Compound Errors

This month we have a very simple Pro Tip but an important one. There is a trap that many players fall into again and again without actually realising what's happening. Hopefully after reading this you will learn to avoid it...

If you were to ask a group of poker players, whether professionals or otherwise, what the most important thing is to be a winning poker player you will come up with an array of answers.

Patience, discipline, understanding of odds, bluffing, being able to read you opponent. Surely the most important thing though is the cards!

Some may put it top of their lists but not as many as you may imagine.

Many people's starting hand requirements are too vague. "Well it's only a fiver before the flop and three people have already called," is a common excuse many use. What they don't realise is what happens next!

Compound: to intensify by an added element, composed of two or more parts.

Let's take an Omaha hand as an example. Many would take 10-J-Q-K as a premium starting hand and would play it for a pre-flop raise. What, however, if it's to you for that fiver and you pick up 5s-6h-10d-Jc. It's only a fiver right? Wrong!

The flop comes down Jh, 10h, 2d. You've hit the flop, or have you really?

Don't you wish that you had the 10-J-Q-K ? Of course you do. But if a good player has a hand like that how much can you win in the pot, or how much can you lose? There is now £25 in the pot. If you call a pot bet now or even a raise is your mistake five times as bad? Have you got the point yet? You don't have to play the hand in the first place!

It's a similar thing with, say, A-9 in holdem. You call a small raise of £10 before the flop and hit the Ace against someone with a better kicker. The next bet is going to be considerably more than a tenner, isn't it? See how the mistake magnifies and escalates? What are you trying to make with that A-9 (don't forget you're about 50/1 to flop two pair and even if you do what's to say someone else won't flop a better two pair?). It might sound simple but the best way to avoid these post-flop situations is to throw away starting hands like these before the flop. The next time you're playing holdem and you're on the small blind with 10-6 off suit with about four limpers ask yourself, "Do I really want to complete?"

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