Despite being more than two hundred years old, poker remains highly popular. While it’s hard to offer a precise count, there are believed to be around 100 – 120 million players across the globe, many of whom play online.
The sheer number of players means that, first of all, it’s always possible to find a game. Second, it means that poker standards are generally pretty high, especially since poker players seem to be pretty passionate about their hobby.
These high standards mean that newcomers have to quickly get up to a good standard in order to be competitive. Alas, in their enthusiasm, many new players end up making mistakes that ultimately result in poorer play. We’ll run through some of these mistakes below — if you’re new to the game, then make sure you’re not guilty of them!
Playing Too Loose
New players are enthusiastic to get involved with the action at the table. After all, they’re here to play poker, not watch other people play poker. However, that often results in newcomers playing too many hands. The fact is, players should sit out the majority of hands. If someone’s playing more than 20% of hands in a large poker game (ten or more people), then they’re playing too loose.
It’s better to keep your gameplay tight, and only play the games that you genuinely feel confident about playing.
Ignore the Value of Studying
You’ll make the most progress in your poker play at the table. However, it’s important not to discount the value of studying. In fact, if you have any ambitions to be anything other than a hyper-casual player, then it’s outright essential to spend some time with your head in the poker books.
You’ll learn a lot by reading up on the classic strategies, trending strategies, and other useful tips. The best players divide their poker time almost equally between playing and studying, dedicating 50% of their time to each.
Overconfidence
You’ll find that your performance at the table increases significantly once you have a little bit of confidence under your belt. It’s like with anything else in life; when you do something with confidence, you tend to get better results.
However, there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. As such, it’s best to work on avoiding being too confident at the table. The reason is that by believing yourself to be in a great position, you might miss some obvious logical conclusions. Plus, while you might be a good player because you’ve read a few poker books, there’s every chance that your opponents have read them, too. It’s always important to respect the other players at the table, even if they give the appearance that they’re new to the game — it could all be a ploy!
Only Focusing On Their Own Game
As we just mentioned, you’ll need to be aware of the other players at the table. All too often, newcomers focus exclusively on their own game, in part because they have to; it’s not so easy to remember all the hand rankings or the strategy that you were planning on using.
But as with most games, you can give yourself an advantage by observing the emotions and traits of your opposition. If they’re quick to fold, then you’ll know that you can bluff a little more liberally than you might usually do.
Not Learning Poker Etiquette
Finally, we recommend taking the time to learn poker etiquette. This won’t only lead to more pleasant games, but crucially, it’ll also prevent you from standing out from the crowd. Not knowing the general rules of the table can make you an easy target for the other players. Remember earlier, when we said that you should observe other players? Well, other players are observing you, and if they become confident that you’re a new player because you’re not following standard practice, then it’s possible that they’ll use that intuition to target you.
