Poker Beginner Mistakes

Posted By admin On 10/04/22
Pokerteam articles 22
  1. Poker Beginner Mistakes Games
  2. Poker Beginner Mistakes
  3. Poker Beginner Mistakes Exercises
  4. Poker Beginner Mistakes Game
  5. Poker Beginner Mistakes Books

Learn the common poker mistakes made by beginners here. The Best Places to Play Poker When you decide to play poker, don’t just look for a local casino but look for a local casino that has special rooms to enjoy poker in or specialises in poker with lucrative poker tournaments for its members. 5 Major Mistakes of Beginner Poker Players Matt VIP. 4,050 Views. Comments. on 14/9/17 If you're just starting out with poker and you're looking to avoid some of the more popular pitfalls to poker with the present you with, here's a list of 5 major mistakes.

Poker Beginners Mistakes

In view of the fact that poker has become a trend it is understandable that so many new poker players can be found at online poker rooms and live poker tables. Everyday more and more novice poker players play for hours without realizing that they repeat the same mistakes, these are beginners mistakes and professional poker players have already learned how to deal with them but new players don't seem to grasp them. In this article you can learn what the common poker beginners mistakes are, also you would learn how to avoid them.

Starting Hands - The most common beginners mistake

The most common poker beginners mistake is not knowing what is a starting hand. For example a player can play Seven Card Stud without knowing which hands are the good starting hands and if fact he joins rounds with low-value hands such as 2-5-8, each card from a different suit. Such hand has little chance of improving during the game and there's no reason to enter a round with this kind of hand, but still, many beginners do this mistake over and over.

Poker Starting Limits Mistake

Another common poker beginners mistake is entering poker games with unsuitable betting limits. A novice player might join a $5-$10 poker game without the appropriate bankroll or the right poker skills.

New poker players must learn where to go with their bankroll. With an initial bankroll of $100 you'd rather go to a $1-$3 poker game than a $5-$10, where you can lose all your bankroll in few rounds.

Always find the suitable poker table for you, there's no use trying to play at a high-rollers table if you don't have the funds to back you up during loses, which do happen when playing poker.

Losing Patience

New poker player go through the same path as all other poker players and make the same beginners mistakes and along the way they lose their patience and they get emotionally involved in their game – another beginners mistake.

Poker Beginner Mistakes

It's common to lose few rounds in a row when one plays poker, even professional players may lose 4-10 rounds one after the other, but they don't get angry but they don't lose their focus on the game.

New poker players make this mistake easily – they lose few rounds, they lose their calmed spirit and they begin forget all they had learned. Getting emotionally involved in your game is one of the worst beginners mistakes.

Copying Other Poker Players' Moves

Another mistake beginners do all the time is copying other players' moves, without thinking twice. It happens so much at online poker rooms that you can't know where a lousy move have started from:

player A see player B do something, he copies it in another game and them player C copies it and so on. Don't copy moves of poker players without realizing why they did it and under what circumstances.

Even professional poker players might make a bad move and win only due to a burst of luck, so don't rush and copy poker moves without thinking.

Playing Too Much Poker

A common mistake is that can be easily avoided is that beginner poker players simply play for too many hours. This causes them to lose concentration without noticing it. Then they start making bad choices which they could easily avoid.

A professional poker players knows that he must rest before a game and he also knows when he's tiredness is harming his judgment. If you feel a bit tired – stop playing.

Online poker players are more exposed to overplay, they take it as recreational time – just sitting in front of the computer and playing 3-4 hours – 'that's nothing'. But the truth is that sitting in front of a computer for few hours isn't easy.

the human eyes aren't adjusted to sit for so long staring at the screen; our body needs some movement from time to time. Eventually, when one plays online poker he gets tired faster then live poker players due to the computerized environment of the game.

But don't worry, a small snack, a walk around the room, a few minutes rest or a glass of juice or water would spring you back into action.

Alcohol and Poker

Two things that would never mix together are alcohol and poker. While many players do enjoy a beer or drink when they play poker, the professional poker players knows better – they don't drink!

Alcohol affects our judgment easily; it makes us feel sleepy or it obscures our thoughts. Poker is a game of skills and when alcohol is involved your performance level declines. Just as in driving – poker needs to be play with a clear mind, with no alcohol running in the blood flow. So, in the next time you play poker turn down alcoholic drinks and you'll be able to focus better on the game.

Bluffing beyond Requirement

Many times beginners do mistakes that are way to obvious – they bluff more than they should. Bluffing is a skill used to deceive opponents but new poker players use too often so they actually burn their credibility.

When playing online poker it's a bit hard not to bluff since it's so easy, how can one avoid doing it when he's playing at home, without anyone being able to read his face? It's just too much tempting and the way to deal with it is simply to push it away. You must remember that bluffing is just one out of many poker skills you can use to win. Don't give bluffing too much weight in your poker game.

After reading this article take few minutes and try to remember if you ever did such mistakes, you may also play at online poker rooms and see if you learned enough to avoid the above mentioned poker mistakes.

David Gendam, Editorial Staff. 25th of January, 2005.


Everyone has to start somewhere and there's certainly no shame in being a beginner. Poker is a complicated game and newcomers are bound to make a lot of mistakes at the beginning of their journey. Some of those mistakes are fairly universal.

Between the proper strategy, execution of said strategy, mindset, and bankroll considerations there are many things that can simply go wrong and every oldtimer can attest to that.

If you're just starting out with poker and you're looking to avoid some of the more popular pitfalls to poker with the present you with, here's a list of 5 major mistakes of beginner poker players.

Poker Beginner Mistakes Games

Bankroll Management

Without the proper bankroll management, poker is just gambling. Just like you wouldn't bet everything you have on a single business investment, you shouldn't play with the entirety of your poker bankroll. This is a fairly basic poker principle that even most of the beginners are aware of, but just because you know that bankroll management is 'a thing' it doesn't mean you're out of the woods yet.

Even in 2017, it's still incredibly common to see the same bankroll recommendations that were around in 2006 where some basic common sense basically guaranteed a 10bb/100 win rate. 20 or 30 buy-ins per limit in cash games is not a suitable recommendation for a beginner as it's based on the old risk of ruin calculations made in the world where said 10bb/100 win rates were much more common.

Besides, no amount of buy-ins will prevent a beginner from going broke if his win rate is negative (which is most likely the case given that he's - well - a beginner) but airing on the side of caution can certainly soften the blow. No matter how well off financially you are outside of poker, and no matter how much you're willing to deposit in your poker account, start your poker journey at the lowest limit possible and make your way from there.

Beginner
Once you're reasonably sure that you can beat $2NL/$2PLO cash games or 1$ SNG's feel free to advance further.


Neglecting Education

Poker is a complicated game, and if you're convinced that the only thing you need to do to get good at it is to play it you might want to think again. It's true that depending on your personality you might be one of those lucky people who learn best 'on the job', but if your fundamentals are lacking you won't even be able to identify your own mistakes. If you're just starting out focus on honing your basic poker skills. Learn about starting hand selection, table dynamics, basic post flop lines, player profiling, odds and outs.

Instead of getting the feel for the games by playing the game, get it for free by watching coaching videos. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't play poker at all, it's just that for someone who's just starting out proper education to playtime ratio will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 or 4:1 and yet almost no one ever followed that advice. Do yourself a favor and be one of the few ones who do.

Starting your poker journey with a week of intensive study coupled with some sporadic play will ensure you a giant edge over other beginners.


Too Many Tables

Once you decide to hit the tables, make sure that you don't overwhelm yourself with the number of them. Most beginners actually start with one table, because that's what seems the most natural for them, but as soon as they learn that it's possible and even desirable to go past that number they promptly decide to double down on the idea.

The truth is that most of us - including the seasoned players - tend to overestimate our ability to multi-table and most of us would benefit from cutting the number of tables that we're currently playing on by one or two. Because of that, instead of doubling down, build your way up gradually.

Start adding table slowly as you feel more comfortable, monitor your win rate and be especially cautious around the four to eight mark.

Poker Beginner Mistakes


Fancy Play Syndrome

This is a classic. Beginner poker players are often hellbent on channeling their inner Tom 'durrrr' Dwan and showing the poker world 'how it's done'. Online micro stakes cash games are full of players acting like they're on the next season of the High Stakes Poker show. Don't be one of them. The reality of micro stakes is much more mundane than most players are willing to accept.

Even in 2017, a tight solid game is still what's going to make you the most money. Instead of slowplaying or check/raising every other hand, make sure that your cbets are profitable and that your turn and river ranges are strong. Don't rely on other players to build the pot for you, instead, go for a basic yet powerful bet, bet, bet lines with an obvious value bet worthy hands. Instead of going for giant overbet bluffs, go for small, precise thin river bets.

Poker Beginner Mistakes Exercises

Discipline trumps flair every time so act accordingly.

Poker Beginner Mistakes Game


Falling Victim of Their Own Ego

This is somewhat tied to the last point but it concerns more of the mental side of things. The reason why many players tend to favor fancy play over strong fundamentals is their ego. Our need to feel superior isn't exactly compatible with the harsh and volatile reality of poker. Variance doesn't care about how brilliant your slow play was nor does it concern itself with your self-image. It just is and you should be the one adjusting to it because the other way around is simply impossible. The truth is that you don't have to be the next Dalai Lama to beat NL10.

Poker Beginner Mistakes Books

If you're just starting out learning proper strategy should be your bread and butter. However, you should try to beat the basic mental issues that poker reveals to the punch. Most of the beginner players learn about the importance of the proper poker mindset once they encounter severe issues. To remedy that basic mistake, include some books or articles about the mental game in your training regiment.

This shouldn't constitute the bulk of your education, treat it more like a precaution that will prevent you from falling victim to one of the most devastating beginner mistakes.