Texas Holdem Poker

Many beginning players will take up Texas Holdem Poker and then wonder why they do not win. They see what looks like a simple game on television and then they try to play the game and find out that they are just donating money to the game. Let’s take a look today at a few leaks in a beginner’s game that can lead to frequent disaster.

First, many beginning players play too many hands. This sounds worn and cliché but many players don’t get what this means. Always playing two face cards or any ace is a sign of someone playing too many hands. You should be sticking to a tight aggressive strategy when you begin as a new player. Otherwise, your bankroll will take massive downswings.

Next, many poker players will overvalue their hand in Holdem. A great example would be someone that has pocket aces and the board has three spades on it. The player bets their hand big because they have aces and continues to push the hand when their opponent raises back at them. In this case, they are behind to a flush and will lose the hand. Another example is someone that commits a good sized stack with A-K. A-K is a good hand, but it is still a drawing hand. Sometimes a player will push and get called by an inferior hand. Most times they will be in a race situation.

The most common leak that you will see in new beginning players is tilting. The player picks up pocket kings and then gets outdrawn by A-5 or some other marginal hand. They then out of frustration or anger start playing any garbage hand. This spells disaster and devastates more beginner bankrolls that players would like to admit.

Another leak that is seen way too often is known as “playing TV poker.” This partially goes along with playing too many hands, but it involves a little more. There are players that will watch TV and then try to imitate the same moves or play the same types of hands they see players such as Gus Hansen play. They don’t understand the strategy behind the moves that they have seen or even the hands that led up to the play.

Sometimes players will be hyper-aggressive with their betting because they see other players bully players around. They then get a rude awakening when someone wakes up with a hand or someone with a decent hand decides to look them up. These same players will also make ill-timed bluffs or will frequently bluff just for the sake of bluffing.

While some of the above leaks seem elementary in nature, so many players make them that it bear mentioning. If you are a new player, take note and try to keep from making these mistakes when you sit down to play your next game of Holdem.