The Ten Biggest Mistakes a Poker Player Makes

[ashmc2]

Another few

- Being too impulsive (not putting your opponent on a range of hands before making a decision.)

- Not betting the right amount (to achieve what you wanted from your opponent. Did you want him to draw or not?)

[Nikita]

Not being aware of what type of opponent you are against. For example don't bluff a calling station or be cautious when in a pot with a rock who raised preflop.

[Akverno]

Worrying about the wrong player in a hand. There have been times when I've been seated perfectly, just to the right of the donkey, and I'll be raising his bets on fourth street when out of nowhere the CO or Button raises my raise and I wasn't paying enough attention to know where I'm at. Maybe this is just a rookie mistake, but the other day I lost a few big pots while holding a strong hand not thinking as much about the "other" guy in the pot and I cost myself quite a few BB over the course of an hour or so.

[Zybomb]

So far the ones that stand that have been mentioned

5- Emotional Control (Big time)

6- Not playing aggressive enough (which has to be clearly distinguished from playing reckless)

7- Assigning your own thought process to other players (also giving players too much credit or not enough credit)

8- Not paying enough attention to your opponents (Not picking up on tendancies, habbits and playing styles of your opponents)

9- Not adjusting your play according to reads you have on your opponent (This goes beyond, dont bluff a calling station and don't call down a Rock...it goes to things like, this player pays people off big time=start playing more suited connectors, one gappers, small pairs, suited aces and other hidden hands even if [maybe especially] this player has open raised. If you have AK and flop an ace, he's likely to pay off with ace jack, don't check the river when he's called your first two bets, value bet etc)

10- not putting your opponent on a range of hands before making a decision (playing too much level 1 poker and not enough level 2)

These can fill the empty 6 spots, and I plan on having 1 bonus which will be on Table Selection.

are 7 8 and 9 too closely related is my first question

Are there any of these (and my original 4) listed that someone feels is not that big of a common mistake?

Is there anything I could be missing?

TP, JD, (and others) feel free to chime in also.......

The bankroll issue is important, but Im focusing on the actual part of the game here more than the overall picture. Some of the responses were too basic (i.e the slowplaying one) and some were too specific to be top ten overall mistakes.

I also thought of another which would make 11 (if accepted) that has to do with losing too much money drawing against a made hand. (even with odds but low implied odds, not taking turn bets into consideration when calling on the flop, drawing with a medium sized draw etc)

Do you think this one would trump any of the 10 I have listed?

Or something about Betting proper amounts and understanding the different reasons for betting (isolation, value, bluff, denying odds etc) and adjusting your betting amounts accordingly

Would either of these two rank up there?

All responses are appreciated

If there are no objections (or additional mistakes, which Im still looking for) within the next day or so, Im going to start a poll up in a new thread asking people to rank in order these mistakes based on certain criteria (how commonly it occurs, how big of an effect it has, etc)

[Talking Poker]

What a great thread. Sorry I'm late to the party....

For me, the answer is a very simple and specific one. I don't know if it's worthy of the overall list, but for limit players, this is HUGE (literally the difference between being a winning player and a losing player a lot of times):

-Betting the river with a medium strength hand when first to act. CHECK AND CALL, CHECK AND CALL.

Also, another huge one for limit poker:

-Calling too often on the turn; Folding too often on the river. We all know what pot odds are, but SO MANY people obviously don't understand them and how they apply when making that river decision. If you are getting 10:1 or better against just one oppponent on the river, I'll go so far as to say it is almost never correct to fold, unless you have a completely busted draw.... Calling with Ace high, and certainly any pair is often the correct play, even though it "feels" like you are losing so many showdowns. Remember, you only need to win 10% of them for that call to be correct!

Another small one (not Top 10 worthy, probably):

-Drawing to the sucker end of a straight (or any other situation where you have high negative implied odds). Even if the "pot odds" tell you calling is correct, your negative implied odds often greatly outweight the pot odds, and make drawing -EV.

I also think the bankroll management is HUGE.... Maybe lump it in with Emotional Control, but it has to be in there somewhere.

[2Tone]

Playing until it is 'all gone.'

Often I’ll be at a 3/6 limit live game, and will watch players either lose a few big pots or slowly bleed away their chips, and end up sitting there with less than $20. Rather than reload or walk away with what is left, they keep going, and 90% of the time end up losing that as well on an all-in, or, best case scenario, fail to make as much as they could have when they finally do catch a hand.

[lightfungus]

I think these things can be tied together into one point (almost). I find myself at this stage in my game struggling with correct bet amounts. I don't have as much trouble knowing when to bet, but more, well nevermind, yes when to bet as well, but not right out of the gate with hole cards or anything. Its like betting on the river when you are only gonna get called or reraised and get yourself put in a difficult situiation, that kind of thing. This is one of my biggest areas for improvement right now. It's the over EV of certain situations that is the issue I think.

[sjay2k]

Speaking of table selection, I found this 6-max table today.

Quite possibly the fishiest table I've ever seen (although it was only a 2/4 table)