When we start out, we often make mistakes. New drivers make plenty of mistakes. Cooks and chefs add too much salt or pepper or overcook the entree. Poker players also make a few beginners’ mistakes. Let’s see if we can learn how to avoid these mistakes.
Going to Higher Stakes Too Soon
This is one of the most common beginners’ mistakes in poker. Online poker at Juicy Stakes has so many options that many new players feel that playing at low stakes doesn’t give them the juicy poker they are looking for.
We say that playing at lower stakes is the best way to learn a lot about poker at very little if any cost. Poker is a complex game and there is a lot to learn. So, even though the game can be boring at low stakes, we suggest that you channel the boredom into close attention to detail and promoting a sense of satisfaction that you are staying within the bounds of your skill level even though the financial level is well beneath your means!
Playing above Your Financial Means
Many new poker players decide to go to higher stakes games and discover that they are losing money that they really can’t afford to lose. The point here is that the stakes may not be too high if viewed in a vacuum but since players who move up to higher stakes too soon often don’t have the skill level to play at those stakes, they find themselves losing too much money.
Play Aggressively and Passively
This does not mean to play in a passive-aggressive manner. That is a serious condition in the psyches of some people and it is not what we mean here!
We mean, on the one hand, that if you play too aggressively, you will end up playing too many hands, you will bluff too often, you will stay in hands that you should be folding out of after the flop or the turn, and in the end, you lose money.
On the other hand, we also mean that if you play too passively, everyone will know that you have a solid hand whenever you stay in a hand! You do have to learn to bluff some of the time! There is a bluff on almost every hand in poker! You have to become a bluffer in order to have a chance to win some sizable pots.
Understand Your Opponents at Low Stakes Poker
The people who play poker in general but most especially those who play low stakes poker can be put into any of three categories:
- The players who don’t care about getting better, are happy to play for fun at low stakes, can afford to lose at every session, and really have no idea what they are doing at the poker table. These players are well aware of the fact that they are not good poker players and don’t care.
- This category has many of the same characteristics as the first category but we have to add that these players often see themselves as being good players! Not only are they not good players but they are profoundly unaware of the fact!
- These are players who take poker seriously, are playing at low stakes because they know that they have a lot to learn and want to learn it all at as low cost as possible. These players study and strive mightily to improve.
Where are You and What Does it Mean
If you are anywhere in the third category, you should be able to win money regularly from any player who fits into either the first or the second category. You have to feel out your opponents to find out who, if any, in this session, fits into the third category. These players are ones to be wary of. They may be quite far along in their poker education and may be better at all of the many nuances than you are!
Playing Too Long
In all forms of sports and athletics, we know that we have to start a training program slowly. If you want to start running for exercise, you should start with a very short run for a few days at least. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for shin splints or planter fasciitis which would set you back many days if not weeks.
The same applies to poker. One of the many things that new poker players need to develop is stamina. It is easy to get too tired to make sound decisions as a new poker player. We always recommend playing in relatively short sessions but a two-hour session might be short for an experienced player while it would be wildly too long for a new player!
Ignoring Poker Math
We understand that most people don’t enjoy math! We also know that rudimentary knowledge of poker math is essential to your being able to win more often than you lose. Even if math is hard for you, you really should take the time and make the effort to learn some basic poker math.
Understand the Importance of Position
When you bet in early position, you are opening yourself up to facing better hands ahead of you! On the other hand, we also have said that if you fold too often, your opponents will be able to read you like a book when you do bet in early position.
The bottom line is that studying poker for beginners means a lot of reading, watching videos, and practicing understanding a give hand, in a given position, against given opponents. It is quite similar to the practice of chess players who study positions. They may move a lowly pawn one square over but that can change the position dramatically.
The same happens in poker and you need to learn enough to become aware of such situations.
Avoid Self-recrimination
As good as Phil Helmuth is at poker, he has never learned to divorce his emotions from the game. He also is quite leery of blaming himself for a misplay. As a result, he tends to blame either blind luck, which means that he played the hand correctly but got unlucky, or he will blame his opponent.
Since he knows that professional opponents know what has just happened on the hand, he can’t blame them but he can certainly blame amateurs who usually don’t really know what happened on the hand!
The bottom line is: don’t blame anyone for a lost hand! If you made a mistake somewhere in the play of the hand, let it be a learning experience. No recriminations against opponents and no self-recrimination!
Play Poker Online at Juicy Stakes
We are a big online poker room with much to offer all players. New players can choose from several games we offer and very low stakes if that is how said new player wishes to start.
Fill out the registration form and get started on your own online poker adventure!
