Poker News

James A. McKenna, PhD

The best players in baseball will work hard to get 3 or 4 hits out of ten. Those who have high batting averages are the players who make the least mistakes. The same is true in poker. Good players make fewer mistakes both with good hands as well as with bad cards (pitches).

If you make a lot of mistakes in a poker game, chances are that you will leave with fewer chips than you had when you started. It’s safe to say that the player who makes fewer mistakes will have more chips at the end of the game. Knowing about areas of mistakes and avoiding them will definitely improve your game.

I began to research how many ways we can make mistakes. It turns out that poker mistakes are based on decisions we make about betting, calling, checking, raising, or folding. Here’s a useful tool to show the options each hand has…

COMMON POKER MISTAKES

ACTIONS THAT WE TAKE . INSTEAD OF

1. CHECKING. . . . . . . BETTING

2. BETTING. . . . . . . . . CHECKING

3. CALLING. . . . . . . . .FOLDING OR RAISING

4. FOLDING. . . . . . . . .CALLING OR RAISING

5. RAISING . . . . . . . . .CALLING OR FOLDING

Note: If you would like a more detailed guide to avoiding such mistakes, look for David Sklansky’s book Getting the Best of It, published by Two Plus Two Publishers in 1989.

Checking Instead of Betting. It’s often a mistake to show weakness in poker unless that show is a bluff. Checking instead of betting can lose the chance that weaker hands will fold. Slow playing good hands has proven to usually be a mistake. It’s asking to get out-run.

Betting Instead of Checking. At the same time, it could be a mistake to bet instead of check. If you have a marginally good hand that can only be beat if you are called, it’s usually best to check and call. If you bet and you are called, chances are you lost. Calling Instead of Folding or Raising–One of the best skills in poker is the ability to lay a hand down when you think you are beaten. Calling instead of folding usually comes from chasing hands. It’s often a good idea to raise rather than just call. Still it’s often better to just fold. It’s always best in early stages of a game to avoid chasing.

Folding Instead of Calling or Raising. However, folding a winning hand can be a costly mistake. Folding, instead of calling or raising, can often occur pre-flop by playing too tight and folding hands that would have flopped two pair or trips. That’s where “No Fold ‘em Hold ‘em” has an advantage. However, getting other players to make mistakes is an art in poker. So, often raising instead of folding can invite others to make the mistake of folding. Raising Instead of Calling or Raising. Raising bets is usually designed to build a pot or to narrow the playing field by getting players to make the mistake of folding. The time for calling, instead of raising the bet, often means that you are be doing someone else’s betting. If your raise is a pure bluff, it’s a mistake when players have hands good enough to call. It’s best to simply call or fold.

Instead of counting the “Outs” we have to make our hands in poker, perhaps we should also be counting how many ways we can be beaten with the cards we are playing. If you start paying attention to how you can be beaten, how would that effect how you bet, call, check, raise, or fold?

There are, of course, many ways to make mistakes not mentioned here such as playing too many hands. We also haven’t mentioned mistakes related to lack of responsible gaming such as playing more than you can afford to lose or playing on tilt. Such mistakes are detailed more in my soon to be published book, Beyond Tells.

Filed under: Poker News