Most Common Poker Mistake (NLHE)

As a new poker player, be careful that you aren’t making the most common beginner mistake in no limit hold ‘em! Poker Pro Phil Galfond has a fun story to share about this common NLH mistake.

Follow Phil:

Poker strategy is not the same as casino game strategy, this isn’t blackjack where you double down when the odds are in your favor.

Somebody sitting across from you is going to be able to sense the patterns in your strategy and adjust to it if you only try to put in the amount of money that your hand wants to make.

This might seem counterintuitive, we want to make a lot of money when we have a strong poker hand after all!

The problem is that we only get good opportunities to do that versus competent opponents if we are able to manage our excitement and bet based on the strength of our range instead of our hand.

Preflop this usually means maintaining a static bet size or raise size based on positions, if someone knows that when you raise to 5 big blinds before the flop you have Aces or Kings it is VERY easy to play against.

Are you a new poker player or a poker beginner? Do you just need the best poker strategy and best poker tips or do you have a high stakes poker related question you’d like a poker professional’s advice on? Leave a comment and your question might end up in the next one of these quick poker tips videos!

Remember to Subscribe for more high stakes poker content and turn on notifications so you don't miss Galfond Challenge Livestreams!

[MelFinehout]

And, when you are playing 1/2 the whole "with a mind" part is sometimes questionable.

[tommyfu]

I remember playing live 5/10 nl 15 years ago where people would do the oppsite- tens or jacks make it 100 to "take it down" queens make it maybe 75 kk or aa make it 50

[antoniocoimbra]

Still depends a lot on ur table. If u Play nl500 in stars u want to play decent poker. In some live games u can play as obvious as u want and u might make the most profit with it. So if it's not needed don't try to be balanced.

[beanhoudini]

what about on zoom on an anonymous website like bovada

[jessecullen]

I’m new to poker looking for a good book to invest my time in to. Anybody got any suggestions? Cheers in advance

[dankcharnley]

I'm in love with now moreso then Ryan Gosling thank u king

[jf]

One super obvious opening mistake I see from players who do indeed play often for many, many years yet still do this…early levels everyone opening 3x then you’ll see the 4x open…99% of the time…JJ. So obvious and every time I call it (assuming no show), it amazes me that they are amazed 😂😂. And again, these are players who have experience. Crazy to me

[kentdavies]

Most common beginner mistake is playing way too many hands. "How much is it to play? Oh I call."

[jbarres]

1 Calling everything
2 bluffing way too much
3Donking off trying to get lucky

[delvega]

I play short stack only. And I know they’ll call regardless because they don’t have a fold button. This allows me realize my hand equity every time. So my JJ+/AK, AQs always gets realized. Why? Because there’s dead money in the pot and villain has equity. This incentivizes second best hands to call my all in bets. If my range holds up 65% then who cares what happens. Run it 10 times :
Win $100 x 6.5 + $40 dead money in pot. 140(6.5)= $910
Loss $100(3.5) = 350
Net = 560
That’s $56 every time I get called. EV
So all I have to do is go a all in with premium hands. And the reason they’re going to always call me is because from the perspective the opponent it’s only 100 . Jesus this game isn’t complicated. I make $50/hr minimum playing small stakes at 1/3, 2/3 live tables. If I jump around and play 6 sessions a day, do the math. 300/day or 9000/month .
And the reason people don’t use this strategies because they’re too lazy to get off their ass and walk across the street to the next casino and minimum rebuy and then do it over and over and over and over and over again.
Yes, that means sometimes you’re gonna play five minutes win a small lot and walk away in a heartbeat. 50/hr without thinking!

[tehfn]

My last 3 tournaments I went out with AA versus 6, 2o each time. The first time I 3bb raised and was hit with a calling station. The second time I 3bb again.
The last time, and the last hand I ever played, someone raised 3bb whilst they had 40BB left. I had aces so I re-raised 3x his bet. He called. He had 6, 2o and won.
What are the odds for this to happen 3 times in a row? I worked it out at 1 : 13.9million. So I call bs and truly believe the bots are out of control.