet,
you’ve now nullified their line.
Prolonged periods of
tilt
All too often advanced players
go through spells of tilt that they just cannot seem to shake off.
Due to the nature of the game and the vast volume they are likely
to put in, bad runs can become very common and are something any
player needs to deal with quickly!
Everyone will tilt at some
point in time, however it’s how you cope with that will make or
break you. If you can find away to deal with tilt and eradicate it
as much as possible from your game then it’s likely you will reap
the rewards. If you fail to do so then it’s going to have a
lasting negative effect and seriously hold back any potential you
may have. |
