Poker is easy to learn but it’s hard to master, which I like! Players with a well-thought and deep strategy are appreciated with easier decisions and better bottom lines. However, the complexity of poker also leads to many opportunities for potential mistakes. Preflop is the most played and important road in poker, so today we will put 12 preflop errors that are beginner (and even some pro) consistently make.
I see players make this mistake all the time, but almost all of them can be fixed with some simple adjustments.
Preflop # 1 mistake: limp – Open Pincing is when a player calls a big blind pre-flop, and is the first player to put the pot. This is a very bad strategy for use for a number of reasons.
You can’t win a pre-flop pot with open-limp – Unlike raising, open limp is a passive action that does not give you a chance to win a pot. There is already a dead money in a pot of small blind and blind, but by calling you don’t try to claim it yourself.
Open limits make your opponent live easily – Open poping makes the players behind you become a very good place. With extra-large blind in the pan, they are given incentives to at least call (or worse, raise) and play pots in the position against your weaker range.
When the number of players in the pot increases, your hand equity to win the pot reduced. This is definitely not the situation you want. In addition, your limp is likely to face aggression from players acting after you, who want to exploit your felt range or extract with the hands they will ask. Even if you try to balance your span of view to count this by putting strong hands, the hands will have a lower value as a result. Instead, you want to squeeze as many values as possible from your ownership that is strong, while the selection to open strong hands is limp for the sake of balance it will usually end back.
Note: however, which is limped may be sometimes justified. Acceptable limps behind other players who have been teaty when you have hands that are too weak to be improved but too strong to fold. Given that you get an incentive to call, it’s good to take a chance to lame behind with the hands that play well in a multi -way pot, and who can make a big hand post-flop.
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Preflop # 2 error: Lack of Position Awareness – The second pre-flop error that I often see players failed to consider the relationship between position and range. Your position in hand must affect the coverage you want to play. The more players to act behind you, your range should be. This is because the possibility of coming against a strong hand increases with the number of players left to act. Also, you are more likely to play the foundation of the position when opening from the initial position, making it more difficult to get a profit with marginal hands. If you open too wide from the initial position, you will not be able to defend your range and can be easily exploited. Instead, your reach must be widened when you move closer to the button. The perpetrator of the late position also has the benefits of the position of the curtain, which most often calls the late position open.
Preflop # 3 error: Playing is too passive to rise in gains – Playing is too passive against open only by calling and rarely 3 bets may be the biggest and most common mistakes that I see in low betting games. It’s hard to believe how often flat players are open with strong hands as opposed to 3-bets. Whether it’s to trap your opponent, or afraid of playing a big pot, choosing not 3-betting your strong ownership is a mistake for several reasons.
Flatting open the leaf value on the table – In the 3-bet opening increase with strong hands, you will extract more value than your opponents by increasing the size of the pot under the hand.
3 bets prevent hand from multi-direction – As shown in the example of Aces above, strong hand equity decreases sharply when there are several players in hand. With 3-bet your strong hands, you can often isolate the original Raiser and see the head fail.
As a result, your hands equity is preserved, and you increase the possibility of having the best hand in the showdown. Take AKO / AKS for example: In a multi-way pot with four players, AK only has a 30% chance to win the showdown. But what about the head pot? Against only one player, AK is a solid favorite with equity 60% versus the player who lifts and calls 3 bets from MP2. It illustrates the benefits of isolating raiser openers with 3-bets, and why passively call pre-flop problems. There are several things that need to be considered when 3 pre-flop bets. First, it is important to ensure the range of your 3 bets consists of more than a value value. 3-bets are only strong hands that can be predicted, and will make you easily defeated by allowing opponents to fold everything but their strongest hands for you.
By adding some cliffs to the range of your 3 bets (using hands with good equity versus your opponent’s call range), you make it difficult for your opponents to fight your strategy. Second, be sure to remember the relationship between position and strength range when 3-bet; Be careful how strong the range of your opponents is, and determine whether you can put value to value against them. Flatting open with a range that can sometimes make sense from the next position, especially from the button. More about error # 7 below.
bad poker now
Preflop # 4 error: Playing is too tight in a big blind – Many players don’t call enough from the big blind, especially versus open from small blinds. Given that you last acting before failing, and will often be offered the possibility of a very good pot to get failure, you can play more loose than the big blind than from other positions. Let’s look at certain cases:
- $ 5 / $ 10 cash game, stack effective $ 1,000
- Hero is in a big blind
- Fold to SB, a small blind increase to $ 25, hero ???
Against this Open 2.5x, we get 2.3-to-1 on the call, which translates to around 30% raw equity needed to continue. Considering that we will also have a position advantage against small blinds, we can (and must) defend high blindness at high frequencies.
Preflopic # 5 error: Increase too wide (or too narrow) from the range on the button – The button is a very valuable position in Poker. You are guaranteed to act the last post-flop of the button, which gives you the advantage of information on your opponent. You can also put pressure on the curtain when the action is folded to you, and can often steal dead money in the pot. However, many players tend to lift too much hands on the button, or not enough to raise. Given that the modern poker strategy prescribes the aggressive pre-flop game from the curtain, increasing too much hands on the button can cause you to become 3-bets exploitatively by players in Blinds. Leaks like this one can slowly but constantly damage your victory level, so be careful not to grow too than the button.
(Note: This is more than a problem when playing online, because direct players are usually less aggressive from the curtain.)
Instead, some players are too tight from the button. Because of the advantages of the position you have on the button, as well as the opportunity to take dead money in the pan, both of which open the original button or 3-betting Raiser generally very effective. Failure to take advantage of this situation will certainly hurt your victory. The optimal percentage of hands to be lifted from the button may be between 40% and 70%, depending on the tendency of the players in the curtain. Looser and more inclined 3-bets of curtains are, the more tighter you have to open. If the curtain is nits who don’t want to play pots, incline aggression and steal the dead money!
Mistake Preflop # 6: Play is too tight from small blindness when the action is folded to you – When folded to you in a small blind, you must often raise. Many players failed to do this because of the unfavorable post-flop position, the small blindness entered. However, there are two main reasons why raising from small blindness is a valuable strategy: You have a good opportunity to steal dead money in a pot (1.5bb), and by using a small opening size (around 2.25-2.5bb) you can try it at a low price. And you can do this with a high frequency until the big blind starts aggressive 3-bets. Living players will especially benefit from this strategy because how tight the player immediately plays. You reduce the possibility that you have to play outside the position, which will put you at the loss of information. Many players choose a few hands or play very tightly in blind blind confrontations versus large. This can be a reasonable adjustment to several opponents, but often raising is a more effective baseline strategy.
Preflop # 7 error: Not enough flatting on the button – Many players also have a tendency to fold buttons too often. Because the last post-flop acts, you can justify taking failure with various hands when given the right price. This is very relevant to Live Poker, because direct players generally don’t play so aggressive from the curtain.
Preflop error # 8: Flatting is regularly open from small blind – Playing too passive in small blinds is a very easy mistake. Although it might make sense to just call from a small blind because the possibility of a pot is increased, making it a bad habit for several reasons:
- You are committed to playing outside the position versus opponent with a stronger range.
- Large blindness can exploit small callers by squeezing, because the small blind range appears ‘closed’ into the hands of medium force.
Players in small blind must want 3-bets throughout their value range to build pots and isolate the pre-failed Raiser. By calling, basically they announce that they have a weak / medium ownership of strength. For this reason, you must try to avoid calls in small blinds in many cases, and choose for 3-bets if necessary. When building your small blind 3-betting range, be sure to enter some lighter hands (such as a suitable connector) to prevent blindness from exploitatively folding their secondary strength ownership to your 3-bet. Employ this aggressive strategy has several benefits:
- 3-bets put a lot of pressure on the pre-failed Raiser, especially if they opened from the final position with a variety of hands that would be difficult to maintain against 3-bets.
- Having a range of 3 bets built well from the curtain will prevent your opponent to steal against you.
- 3-bets prevent blindness from seeing cheap failures, which will reduce your ownership equity.
Preflop error # 9: Revealing Offsuit Hand Broadway – When Tony G once famous to tell a player that he had just been eliminated from the tournament, “If you read my poker strategy, I told everyone, ‘Don’t overdo the King-Jack.'” Of course, he also said some others . The right thing. While it was a drastic simplification, Tony had a point. Players often judge too much, ownership of Broadway offsuit. It’s very dangerous from the middle position, where players raise before you are expected to have a more stringent range, and hence the stronger ownership of Broadway than you. If you play too much offsuit, you will often watch dealers encourage some of your stacks from you as a result of having the top partner clicked. For this reason, it is better to play hands like the 98s of KOJO in this situation; A suitable connector will be rarely dominated, and can make dirty hands able to win a large pot.
Preflop error # 10: Call 3-betting very big – This problem is more prominent in direct matches, where the size of a large opening causes 3-bets that are too large which gets 18-20bb (compared to 10-12BB looks online). Calling at these points can also be a problem related to the ego that occurs when a player does not want to be considered weak at the table. Against 3 big bets, you get the possibility of a terrible pot to be contacted. Check the calculation of the Odds Pot to the standard of 10BB 3-bet after we opened 3BB: We must call 7BB more to win an increase in gains (3BB) + 3-bets (10BB) + Dead Blind (1.5BB), which comes out to equity 32.6%. Now let’s look at the same calculation of 18BB 3-bet: We have to call 15BB more to win an increase in gains (3BB) + 3-bets (18BB) + Dead Blind (1.5BB), which comes out to 40% equity is needed. It was almost 8% more equity needed to continue. The couple was with the fact that most of the 3-bet players were only their strongest hand and became clear why calling in these places was very troublesome. A good strategy to use against 3-betting is to fold everything but your hands are very strong, and just bet the strongest. Also, if you observe the player makes a mistake by calling 3-big bets too often, you should consider exploiting the player by applying 3-big bets into your game.
Preflop error # 11: Don’t have a plan – All mistakes above peak in an error by only having a plan built loosely for hands, or do not have a clear idea of what the pre-flopp should do at all. The first step to playing the Poker winner is to complete the strategy before the previous time. Before heading to the next session, make sure you have an answer to this pre-failed question:
- What hands will you open when folded with you from each position?
- What hands will you ask? Weak?
- With various hands that you will continue when the player in front of you raises?
- After you open, how will you respond 3 bets from each position?
Most players don’t have good answers to these questions. So, thinking about potential weaknesses in your pre-failed strategy and working ahead of time will give you steps in the competition.
Preflop error # 12: Make a game for the sake of “mix it” – Arbitrary ‘mix’ your game is a pre-flop error that is worse than not having a plan at all. I see many players do this and are often punished later in hand for their silly pre-flop decisions. Indeed, adjustment is important. We strive to stay balanced while occasionally varying our game to exploit our opposing trends. But we make adjustments with a purpose. We never called [AA] pre-flop, for example, just to mix our game. Sure, you might cheat players who don’t expect you just flat ace pre-flop, but it doesn’t make a good game. What happens is mathematics. Even though you can cheat some players, you don’t redeem the value you will extract with only 3-bets. In the long run, you produce so much money by increasing pre-flop that it is almost impossible to replace that value through fraud flatting. If we decide to mix our game, it will be because we have considered the options presented to us. We should never play just to do strange things.
Back 12 General Preflop Traps
To repeat, it is important to ensure that your pre-flop game is free of errors, because having a solid strategy at the beginning of the hand will make you ready for more profitable opportunities. Below is a quick reminder of the 12 pre-failed errors that we just discussed and how to finish it:
- Labong – Avoid open and sliding!
- Lack of position awareness – Always pay attention to ways in which your opponent’s position has an impact on their reach.
- Playing is too passive against Raises – developing a range of 3-bets well thought out, and be careful not to open too much.
- Playing is too tight in a great blind – take advantage of a great pot chance and see failure – you might hit it!
- Increase too wide (or not enough) on the objectives to open between 40% and 70% of hands depending on the tendency of the players in the curtain.
- Playing is too tight from small blinds when the action folds you – raise a number of just hands and steal the dead money.
- Not Flatting Often enough of the button – Take advantage of your position and contact the wide range but can be played.
- Flatting is regularly opened from small blind appetizers punished, denying cheap failure, and preventing squeeze with 3-bets most of your advanced range from small blindness.
- Offsuit offsuit Broadway Handleki hands like KJO and Qjo carefully. Consider how much you might be dominated before continuing.
- Calling 3-bets that are too big – fold everything but your hands are strong, and 4-bet with only your strongest hand.
- Don’t have plans – Think of your pre-flop strategy before your session.
- Arbitrarily mix it – always have a special purpose for each game.
That’s all for me today. Is that true! Want to test your poker skills? Take our cash quiz game now!
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