The 5 Dumbest Things I Ever Did Playing Poker

• Author: Jim Haines
• Filed under: Casinos
• Date: Oct 18,2009

As with anything new in someone’s life – whether it’s a new job, or a new recipe or even a new game, you have to learn about it before you can say you understand it. Same thing goes for poker.

I’m a fanatical poker player, but I learnt the hard way and made some silly mistakes along the way. So, relax, take a deep breath and enjoy the five dumbest things I ever did playing poker. With luck, it will help you to avoid the same mistakes.

Dumbest Move #1 – I sat down at a table in a local casino with my $50. I was ready to play. But half way through the first hand, I couldn’t even make the bet! Why? Well, because at the time I didn’t know that poker tables have different table limits. And I was sitting at a table that had a $10/$20 limit.

So I was able to ante up, and I had a great hand, 3 kings with an Ace kicker and I didn’t have enough cash to play the way I should of. I ended up losing the hand anyways to a full house but if I had enough cash to back myself with an all in bet or at least a huge raise I may have got the other player to fold or something! So a word to the wise, when you’re going to play a poker game, make sure you know what type of game your sitting down at. Or at least make sure you pick a game that is within your budget!

Dumbest Move #2 – Another stupid move I did more than once was at an online poker site, and not using the muck option when losing a hand. This could be one of the biggest mistakes a new poker player can make. Why? Because, as with my case, if you show your hand at the end of each game and everyone gets to see if you were actually betting on anything good, or just bluffing, they now know how you play the game and will kill you on every hand – especially if the players are good poker players.

Giving away your playing style is pretty much the singlest stupidest thing you can do in poker. Giving your opponents that advantage means you are effectively just handing them the money. Not clever.

Dumbest Move #3 – I used to play every hand. This is something many new poker players do. You should, of course, fold and wait for a good, strong hand to come along. That way you’ll have a better chance to win.

Basically, don’t play every hand. Just don’t. I know it’s a thrill playing poker, but if you’re hand isn’t worth playing, then don’t play it. If you conserve your bankroll, there will be other hands to play. Be a little clever and you might just walk away with more cash than you sat down with.

Dumbest Move #4 – Staying in the game, just because you can. You’d be surprised at just how many poker players stay in a hand because they have already put money in the pot. Needless to say, this is a bad idea. I did it when I first started playing under the belief that there’s always a chance to win. The thing is – there isn’t. Some hands you’ve got to pull out of.

For example, if you have a pair of twos but nothing is coming up for you and someone else is raising over and over, then fold. Cut your losses and wait for the next hand. If you know you aren’t going to win, don’t throw good money after bad. Save your money.

Dumbest Move #5 – Know the game you are playing. Learn the rules thoroughly before even thinking of taking part. My very worst mess up was playing in a Omaha Hi/Low tournament. Unfortunately, I’d never played the game before. I did read up on the rules and figured that I’d got the basics and would learn the rest as I played.

As you can imagine, my first experience of Omaha Hi/Lo was not a good one. I kept losing when I felt I would have won; and I won when I thought I should have lost. I had literally no idea what I was doing. Luckily, I had enough good fortune to get me through to the intermission. At that point, I wen and re-read the rules of the game!

And that’s when I saw how you really play Hi/Low. OMG, half the time I was folding when I had 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 which is a great Lo hand! I probably could have won so much money that day if I had only understood the game, never again will I act like I know it all and play a game for cash that I have never played before without doing the research!

So, those were my five dumbest mistakes. I’m sure you’ll agree that they were pretty dumb so hopefully if you are new to playing poker, you won’t make the same errors. Make sure you know the game, the rules and the table limits and you won’t go too far wrong.

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