What mistakes did you make as a beginner and how did you improve?

demibar

demibar

Legend
Platinum Level
Joined
Aug 4, 2015
Total posts
2,317
Awards
10
GR
Chips
89
what were your mistakes as a beginner and how you think you have improved from experience by playing or from study?
 
Last edited:
SydTheCat

SydTheCat

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Total posts
322
Awards
1
Chips
0
My biggest mistake as a beginner, was playing every ace I got no matter my position, and I would call it down to the river. I guess I thought I was a great player when I got lucky and won. Now I fold a lot of Ax early position and only play them LP.
 
thatguy6793

thatguy6793

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Total posts
1,156
Awards
4
Chips
0
One thing I really had trouble with was playing out of position and then losing a lot of chips because of it after the flop. I would have ok hands, like mid pair, and raise after the flop and then get 3bet by a set or draw and end up with nothing afterwards. The one way i improved was to really read up on playable hands by position and just constantly study what positions are best for what hands. Theres a lot of sites that have articles about this sort of thing that I HIGHLY suggest you read. Once you fix this in your own game it becomes one of the best tools to use on other players and get extra chips from them or stop your loses because you know what kind of cards they probably have. Best of luck to you and keep up the studying!
 
D

Dani_California

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Total posts
241
Chips
0
what were your mistakes as a beginner and how you think you have improved from experience by playing or from study?

Oh boy, where to even start...

- I used to value small pocket pairs way too high and got busted with them many times.
- I tilted whenever I lost a big pot and started to play recklessly after that, blowing up most of my bankroll in the meantime.
- I didn't appreciate position and stubbornly thought that everyone saying it matters are wrong.
- Horrible bankroll management.
- I limped a lot and basically never made a 3bet unless I had pocket Aces.
- I didn't know the power of small suited connectors and didn't play with them.

I was still fascinated about poker even though I kept losing. I had many leaks in my game but for some weird reason I woke up after I had played my first live tournament. It didn't last very long and then I decided that I wanted to learn more. I started to read books, most importantly Phil Gordon's "Little Green Book" and Daniel Negreanu's "Power Hold'em Strategy". I slowly improved and started to take the game seriously. I used to play mostly Sit 'n' Go's so I switched to cash games and never looked back. I paid my dues and finally learned.
 
pescaofish

pescaofish

Academic Poker
Loyaler
Joined
Nov 8, 2013
Total posts
2,027
Awards
10
PA
Chips
97
As a beginner, I though the best hand will win and put all my money on the best hand "Nuts".
After many unbelievable bad beats I understood that Bingo Players use the large "Variance" part of the game, to bet on some crazy hands and get the Lucky cards more often that I could imagine.
Nowadays I will only 3 Bet or play slow but even though the Bingo players keep winning with the 2, 9 of suited or worse. :deal:
 
TeUnit

TeUnit

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Total posts
4,715
Awards
14
Chips
50
I think one of my bigger mistakes was not understanding the power of position. Think I learned the hard way, its just way easier on your wallet to really play through the hand in your head before you play. If you have a plan then maybe you wont play the medium strength hand that you were just going to fold to a late position raise.
 
terryk

terryk

TheCanuckwithalltheluck
Bronze Level
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Total posts
7,053
Awards
10
Chips
1
Playing too passive.I tried ABC poker,tag,hyper-aggro,some results,but i found it best to `control` the table,be aggressive,check-raise more,play strong,but smart poker:D
 
Doubledunk

Doubledunk

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 15, 2016
Total posts
726
Awards
1
Chips
91
For me it was playing too many hands. fix it by learning which hands are playable, conditionally playable and hands to fold pre.
 
B

Booyah777

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 23, 2016
Total posts
61
Chips
0
To be honest in the beginning I was an excellent player 5/10 nl holdem on party poker. Cashing out 10 grand weekly. Im now playing .50/1 and playing super tight. I hit a run of bad luck and never went back to the high tables. Im convinced this game requires more luck than skill. So I would say get luckier lol!
 
edc1

edc1

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 5, 2016
Total posts
524
Chips
0
my biggest miste was not thinking enough about what other players cards might be ,I was only concerned with my hand,once I started putting other players on a range of hands it started getting better,just one of many mistakes I was making
 
C

CHAVIKI

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 29, 2017
Total posts
205
Chips
0
My mistake

I'm still learning but i think my worst mistake is that I get impatient too easy
 
C

C3H6S

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Total posts
326
Chips
0
well I committed several types of mistakes ... first was my patience ... was of little patience in the tournaments I did not expect my hands, did not have importance on the positions ..... and then good I started to read quite to understand everything as the system worked !!! now I have a little more patience I have built a more solid game
 
A

AviCKter

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 14, 2013
Total posts
781
Chips
0
Good Ol' Days!

what were your mistakes as a beginner and how you think you have improved from experience by playing or from study?

Relying on Charts. I used to keep a chart of opening ranges and would just play by it. Raise, if it said raise. Call, if it said call. I had no clue of why or how they came up with that chart.

Worked on it by watching videos about it, then studied some from different poker books, and finally saw how it works using Holdem Resources. I've become better since.
 
Last edited:
C

colbear

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
Total posts
711
Chips
0
They never end

Biggest mistake was playing too many hands and bad bankroll management . I learned mostly by starting over time and time again before I began believing what everybody was saying.

As for being a beginner I still find mistakes in my game almost always . some are easy to fix and some are just hard as hell to change because you think it should work even after time and time again it doesn't . (they are the hardest holes to fix).

Take advise from everyone try it see how you do . If it works keep it up if not change again
 
n3rv

n3rv

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Total posts
955
Chips
0
Goal setting. Have a big personal goal, then cut it down into small personal goals. Be proud of your small personal goal progress.
 
shinedown.45

shinedown.45

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 18, 2006
Total posts
5,389
Chips
0
what were your mistakes as a beginner and how you think you have improved from experience by playing or from study?
Mistakes as a beginner: Not knowing the importance of position, poor bet sizing, not reading the texture of the flop, check/calling too much, I could go on.

Improvements came from table play and study.
 
Amanda A

Amanda A

Legend
Bronze Level
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Total posts
1,357
Awards
2
Chips
23
Having too tight a range. I read an article before I played my first tourney and it said most beginners play too many hands so I only played premium hands and when I hit I was aggressive. It's actually really good advice for a beginner and I did really well in my first tourney coming in 5th out of around 26 or so, so I wouldn't really call it a mistake, but as you develop you need to mix it up a little.
 
Royal_074

Royal_074

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jun 5, 2017
Total posts
145
Chips
0
My mistake was in playing too much hands.. I played every K, Q, J and A
 
Anatoliy Tolik

Anatoliy Tolik

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 29, 2017
Total posts
168
Chips
0
Learned less to catch good luck, and play more wisely, sometimes throw a strong hand
 
blanktheman

blanktheman

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Dec 27, 2014
Total posts
605
Chips
0
my mistake was raising whenever i had any kind of pair, also i would play all hands i was dealt. My first lesson was learning to play only 20% of my cards.
 
T

TinskiM

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Total posts
49
Chips
0
My mistake was to play many hands after bad beat, when I lost most of my chips.
I learned one thing, as long as you are still at the table you have a chance to win. Do not loose your patience. You loose a patience, you loose a tournament.
 
A

agriggy

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Total posts
356
Chips
0
I used to get pushed off hands easily and couldn't get chips from opponents. I analyzed the hands and made notes on player habits, also changed my betting.
 
sSAINTSs

sSAINTSs

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 18, 2016
Total posts
116
Chips
0
Beginner mistakes

I would always call A with rags. I figured that out fast.:damnmate:
 
PuletJelek

PuletJelek

Rock Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Total posts
279
Awards
3
Chips
9
My mistake when playing poker as a beginner is I did not know everything about poker because I never learned it before.

Now, i learn it a lot..
 
spawn30

spawn30

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Total posts
33
Chips
0
I've done several more and I'll only talk about some that I think the great majority of beginners have already committed: One is not having the patience to wait for a good hand, watch television, talk on the phone, get annoyed with a lost play, Investing in Draws or problematic hands among others that I do not remember now.
 
Top