Beginners mistakes

mewso

I'm writing an article on common mistakes in play the beginner makes. Thought I'd ask here what ye thought in case I miss something. My list would be something like this:-

1. Any Ace Syndrome - Calling with Ax in any position, particularly in early position.
2. My Hand and nobody elses - not considering what the opponent might have.
3. Overbetting - all-in to take the blinds. We've all seen it.
4. Who needs a book - not cast in iron but surely you must get a grounding and a good book on the subject is the way to go.
5. The "agressive because Daniel is" factor - being agressive because that feller on the telly is. He just happens to be a might bit better than you.
6. Odds Shmodds - the pot looked big and his bet was only only 5 times it. Worth a gamble.

Culchie

Too much bluffing

Not having correct bankroll, all the eggs in one basket.

Giving free cards to people when they have the best hand (guilty)

Hitman Actual

Connected to the Ax thingy is overplaying hands like KT, QJ etc.

allin-king

don't forget the people who won't fold AJ to raise and a re raise and also usually beginners play way to many hands and have a habit of check calling rather than raising or folding

Lafortezza

Kickers are important.

The_Bullman

calling the bb with trash and floping a straight/flush draw - then calling until the river (against the odds) hoping to make it

Dub13

Not been able to spot a flush or straight.

Not been able to lay down big hands

Hectorjelly

Misplaced optimism is most players biggest downfall, if there is any chance at all of their hand winning they will call any bet.

OhPinchy

Overestimating the value of suited cards – you wouldn’t call with 82o UTG so should you really call with 82s?

Getting away from a high pocket pair when you get a dangerous flop (i.e. a flush is clearly on so ya gotta say goodbye to them bullets).

Not raising enough – when you’re a complete beginner the tendency is to limp rather than raise (separate to the ‘playing too many hands’ issue).

How much to bet/raise when you have a decent hand that wants callers, and also when you want to take down the pot right away.

Don’t think that everyone else is bluffing every time – calling them every time just to keep them honest will cost dearly.

Lenny, I’m only a relative novice myself and reckon I fall into the trap of thinking any decent blackjack hand is a good hand (e.g. KJo) - what are the pros and cons of these hands and which ones are good (e.g. is JTs as good as some people say it is)?

NickyOD

- Having no respect for a big reraises with hands like A10-AQ/88-JJ and paying off monsters. In other words incapable of laying down a good hand preflop.

-Not betting enough and giving oponents correct odds to outdraw them.

-Overplaying TPTK

-Incapable of adapting to a shorthanded game

-Not defending blinds with marginal hands when they have correct implied odds to call and see a flop instead of folding. (Playing too tight)

-Unable to change gears in tournaments or HU. i.e. recognising when consolidation is more important than chip accumulation.

-Not recognising the importance of position. i.e. betting on a dangerous flop with a marginal hand when first to act.

-Incapable of feigning weakness, not knowing the importance of value betting big made hands. "I HAVE QUADS. I'M ALL IN". I once played with a guy who moved all in for about 10 times the pot with A6 on a flop AA66 and did the same a few minutes later with JJ on a flop TTJ. The second time it was met by guffaws of laughter from the table and he was totally confused. "Wah?, Oi wun didn't Oi?" :rolleyes:

Samba

Limping in with AA, KK thinking you are very clever calling an all in on the river to a board which 4 people saw

NickyOD

Samba wrote:

Limping in with AA, KK thinking you are very clever calling an all in on the river to a board which 4 people saw

Oh **** yeah, NEVER miss the oportunity to raise, reraise with Aces. Always look for isolation. I started counting how many times I've seen them slowplayed on Bodog and I'm up to 7 in a row.

Dave

I've only been playing seriously about 6 weeks, and my biggest flaw is not being able to throw down big hands.

Imposter

musician wrote:

I'm writing an article on common mistakes in play the beginner makes. Thought I'd ask here what ye thought in case I miss something.

How hard can this be, just write about how you play and get someone else to write how it should have been done.

My only suggestion:
- raising with 36 suited preflop and expecting to win when you flop 2-pair.

Edit (thought of a serious suggestion!):
- Keep proper records of wins and losses.

Amaru

Not folding when you don't have a hand by the flop. If you get a free turn or river, by all means take it, but if you're calling and you don't have ANY hand with 5 cards, what makes you think you'll have a spectacular one with 2 more? This is the mistake i've most seen beginners make.

Hitman Actual

OhPinchy wrote:

Lenny, I’m only a relative novice myself and reckon I fall into the trap of thinking any decent blackjack hand is a good hand (e.g. KJo) - what are the pros and cons of these hands and which ones are good (e.g. is JTs as good as some people say it is)?

My take on these hands is that you often make a decent second-best hand that can be very difficult to get away from. In the better games, you're always going to have kicker problems, and if you're calling raises with these cards then there's a big chance that you're dominated.

I'm not saying that you should never play these hands, but it takes a good player to be able to play them without potentially losing a lot of chips in a tournament, or your whole stack in a cash game. Personally, I'm not good at playing these hands.

I'm not sure about the fascination with JTs. Fair enough, you'll always have the nut straight but a J-high flush is vulnerable. At the end of the day it's just a suited connector, and I think you should play it the same as any other suited connector.