I love that learning to play poker is simple, but being a very good player is challenging. Players who think correctly and delve into strategies are rewarded with simpler decisions and greater profits. Nevertheless, poker gives us many opportunities to make mistakes.
Since pre-flop play in poker is especially important, I think it would be useful to discuss the 12 most common mistakes that are typical not only for beginners but also for professionals. I always notice when players make these mistakes, and almost everyone can correct them by slightly changing their game.
Mistake 1 – Limping
Starting the game with a limp when no one before you has limped or raised is a bad strategy for many reasons:
- You don't have the opportunity to win the pot pre-flop
Unlike raising, limping is a passive action that doesn't give you the chance to win the pot pre-flop. There is already dead money in the pot (big blind and small blind), but by limping, you are not aiming to take it yourself.
- Your limping makes life easier for your opponents
Your limp puts opponents who act after you in a very good situation. There is an extra blind in the pot, which encourages the player to at least call or raise and play for the pot with a positional advantage, knowing that your hand is not the best.
As the number of players in the pot increases, the chances of winning it decrease. This is definitely not the situation you want to find yourself in. Moreover, by limping, you will often face aggression from other players who will exploit the fact that you are playing with less than optimal hands or will raise because they have a hand they would play the same way regardless of whether you limp or not.
Even if you balance and include not only weak but also the best hands in your limp range, you will get less value than you expect. It is better to try to extract as much value as possible pre-flop with strong hands, while choosing to limp strong hands for balance often ends very unexpectedly.
Note: Limping can sometimes be justified. It is acceptable to limp when another person limps before you, and you hold a hand that is too weak to raise but too good to fold. You can limp with hands that play well in multi-way pots and can catch the strongest combinations post-flop.
Mistake 2 – Lack of understanding of positions
The second often observed mistake is that players do not associate positions with range. Your position should influence the hands you play.
The more players act after you, the narrower your range should be. The likelihood of encountering a strong hand increases with the number of players who will act. Also, opening from early position will more often result in playing without a positional advantage, further reducing the chances of winning the pot with a marginal hand. If you open too wide from early positions, it will be hard to defend and you will be easily exploitable. Your range should widen as you approach the BTN position. In late positions, players have an advantage over the blinds, who often defend against late position opens.
Mistake 3 – Playing too passively against raises
Playing passively against opens, just calling and very rarely 3-betting, can be the biggest and most common mistake at low stakes. It's hard to believe how often players just call with strong hands instead of 3-betting. Whether you do it to set a trap for your opponent or out of fear of playing big pots, choosing to just call instead of 3-betting with strong hands is a mistake for several reasons:
- By just calling, you miss out on value
By 3-betting with strong hands, you extract more value from your opponents by inflating the pot early in the hand.
- 3-betting protects against playing post-flop against multiple players
As shown in the example with AK below, the equity of strong hands decreases significantly when many players are involved in the hand. By 3-betting, you often force players out of the pot and play post-flop heads-up. Thus, you protect your equity and increase the chances of revealing the best hand at the end. Let's look at an example with AKs/Ako (click on the picture to enlarge):
Against three players, AK has 30.41% equity. So, in a multi-way pot, AK has only a 30% chance of being the best hand at showdown. How does the situation change if only two players are playing for the pot?
By eliminating two players from the fight, AK's equity rises to almost 60%. So, playing against just one opponent who raised and called a 3-bet from MP2, AK is strongly ahead with 60%. The example clearly shows the benefits of 3-betting and why just calling with strong hands can lead to problems.
There are a few things to know when 3-betting pre-flop. Your 3-betting range should not consist only of the strongest hands. If you 3-bet only the strongest hands, you will be easily predictable, and your opponents will call only with the best hands. By including hands with which you bluff (hands that have a lot of equity against the opponent's call range), you will make it harder for your opponent to fight against your strategy.
Don't forget to associate the strength of your opponent's range with their position when 3-betting, be cautious, and determine if you are really 3-betting for value.
Just calling with a wide range can sometimes be a smart decision when you are in late positions, especially BTN. More about this in the section Mistake 7.
Mistake 4 – Playing too narrowly from the BB position
Most players defend the big blind too rarely, especially against SB opens. This position allows you to act last pre-flop and very often you get very good pot odds to see the flop. From this position, you can play much wider than from others.
Let's look at a specific situation:
$5/$10 cash game, effective stack size $1000.
Our hero is in the BB position.
Everyone folds to the SB, SB raises to $25, what should the hero do?
Against a 2.5x open, we need about 30% pure equity to continue playing profitably. Adding the fact that we will play post-flop in position against the SB, we can (and should) defend the BB very often.
Mistake 5 – Raising with too wide (or too narrow) a range from the BTN position
BTN is the most valued position in poker. When you are in this position, you always act last post-flop, giving you an advantage over other players as you have more information. Also, from this position, you can pressure the BB and SB when all players before you decide to fold, thus stealing the dead money in the pot. However, many players tend to raise with too many hands or, conversely, too few.
New poker strategies include aggressive play from the SB and BB positions. So, raising too often from the BTN can provoke 3-bets from the blinds. This or similar leaks in your game will slowly but steadily cause losses to your profit, so be careful and don't overuse opens from the BTN. (Note: this is a problem more often encountered by online players; in live poker, players are less inclined to play aggressively from the SB and BB).
The opposite can also be true; some players play too narrowly from the BTN. Due to the positional advantage and the opportunity to take dead money, both opening from the BTN and 3-betting other players is very effective. If you don't take advantage of such situations, your winnings will definitely be lower.
Your opening percentage should be about 40%-70%, depending on the players who are in the SB and BB positions at that time. The wider and more often the blinds 3-bet, the narrower you should open. If the blinds are not aggressive and play few hands, don't defend, be more aggressive and steal their invested money!
Mistake 6 – Playing too narrowly from the SB when players fold to you
When all players fold to you, you often need to raise. Many players make the mistake of not doing this due to the unfavorable SB position (we don't have a positional advantage over the BB). Nevertheless, there are two main reasons why this strategy is profitable:
- You have a great chance to steal the dead money in the pot (1.5bb), and being in the SB, it costs you little (approximately 2.25 – 2.5 bb), you can do this very often until the BB starts 3-betting you.
Many players choose to limp when playing from the SB or play very narrowly against the BB. Against some opponents, this choice is wise, but often raising is a more effective strategy.
Translated from: https://www.upswingpoker.com/7-poker-mistakes-to-avoid-at-all-cost/
