Common Holdem Mistakes

Playing Holdem last evening, I realized, as I do every session, how bad most people play at low limit Holdem. It never ceases to amaze me how people will go without to scrape together enough money to sit down to play a few hours of poker, and almost literally throw their money away.

What is even worse or better depending on your viewpoint is everything they do is mentioned over and over in almost any poker book you pick up off the shelf. Yet many players appear to think they have an immunity, or it does not apply to them.

I thought I would mention three of the major absolutely silly errors I watch Holdem players make hand after hand, session after session, year after year. Even if no one has even read a Holdem book, or played Holdem anywhere but the kitchen table, they have seen others commit these same errors frequently.

First and foremost for throwing your away money department is the weak ace. A weak Ace is an Ace with any other card in your starting hand that does not help your hand such as A, 6 off suit. While the Ace itself is a powerful card in Holdem, one lone Ace is not going to win any pots.

It is almost a given in any round of play, someone is calling a bet with an Ace and any second card. What happens when an Ace shows up on the flop? Everyone who is breathing and does not hold an Ace checks. The person holding that lone naked Ace is feeling pretty tough because they hold the Ace, so they bet out.

In a typical low limit game almost everyone of course calls that bet. On the turn someone will bet out, but the lone Ace player has already been stacking chips in their mind, and they convince themselves the bet or raise is a weak attempt to push them off of ‘their pot’. They usually always call. The river arrives, and the lone Ace is still there only to be shown a two pairs hand or better, or Ace with a bigger second card.

Blinds are another big chip loser. No matter how you play your blinds, over the long haul they are not a good spot to willingly be throwing more chips into the pot. Holdem players being optimists when it comes to their blinds have invented cute sayings of why it is okay to complete a small blind bet, or call a raise in the big blind.

How many times a session do you hear, “I am calling because of the half in rule”? How about, “I can call a raise because of pot odds.” When your hand is not good enough to call a bet from any other position it certainly is not any better because you are in a blind.

Speaking of pot odds, how many Holdem players are playing absolute junk because they have three players in the pot before them, and they know at least one more will call after them? Playing junk cards even if you are ‘changing gears’ in general, is a terrible idea.

Most of the table has no idea what gear you were in to start with, so changing gears does not matter one iota. I watched a player recently win five out of six hands and never looked at his hand until the river. Hardly no one is paying attention to you and your play.

Fortunately for those few players at the table trying to learn the game and play well, these players making these same plays hand after hand, week after week are the players who keep the game going. While it is easy to look down on their poor play, and become angry enough to make some rude comment when their Q, 2 off suit drags in your pot because your pair of Aces did not get any help, remember they keep the game going.

Truth is, these players are not as stupid as many players like to believe. If they were that stupid they would not have the excess cash to play Holdem in a Card room to start with. Not every on sits down at a poker table to win money. Many players sit down to have fun knowing they are going to lose their buy in. Some want to take one or two pots away from you with terrible cards.

If all Holdem players did come to play good solid poker, your opportunity to sit down almost any hour of the night or day would be gone. One final poker truth for this post: You could print this out and give out copies at the table where you sit down, and all players will try to play correctly for about twenty minutes or so, then it is back to business as usual.