Poker Tips Texas Hold'em

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

Why are strong pocket cards sometimes dangerous? Let’s have a look at the following example. You are in position with AK. Another player in less good position starts with a raise in the size of 4 times the big blind. You think for a moment holding the Ace/King in your hand being convinced to have one of the top 4 starting hands. Consequently you make a quick decision to re-raise all-in. The opponent player calls you quickly and shows QQ. Only a few seconds later you are out of the game and the entire tournament. What was the mistake done here? What you could you have done better? The answer is easy. The cards in your hand are only as strong as weak are the cards everybody else is holding. What that means is even holding a pocket AK or AA the flop might devalue that strong pocket to nothing within seconds. The lesson learned should be never to overplay Aces and Kings. In theory a player with 7/2 could beat you on the flop with two pair or even just a pair of deuces, which happened to me personally more than once already. My advice in this case would be not to move all-in but try to view the flop not risking all your chips at once. Always bear in mind that Texas Holdem poker is a game that require an enormous range of skills including the knowledge of human nature and psychology very different to roulette or blackjack. Always take your time needed to think and re-think hence to reevaluate the strength of your cards.

3. Using the same strategy all the time

Even if you have a well refined poker strategy that works out for you quit well minimizing the risk and maximizing the return on bets it is a good advice to change your style from time to time. The longer you are playing with the same players on a poker table the more these players will figure you out. Opponent players will study each and every of your moves, your betting methods and tells. In addition to that when playing a poker tournament blind keep increasing constantly and you are forced to change gears just because of that. You should be careful with all-in moves at the beginning as you may risk an early drop-out. Also do not take a big risk stealing blinds at the start of a tournament. At a later stage however this changes very much and stealing the blinds will become a major part of your overall strategy to increase your stake. When you get to the final table and blinds are very high you may consider to raise high or even go all-in pre-flop with cards such as pocket fives or tens.