Many New Players Making Old Mistakes

Hi. Come on in. Feeling the need of healthful nutrition for our neglected bodies, I have gathered an assortment of fresh fruits. The have a good taste and are high in fiber; highly salubrious.

Let's talk about new players and mistakes. Your opponents are making money from your mistakes. If you didn't make any mistakes, about the only way your opponents would get your money would be to get lucky and outdraw you.

One of the assignments I give my poker students is to constantly monitor themselves for mistakes in their play. I now give you the same admonition. Before making any move at the poker table, ask yourself, "Is this is a mistake?" Train yourself by practicing that question over and over – before taking any action at the table. If what you are about to do isn't a mistake, go ahead and do it. If you determine that it is a mistake, don't do it. It's that simple.

Today, we'll look at some low- and medium-limit seven-card stud mistakes. Another time, we'll check out hold'em.

First, you're holding a small four-flush on fourth street. You've seen four of your needed suit in other players' upcards. That's too many. Then, a voice in the back of your head says, "There are too many hearts out, but what the heck, I haven't played a hand in more than 20 minutes. I'm gonna go for it – next time, I'll be good." I doubt it. Next time, it will be easier to slip.

Second, when the only value of your hand in very early position on third street is large overcards versus what's on the board, calling is often a mistake. Generally, you want to play a hand like this from late position against one player. If you insist on playing it from an early position, forget about calling, because you'll end up with too many opponents. You'd better raise and substantially narrow the field. Your best chance of winning is to eliminate the straight and flush draws and then pair up a big card, bigger than any pair your opponent could be holding.

Players entering a pot on third street with a small pair and a small sidecard is another big mistake I've often seen. The only real improvement to such a hand is to make trips. They can't make two big pair because they have no big card to pair.

Compounding this error by continuing to play when they pair that small sidecard is another big mistake I've seen many new (and old) players make. Fives and threes is just not much of a poker hand at the low and medium limits. About the only hand that hand will beat is one pair.

Next, players who check on seventh street without looking at their last card ("check dark") do so mostly to stop someone else from betting. The implied threat is, "I check before looking to see if I made my hand, so if you bet, I might raise, so watch out." The problem is, you are acting without information. You might intimidate an opponent into checking along, and then when you look and see that you made your hand, you missed a bet. Also, if a strong opponent makes any kind of hand, he's going to bet despite your implied threat. That puts the "threat" back onto you, and now you must decide whether he bet because he made a winning hand or because you have shown weakness.

I've seen this next mistake a hundred times in public poker rooms when players let their egos into the game. One player will raise another player's bet on an early street, not because of the value of his hand, but because he doesn't like the other player. "You raised me last hand, so I raise you, wise guy." The initial bettor's ego isn't going to stand for that. "Oh yeah? Well, back at you, buddy." So, we have these two players warring, with neither of them strong enough to have stood the first raise. As I watch, I know that in about a minute and a half, one of these guys is going to be kicking himself in the butt for ever having gotten involved in this hand. The other will be congratulating himself on his brilliant play.

We've all experienced days when we just can't seem to pick up a starting hand, and to make matters worse, keep getting hit with the low card on third street. The mistake is tossing in your forced bet and your garbage hand along with it. The problem with that is, for instance, you might have paired one of your cards on fourth street, had everyone check, and then made trips on fifth street and a full house on sixth street. (Admittedly, that's a stretch, but I've seen such things happen.)

Finally, not calling on seventh street without knowing for certain that the bettor has you beat is another common error. If you have any reasonable chance, even with only a fair hand, it usually is best to call for that one last bet on seventh street. If you are beat, you lose one more bet. However, if you throw away the best hand, you lose a whole pot.

Keep asking yourself, "Is this a mistake?"

We really made short work of all that fresh fruit. I feel more healthy already. But, I still require repose. Take a couple of peaches and kill the light on your way out.

Roy West, author of the bestseller 7 Card Stud, the Complete Course in Winning (available from Card Player), continues to give his successful poker lessons in Las Vegas to both tourists and locals. Ladies are welcome. Call 1-800-548-6177, Ext. 03.