Editorial: Most common poker mistakes

Anyone that witnessed a portion of 2009's 17-hour WSOP final table will agree that even the pros don't make poker look easy. Still, many beginners continue to underestimate the true rigors of the game. Because so much of poker revolves around deception, and because the action tends to be so fast, sometimes you don't even know you've made a mistake until you're paying for it (take Phil Ivey's accidental muck, for example). That said, there are some common poker mistakes that can easily be avoided. We've outlined five of the most costly and common poker mistakes below.

Confusing a Loose Strategy with No Strategy

Players that are unacquainted with the dynamics of a loose strategy are often confused about what "loose" really means. To understand what a loose player is, it helps to know what its counterpoint - a tight player - is. Tight players are those players that only bet on hands that they strongly believe will win. These players see very few flops and generally only back premium starting hands. By comparison then, a loose player is a player that takes more risks by seeing more flops and playing more middling hands. A good loose player is not a calling station or a river rat; if you find yourself in either position then chances are you have no strategy at all, or at best a very bad one.

Seeing Every Flop

On the topic of flops, even loose players (if they're smart players) don't pay to see every flop. Whether you're sitting at a cash game table or grinding your way through an MTT, the cost of seeing every flop adds up quickly and can cripple your stack, plus it tells your opponents that you're a calling station. There's a reason that so many methods have been devised to help players gauge the strength of their starting hands; to avoid paying for unnecessary flops.

Playing at the Wrong Stakes Level

Seeing every flop shouldn't be an option, even if you're playing at the right stakes level. At the wrong stakes level, such a practice can be disastrous. Though poker is essentially a game of skill, odds are still involved. There's little you can do with truly bad cards, and bad card streaks certainly happen; just as often a river rat will hit the high side of the odds and steal your pot. That's why it's so important that you have a bankroll large enough to ride out bad odds and bad beats.

People unacquainted with the true cost of playing a long cash game session see stakes like $.05/$.10 and assume they can get 50 hands out of $5. Since $.10 is just the cost of seeing the flop-assuming no one raises-it's easy to see how this bad math leads amateurs astray. At a fast table, you can expect to play 100+ hands per hour, and the average pot is generally 20 times the big blind. While you won't be playing all those hands, it's safe to assume that you'll need to make the maximum buy in (usually 100 times the big blind) to play confidently. If you're a daily player, that means that at the beginning of the month your bankroll should be at least 30 times the maximum buy in for the stakes level you want to play.

Playing in the Wrong Environment

Many amateur online players cripple themselves before they make their first bet. How? By playing in a bad environment. Poker is a game that takes a lot of concentration. It's a common poker mistake to play in a place that doesn't allow you to focus your full attention on the game. You should be able to play in comfort, without interruption. Furthermore, if you're playing a big MTT then make sure you have enough time to see it through. Nothing is more frustrating than grinding yourself to the top of a field of thousands of players only to be booted off before you can claim your prize.

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