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Pokerteam articles 22

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.

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.

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