01- 5-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
Compounding Errors In Holdem
I was in a friendly 10$ tourney yesterday and I (think) i was playing pretty darn well. I was aggressive, yet patient. I raised when it was time to raise, i had a very good feeling about the other players and got to bully them a little.A few hours later, I was the chip leader and everyone was cautious when i was in the game. I had one opponent with about 1/2 my stack and the 2 other players were left with very very small stacks.
Top 3 Beginner Rooms
Anyways, at first I thought my move was a good one. I thought I had a good hand and I thought he would call because I showed a bluff a couple hands before.Then, when I got home, I started thinking about my move and realized that this often happens to me. I often finish second because of a move like that. A pretty good hand losing to an excellent hand.So maybe I was too aggressive? It's not like I had pocket sixes and the flop showed a 6. Both sizes were on the flop. If I had to play that hand again, I would simply bet a decent amount but not enough to jeopardize my stack. I find it very hard to fold a set.
What do you think ?
Since this often happens to me, should I wait until I have an unbeatable hand before I go all-in or should I keep being aggressive ?
Thanks!
Jeff
Answer: The lesson we are going to draw from this question isn't about not betting your hand when you have something but being careful to not create errors that compound themselves. After you were in with the Q6 and caught trips on the flop, you weren't going anywhere. To not bet your hand in that situation would have been an error. There is nothing you can do about it if the person happens to have 62 there.
The problem though was that you got in with Q6 to begin with. No limit holdem is a game of errors. If you can make fewer errors than your opponents, you'll beat them in the end. You want to do everything in your power to avoid situations were you will be forced to play (this is one of them). I hear people tell me bad beat stories all the time when they flopped something but then ended up losing. I feign sympathy while most of the time I'm thinking to myself, "what were you doing calling with that hand to begin with."
Errors in Texas Holdem Poker compound very easily since often times you can rationalize calling with hands you might not have otherwise because of the pot odds. For example, let's say you call preflop with a hand like JT against a raise. Then the flop comes back J - 4 - 3. The guy bets and now you are stuck. Sure you have top pair but if he has anything, you are beat.
At this point you may be too liberal with your calling and tell yourself, "he could have TT, 99,88 or below, or AK or AQ, I'll call. Even if he does have me beat I'll still have 6 outs on the turn." So he bets and you call. The turn card is a Ten. You think great, he comes out firing and you raise all-in. He quickly calls and shows you TTT against your JJTT.
Now that seemed like a bad beat but you shouldn't have been in there in the first place. You would be surprised how many errors you can avoid by just not getting involved preflop. People call all the time with weak hands preflop, catch something on the flop and then get stuck calling or get sucked out on by a stronger hand by the river. The reason hand strength is important is because overall, the better hand has a better chance of winning than a bad hand does. So even if the worse hand catches something on the flop, often times the better hand will catch something else to overtake it.
There are many redraws in texas holdem. A redraw is when you catch your draw but the other guy still has a draw that could over take you. This is why if you consistently play better hands than your opponents, you will win. When I play No Limit Holdem, I always keep one piece of advice present in my thoughts: if I'm going to make a mistake, make a small mistake, not a big one.
The best way to avoid big mistakes is to keep out of situations that big mistakes thrive in -- like playing KJ or AJ in no limit holdem against raises. In limit holdem you have some more breathing room because one mistake won't cost you half your chips but you should still be aware of how one small error can end up compounding into larger ones.
Some readers might be read this and say, "well technically speaking, Jeff did have a better hand than the other guy preflop -- Q6 vs. 62." That is true and in that sense Jeff was bad beated and unlucky to lose with a dominated hand so this article isn't aimed only at him.
Your rating:
Click on the clover of your choiceTop 5 Poker Rooms
| Colt Poker Free $10 | Read Review |
|---|---|
| Cake Poker Free $10 | Read Review |
| Minted Poker | Read Review |
| Poker Stars | Read Review |
| 888poker | Read Review |
