5 Errors Rookie Poker Players Should Avoid
Poker is a game of skill and a sharp mind. A lot of you may be interested in the game, practicing it, or still grappling with the basics. At Khelplay, India’s best free poker games site, you can spend hours on end understanding the game as you play. While excelling in poker requires thorough practical training and a lot of learning, there is some unlearning that needs to be looked into as well. If you’re a fresher in this game, more likely than not you must be making almost the same mistakes as most other rookies. This can cost you dearly, especially when playing real money poker online. Here are a few such cardinal errors that you must stop making right now.
Sitting in the wrong position
As a new entrant in the world of poker, it is crucial that you play safe right from the beginning. One significant factor here would be the place where you sit at the table. In various poker games, such as Pot Limit Omaha and Texas Hold’em, your position vis-à-vis that of the button’s is a strong determinant of how you could fare in the game.Always look to sit in a late position, i.e. farther away from the button in the clockwise direction. This way, you will have more time at hand to observe your opponents’ moves and decide accordingly on yours.
Getting overwhelmed
Anything that one is new at can be overwhelming; more so if it involves money. When under pressure while playing real money poker as a newbie, there is ample scope for hasty and wrong decisions. This inadvertently results in losses and a lot of heartaches. To avoid being in such a dire situation, it is highly advisable that you shed your nervousness and apprehensions when at the table, think with a clear mind, and make the most appropriate decisions in the rounds. Simply put, emotions have no place in a game of poker.
Playing more than needed
Just because you’re at the table does not mean you have to play all the time. As a beginner, it is more important to learn the game than to win. Observation is key here. Although you are expected to get on a game of poker knowing the rules, practical application is equally important.As a newbie, stick to playing only strong hands initially, such as AA, KQ, AK, etc., and observehow the early-position opponents play their starting hands. Until the time you are confident of playing weak starting hands, just stay mum, observe, play little, and learn more.
Not planning your money
A very common mistake that rookies make is reserving more moneythan they can afford for poker. The most logical thing for a novice to do is to understand the game in and out before playing serious, real money poker. Thereafter, one should move on to playing with very little money and learning merely by observation. Playing huge amounts of cash is something that should happen much later. And, one should have cash dedicated solely for this purpose—called bankroll—without having to touch the money required for everyday needs. Planning one’s finances when spending on poker is imperative to avoid possible regrets in the future. One must never find oneself in a ‘couldhave,’ ‘shouldhave’ situation in case of a miserable loss in a game.
Mismatching bets
Knowing how much a hand is worthhelps in deciding how much you can win in a game of poker. Many a time, newbies mismatch their bets with their hands and end up winning less than what their handsare worth or losing more in the process of overvaluing weak hands.Learn to analyze different hands and your chances of winning if you play them. Accordingly, take decisions to call, raise, re-raise, or simply fold. To be able to judge well the worth of hands requires practice and keen observation. So, keep at it and learn.
