Poker Tips

Beginner mistakes when playing Texas Hold'em poker tournaments

Playing Texas Holdem poker tournaments successfully requires a set of skills. One of the most important skills vital to survive a poker tournament until the final round is to avoid making mistakes. It is absolutely crucial for you to protect your chips while constantly seeking to make your stake bigger. Even experienced players keep making mistakes as it is very hard to avoid making any but these are the most basic points to keep in mind throughout a Texas Holdem poker tournament.

1. Frequent use of continuation bet

Playing big poker tournaments gives you a lot of opportunity to bluff. Perhaps you will play hundreds hands of which very likely the smaller portion will be a very strong starting hand. Other player will often raise pre-flop holding a medium to very strong hand like pocket nines or Aces and you will be forced to fold. In other occasions you might have a strong pre-flop hand with Aces/King suited or similar hoping for the flop to bring you closer to a flush draw. However the flop does not always bring the needed cards and there are basically two ways in such situations to overcome the missing draw. You can fold and accept your losses to had invested so far in one option. Another option is the continuation bet. The continuation bet can be effective and should be part of your overall poker strategy but bear in mind the risk is high. A continuation bet is basically a bluff and may lead to losing a tone of chips. Don’t do it too often. Perfect timing is essential to make the continuation bet work. Another important thing when using this method is the size of bets which should not be too big. 2/3 of pot is already a lot of chips and may be discovered as a continuation bet. Do not waste your money bluffing too often.

2. Outclassing strong pocket cards before the flop