Fedor Holz helps you avoid the Biggest Poker Mistakes!

Everyone is guilty of making mistakes arguably; they're the most effective tool in our toolbelt when it comes to learning and improving.

Luckily for you here at Pokercode, we've put in thousands of hours not just at the table but away from it too, thinking about the game and making mistakes, so you don't have to. We've pulled together our list of the three biggest poker mistakes anyone can make!

Biggest Poker Mistake #1: Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail!

There are so many things that need to be in line before you even sit down to play at the poker table:

• Bankroll management; make sure you're comfortable in the games you're playing. If you're playing for fun, don't give yourself the chance to need the money in the game. If you're a pro, don't put yourself in the position to go broke. This doesn't mean we can't shot take, but we need to plan how and why we're doing it and not just throw ourselves into games with reckless abandon.
• Game selection; maximise your opportunities as a professional to maximise your win rate. If you're playing for fun, ensure you're playing in games that are fun and have action. There are so many games, live, online, festivals or series, that there will always be options, so ensure you select the games that will best suit what you're looking to achieve.
• Mindset; you need to be mentally prepared, especially when playing professionally. You can't sign up for a tournament knowing you're in for a long grind on 2 hours of sleep. Partying all night before a game is not conducive to solid table performance. That's not to say you can't have fun! Just don't let fun outside of poker impact your game!

We already have the edge over our opponents who aren't doing the same by making sure we show up prepared. This is the first step of ensuring we're not making the biggest mistakes when it comes to playing poker.

Biggest Poker Mistake #2 - Playing too Loose-Passive

A trap so many players new to the game fall into, calling too much and never raising enough. Seeing flops and playing hands is all well and good, but when doing it at such a high frequency without aggression, we become an easy spot for others to continuously win our money.

Position is king in poker. The last thing we ever want to be is the spot in a game, so tighten up and get aggressive! Many new players are limping in from an early position and opening themselves up to challenging scenarios from the get-go. If you're first to act, there are potentially eight other people to act after you, so there are eight other people who can have a stronger hand, so we want to have a tighter range and play fewer hands. If we're in a later position, there are one or two players left to act, so if it's folded to us, we have a lot more hands we can raise with as chances of running to a better hand decrease.

Passive players are also easily identifiable, so they lose a ton of value when they become aggressive. It is apparent they're unlikely to be bluffing so opponents can play perfectly!

Biggest Poker Mistake #3: We're not as good as we think we are!

Poker players overestimate their abilities. This isn't something new. This isn't a revolution. This is something every poker player has done at some point in their poker journey!

Unlike the other two, this one is harder to combat, but we have some tips!

Constantly question yourself; no matter how good you think you are, always look and explore things even when you feel you have the right idea. Ask your peers about spots; poker is a game of incomplete information, so asking questions will ensure you're always looking to improve instead of falling into the trap of thinking you're a Poker God.

Fedor Holz explores the 3 Biggest Poker Mistakes.

Pokercode Founder Fedor Holz gave a deeper dive into the 3 Biggest Poker Mistakes on our youtube channel. He goes into more detail about the points outlined above, so jump in if you want to hear some more specifics to ensure you're not falling into the trap of making the biggest poker mistakes!

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