1. Playing too many hands

An early lesson in poker is to realize that most hands you are dealt should fold. I know an amateur player who turns to me and says: You have to play the hand you’re dealt, why fold? I was surprised and soon got them right. However, there are many beginners who seem to ignore this basic rule.

They will call with ace-rag out of position, even call a raise with it, play two suited cards, or even any image card. You can get away with playing loose like this in a game of No Limit Hold’em, but you must have strong post-flop skill to pull it off.

Depends on the situation, most of the time you’re just looking to play premium hands like big pocket pairs and very strong aces. Just fold the rest.

2. Don’t fold mediocre hands

After the flop has appeared, amateur players find it very difficult to let go of marginal hands. Suppose they hit middle pair or top pair with a top kicker, they’ll have a hard time putting it down. It’s a crazy situation to still be involved in a pot with a top pair when there are flush and straight draws on the board and players are betting like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve seen people play online when they see their hole cards all the way to the river even though the board is paired, AND there are 4 flushes on the board, AND a straight draw. They just didn’t flop their top pair.

The best hand on the flop may not always be the best hand on the river. Play it safe and don’t be afraid to get out if the action heats up and you have a marginal hand.

A good way to look at it is to look at the board and think, “What two cards could my opponent have to beat me?” If you can narrow it down to one or at most two hole card games, you should be pretty confident to keep playing. If you have to say to yourself “I hope I don’t have X, Y, Z, A, B, or C…” then you really should think about quitting. The more combinations of cards your opponent can have that beat your hand, the more likely he is to have one of them. If there are only one or possibly two card combinations that beat you, he continues to play but with caution. Bet or raise to get feedback on how good his hand is. If they fold you win the pot, if they raise you they probably beat you.

There is no shame in folding. Remember, especially in a tournament, poker scores are based on the player who loses the fewest chips.

3. Betting less than the pot

In no-limit Texas Holdem you can bet as much as you want from your stack to protect your hand. You should use this to your advantage. On the other hand, weaker and inexperienced players tend to bet small amounts like $30 into a $500 pot. This type of betting gives good players fantastic pot odds to call and suck on the river because of the money they can win relative to the cost of seeing another card. A bet of around 75% of the pot is enough to discourage players in a push. Any bet below half the pot is usually not enough.

4. On betting the pot

It’s an easy mistake for amateurs to make. They make a half-decent hand and the adrenaline kicks in and they decide to overbet the pot by injecting $300 into a $90 pot, or they move all in before the flop for 1500 in a sit-n-go while the blinds are still 15. / 30. The problem with doing this is that it causes hands weaker than yours to fold, while hands stronger than yours call. By over betting the pot, you will either win a small pot or lose a big one. It is clearly not the optimal approach to playing poker.

5. Ignore position

Knowledge is power in the game of no limit hold em. The more information you have about the betting round, the better position you will be in acting on this information. Playing hands under the gun means that if you bet, you could be facing a massive re-raise from late position. You could check after the flop hoping for a check raise, but instead you would find the entire table checking after you. If you’re playing from late position, you have the ability to see what the rest of the table is doing before you act.

Hobbyist players will often ignore position and play a certain set of hands regardless of position. you should play only premium hands in early position, and then widen your range of starting hands the later your position becomes. TJ’s plays poorly from UTG but very well from late position.

6. Not protecting your hand

Many hobby players are guilty of playing too passively. They will simply check or call unless they are 100% sure they have the best hand, in which case they will raise. By not betting or not raising, you will make it easier for your opponents to call you that they would otherwise have folded. If you find yourself up against a tight passive player, raise more often than usual and you can end up winning lots of small pots.

7. Chase Unprofitable Giveaways

Playing a draw hand will only be as good as the value of the pot you are trying to win. You should always fold if someone makes a bet where you no longer get the correct pot odds to call. Amateur players make the mistake of ignoring these odds and will call all the way to the river hoping to hit. They may not even understand pot odds or know what they are.

As frustrating as it is when cute players like these suck on the river, you have to remember that they are playing bad, unprofitable poker and will end up losing more money than they win. Just make sure you’re in the pot when they lose.

8. Poor battery management

Hobbyists often neglect their stack size when it comes to playing holdem. If you’re playing a cash game, you should always have around 20 big blinds to capitalize on your monster hands. If you’re running short, recharge your stack. There’s no point in staying with £50 in a £5/£10 cash game just to flop quads the next hand and lose a huge pot. If you are playing a freezeout tournament, you should stop calling before the flop when you are between 10 times the big blind (worrying) and 5 times the big blind (critical). There is no other option than to go all-in with any ace, pocket pair, suited connectors or any hand under the pistol.

You are looking to have enough chips to maximize your big hands or to stay alive in tournament situations. Bad players will call hands when their stack is 5 to 10 x BB. Good players will push everything in. Bad players won’t reload their chips in a cash game, good players will.

9. Adapting your style

There is a big difference between playing cash games and playing tournaments. In cash games you have to be prepared to put your entire stack on the line when you know you are going to win more times than you lose, when you have a positive expected value (+EV). If you lose, you can reload. In a tournament, you have to be more protective of your stack, because if it goes, you’re out of the game. There are many other subtle levels, but these are the fundamental differences between the two games. Bad players are those who do not adapt their game accordingly and play tournament strategy in a cash game and cash strategy in a tournament game.

10. Trying to imitate the pros

The generation of poker players emerging today are those who grew up watching it on television. People have their favorite poker players that they have seen bluff big and just talk for the talk. Amateur gamers seem to mimic these actions to appear more professional. However, they don’t realize that on TV they are only seeing edited highlights. Not every hand is a monster raise, trap, or bluff; in fact, most of the time it’s one player who raises with a genuine hand and everyone else folds. Unfortunately, this is the least interesting side of poker, but it (should) account for a large majority of your game.

We have a generic nickname for these types of players at the table. Those who come with the glasses, the cap, the iPod, talking about how other players must have played their hands, talking nonsense. The nickname given is “The Whole Team, Clueless”. Make sure you can spot these players if they’re at your table, and more importantly, make sure you’re not one of them!