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Common Online Poker Betting Mistakes - 01-11-08
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Author: Marc
 January 11 - When you watch poker on television you should be aware that the producers have culled the most exciting few hands from a blizzard of hands played over a 12 hour day. It's a fraction of the action, and besides that they tend to choose hands where surprising results ensue.
So the hand where a guy in middle position wakes up with KK raises 4x the big blind and everyone folds to him doesn't make the highlight reel. Similarly, the many hands where guys wake up with nothing raise and steal blinds and limpers' chips based on a position bet also gets cut.
What makes it onto television is a lot of bad play, because that can often lead to excitement. Guys call with Ax and flop a full house, or pair vs pair match-ups where one can convince a deoderant company to sponsor the sweaty denoument.
These memories then filter down and impact online poker players, but never in a good way. It causes a lot of poker players to overbet good hands or to slow-play them to such an extent that they diminish their returns. The standard way of playing - raising a reasonable amount with what figures to be the best hand pre-flop seems never to occur to people anymore.
Let's say you are dealt JJ in early position at the early stage of a big MTT. Blinds are small. You could win a small pot or lose a big one. You panic, because you have no idea how to play Jacks and so you make a ridiculously big raise of 20x the big blind. Heck, you might even push all-in because you seen it on the TV.
The only player who can call you now is a player who can beat you. Even the regular online poker fish will know enough to lay down Ax suited in this spot, unless they sense your utter panic and decide to trap you on the flop (assuming you didn't push all in). If you pushed all-in the only hands calling are those that dominate you.
The converse happens all the time as well. Guy gets AA and slow plays it or underbets it enough to let random hands join in the fun. Flop comes 4-6-9 and the AA bets out with imperious confidence. After a big re-raise he pushes all in figuring he can only be up against 9x. Instead he's up against 4-6 and loses. He then begins a tirade about the "bad beat" and lousy play of the 46 dude.
There is a reason one bets good hands - to drive out the dross. There is also a reason why one doesn't push all in preflop with those same hands - the hand isn't over yet.
The art of playing poker street by street seems to have vanished in the instant world of online poker. If you get knocked out in a race there's another torunament starting up in 20 seconds, and you're probably already playing in a few simultaneously. What's the big deal? But if you want to maximize wins and minimize losses, which is the key to successful poker, then you need to realize that betting is an art.
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> iPoker Moves Past Party Poker - 01-29-08
> Mugger Walks Off With Aussie Millions Cash - 01-22-08
> Poker Stars Breaks Online Poker Record - 01-03-08
> Online Poker Scuppered By USA And EU Deal - 12-19-07
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> Online Poker Cheating On Full Tilt - 12-03-07
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