Bloggers / Matthew Pitt / 20 April 2009 / Leave a comment

As someone who plays quite a lot of poker online, a lot of it at the micro and small stakes, I come across new, weak players all of the time. I see the same fundamental mistakes being made day in, day out so I thought I would list some common errors made by players new to poker.

Most mistakes are interlinked, in that by making one they are often led into making another, a snowball effect if you will. The most common mistake made, and the easiest to put right, is playing too many hands preflop.

The starting hand requirements of a lot of new players consist of any two cards, after all any two cards can win can't they? They see two suited cards and think they will make a flush every time, any ace is good in their book as a pair of aces is the best hand, that sort of thing. As a new player the saying tight is right but tighter is righter probably runs true.

Linked to the above is failure to learn the basics and by this I mean pot odds and bet sizing Online you should be making a lot of plays based on pot odds as it is obvious you cannot pick up on any physical tells at the table. Pot odds literally make the world go around in poker.

People seem scared of odds and probability but they are not as scary as you think and are very easy to commit to memory for future reference as they never change. Bet sizing goes hand in hand with pot odds because in No-limit Hold'em, you can control what odds you give to your opponent. Dozens of times per hour I see people bet continue to bet ridiculously small then moan they are being outdrawn by their opponents. Do not be one of them!

The next error many people make is playing too high and this covers bankroll and skill levels. Many newer players fail to realise how powerful variance can be and how important bankroll management actually is. You ask any professional or serious player what the most important skill you will learn is and I bet a penny to a pound it is controlling your bankroll properly. Losing money is bad but not being able to play because you have no money is the worst possible scenario. There are plenty of bankroll management articles knocking around, find one and learn that too!

Whilst playing out of their bankroll is common, so is playing in games they have no chance of winning in. They take their $200 and immediately sit in $50 SNGs or NL100 cash games and wonder why they are having to reload their account so often. There are some very good players once you leave the micro stakes as there is a lot of money to be won.

Think of it this way, if you played snooker would you instantly try taking on Ronnie O'Sullivan an co? No, never! The same should go for poker. Start off at the micro stakes where you can afford to lose and learn the game as cheaply as possible, moving up stakes when you are crushing the level you are at and have an adequate bankroll to support you. Do not just move up because you can afford to, I am bankrolled for $33 SnG's yet I chose to have an average buy-in of $11-$22 as I win comfortably at those stakes and do not want to face much better players at this moment in time.

This article has gone on a little longer than I expected, congratulations on getting this far. Coming up soon will be mistakes made by knowledgeable players. People fear them but you certainly should not.

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The Problem With Weak Aces in Poker
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Ability and Win Rate

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