Common mistakes to avoid when playing No Limit Texas Holdem
1. Early Position Raise : One of the biggest
mistakes I see players make is not respecting
someone who raises in early position. Remember
he has another 8 people after him at the table
who he has to fade, so chances are that he is
holding a big hand.
2. When you have the nuts and someone betting
into you : I was watching a friend of mine play
a poker tournament online, and although he made
several mistakes that I corrected him on, the
biggest mistake he made was pushing someone out
of the pot by reraising him on the turn when he
should have slow-played the hand. Let me give you
the scenario. My friend Mike was dealt 10-hearts
and K-hearts. Someone raises preflop and there
are 4 callers including Mike. On the flop came
K-diamonds, 10-diamonds, K-spades. Yes, he
flopped the dead nuts. The first player checks,
the second player who was the original preflop
raiser bets $100. Next player reraises $100, the
third and fourth players fold, lastly its up to
Mike. He just called the bet which was the
proper play. Next card on the turn was 3-spades,
no help to anyone. Original player in first
position bets $200, second player calls, and
what does Mike do, raises the pot $600 and the
other 2 players drop out. You need to ask
yourself "What am I trying to accomplish with
this bet." What was Mike trying to do, make
everyone fold. Number one he already has the
dead nuts and he has position. So it is
imperative to give the other players an
opportunity to catch their card. The proper play
was to continue letting the player bet into you,
then take him off on the river. He might be
holding 2 diamonds and hit his 3rd diamond on
the river and you could have taken all his
chips. You want those players to get so
committed to the pot that they simply cant lay
down their 2 pair or their flush or their set.
Remember in no limit poker you can always raise
the pot or even go all in on the river so its
really quite simple. If your playing NL Holdem
and someone is betting into you when you have
the dead nuts and are in position, let him
continue betting into you and do the raise on
the river as to maximize any chance you have at
getting most or all of his chips.
3. Protect Your Hand: Don't give players an
opportunity to draw out on you, make them pay
for it. If your holding top pair and there is
flush or straight potential, don't let them get
any free cards to draw out on you with. Make a
good size bet and you should thin the herd.
4. Thin The Herd: If your holding an average
hand, say pocket 10s and there have been no
preflop bets yet,, go ahead and make a bet, I
prefer to triple the pot. You certainly don't
want the guy next to you who has King Deuce to
hit his King on the flop and beat you. Your bet
should thin the heard down and will lesson your
chances of getting out drawn.
5. Chip Lead: Listen people, if you have the
chip lead tighten up a little. There is no sense
in getting involved in too many pots. I see it
all too often. A player has the chip lead and
starts getting involved in every pot. . Then he
catches one of his cards and gets committed to
the pot and ends up losing 20% of his chip stack
to the pocket rockets. You want to hold on to
the chip lead folks, so try to avoid getting
involved in too many pots unless your in
position and you can see the flop for cheap.
Simply let the other players on short stack weed
themselves out and you will find yourself at the
final table. I am not saying play scared, just
play smart and don't risk a large amount of
chips unless you have the pot odds to do so or
you have a pat hand.
6. Common Sense: Common sense supersedes all the
advice given to me over the years. Use your head
for crying out loud. My friend Mike was on the
big blind and there were no raises preflop, so
he got to see the flop for free. There were 7
people in the hand and the flop comes A-hearts,
K-diamonds, -10-diamonds, now Mike was holding
crap, 6-7 off suit. Well nobody bets and it
comes around to Mike and he triples the pot. It
goes around the table and one guy calls, another
raises, then another goes all in. Of course Mike
folds but common sense tells me with a flop like
that everyone got a piece of it, whether its a
gut shot straight or 4 to a flush or just top or
second pair. My experience has been that usually
players discard their low cards and stay in with
their big cards or pocket pairs. When a big flop
like that comes up common sense tells me when
there are 7 other people in the pot that a few
if not all of them caught some part of that
flop. What a horrible time to try to buy one.
Chalk another mullet move up to Mike.
7. Play like a champion: Try to imagine yourself
at the WSOP final table playing for 1.5 million.
Then ask yourself how would Doyle Brunson play
the hand. Take your time and you will probably
make the right call. Remember skill will only
get you so far, you also have to be lucky and
not get too many bad beats to snap a big
tournament off so don't get discouraged if you
made the right play and lost the hand. If you
played the hand like Doyle would have played the
hand and you get a bad beat, well that's just
part of poker so you might as well get used to
it now.
8. SURVIVAL . Your goal of course is to snap the
tournament off, but your first priority should
be to get into the money. Just use your head and
play smart.
9. Study Your Opponents: Study your opponents
and make note of their tendencies. For example,
if you have a player that calls just about
anything, obviously it would not be wise to try
to steal a pot against him as he will probably
call you with his low pair. Conversely, if you
have a player like that and you have a strong
hand, bet more than you normally would as you
will probably get a call out of him unlike if
your playing against a good player that would
probably fold his average hand.
10 . Realize The Amount Of Players Left In The
Tournament And Where They Stand In The Money: If
your in a tournament that pays the top 9 places
and you have 11 people left in the tournament,
this may be a good time to steal a couple of
pots if your in position. They are trying to get
into the money and wont risk their chips unless
they have a premium hand. On the other hand,
once everyone is in the money, if your going to
play a hand make sure it is one where you are
willing to risk a large part of your chip stack
on. My experience is when it gets down to the
money players, you see many people on the short
stack going all in so although it may be
tempting to play that 9-10 suited, it may not be
a hand you want to risk a large amount of chips
on.
