I have been thinking about what constitutes very bad play in poker. Here is my list, hope that my viewers will comment and/or add some.
1. Raising with hands less than AA or KK from the blinds after limpers. I see this quite a bit, and frankly don't get it. Usually the raise is not enough to elicit folds and simply builds a big pot while the player is in the worst possible position. While it does scream uberstrength, I think that the handicap of poor position negates any psychological edge. Knowledge is power and position is knowledge.
2. Shoving with weak pairs. Come on guys, nothing says weak pair like shoving pre-flop. Yes you will be called by better pairs, and yes you will be called by strong aces and many other hands that are coin flips. Knock yourselves out.....which brings me to my next bad play.
3. Shoving with virtually nothing in the pot. Go ahead, pick up my blind and show your J/J. How much more value could you get by min-raising and having me pick up a pair of 10's on a ragged 10 high board? We have all been scorched by players getting lucky against our premium hands, but let's make some reasonable pre-flop raises to drive out the complete garbage and take the lead.
4. Calling and over calling shoves with weak hands. O.K., this is conditional. You have the chip lead and a short stack shoves. Depending on the stack sizes or your holdings it is perfectly reasonable to call with any two cards sometimes. What I don't get is the marginal calls with easily dominated hands and similar or only slightly larger stacks. And, don't get me started with the over calls of a called shove!!! We have all seen those monster pots, side pots, and more side pots created. Trust me, most of the over calls should have folded. True, sometimes they make sense, like a short stack shoving, a medium stack just calling, and you the big stack waking up with QQ or better. Now is the time to re-raise to either isolate the original raiser or take out the caller too.
5. Letting yourself get so short that you have no options. O.K., so this worked out well for me last Friday night but usually it is a recipe for disaster. Most poker books call for taking a stand (this means shoving) with any two cards when you are under 10 big blinds. Why? Because 10 big blinds is a threatening stack even to the big boys. Three big blinds, not so much.
6. This may seem to fly in the face of #5, but sometimes, sometimes, you really need to let yourself get very short. The way it happens is you are prepared to shove with ATC, but it gets pre-shoved before you. Or, you are in a blind and all hell breaks loose after you. We have all experienced that miracle comeback chip and chair phenomena or seen it happen. I too often see players just giving up by making stupid calls, limping with short stacks then calling raises, even throwing their last few chips in from the blind with poor cards to "build a pot". Yeah, sometimes it works out but mostly you are better to check your option, hope for a great flop and get them in with a made hand or super draw.
7. Poor bet sizing. Ideally a bet is made to accomplish a purpose, to elicit a fold, to make those on draws pay incorrect odds, to build a pot with a great hand. I often see people make really bad bets like min-raising after lots of callers out of position, or min raising from the button which fails to cause anyone to fold, or overbetting with the nuts (though against some players can be a great play as it denotes weakness). Mostly I see players making weak bets out of position in an effort to see a cheap turn or river. I will usually raise these bets with a made hand.
There are tons more, these are just the ones on the top of my list.
1. Raising with hands less than AA or KK from the blinds after limpers. I see this quite a bit, and frankly don't get it. Usually the raise is not enough to elicit folds and simply builds a big pot while the player is in the worst possible position. While it does scream uberstrength, I think that the handicap of poor position negates any psychological edge. Knowledge is power and position is knowledge.
2. Shoving with weak pairs. Come on guys, nothing says weak pair like shoving pre-flop. Yes you will be called by better pairs, and yes you will be called by strong aces and many other hands that are coin flips. Knock yourselves out.....which brings me to my next bad play.
3. Shoving with virtually nothing in the pot. Go ahead, pick up my blind and show your J/J. How much more value could you get by min-raising and having me pick up a pair of 10's on a ragged 10 high board? We have all been scorched by players getting lucky against our premium hands, but let's make some reasonable pre-flop raises to drive out the complete garbage and take the lead.
4. Calling and over calling shoves with weak hands. O.K., this is conditional. You have the chip lead and a short stack shoves. Depending on the stack sizes or your holdings it is perfectly reasonable to call with any two cards sometimes. What I don't get is the marginal calls with easily dominated hands and similar or only slightly larger stacks. And, don't get me started with the over calls of a called shove!!! We have all seen those monster pots, side pots, and more side pots created. Trust me, most of the over calls should have folded. True, sometimes they make sense, like a short stack shoving, a medium stack just calling, and you the big stack waking up with QQ or better. Now is the time to re-raise to either isolate the original raiser or take out the caller too.
5. Letting yourself get so short that you have no options. O.K., so this worked out well for me last Friday night but usually it is a recipe for disaster. Most poker books call for taking a stand (this means shoving) with any two cards when you are under 10 big blinds. Why? Because 10 big blinds is a threatening stack even to the big boys. Three big blinds, not so much.
6. This may seem to fly in the face of #5, but sometimes, sometimes, you really need to let yourself get very short. The way it happens is you are prepared to shove with ATC, but it gets pre-shoved before you. Or, you are in a blind and all hell breaks loose after you. We have all experienced that miracle comeback chip and chair phenomena or seen it happen. I too often see players just giving up by making stupid calls, limping with short stacks then calling raises, even throwing their last few chips in from the blind with poor cards to "build a pot". Yeah, sometimes it works out but mostly you are better to check your option, hope for a great flop and get them in with a made hand or super draw.
7. Poor bet sizing. Ideally a bet is made to accomplish a purpose, to elicit a fold, to make those on draws pay incorrect odds, to build a pot with a great hand. I often see people make really bad bets like min-raising after lots of callers out of position, or min raising from the button which fails to cause anyone to fold, or overbetting with the nuts (though against some players can be a great play as it denotes weakness). Mostly I see players making weak bets out of position in an effort to see a cheap turn or river. I will usually raise these bets with a made hand.
There are tons more, these are just the ones on the top of my list.
2 comments:
I hate all of these. I think the worst is the pre-flop raise from the blinds. Stupid. I try to behave but I must admit that I've done all of these things. I'm not proud of it. Short stacks are the worst. I sit there and sit there and sit there and finally get AQ or something and shove, only to find AA or KK down the line. It never fails. My goal is to always get better.
The next thing I'm going to try super hard to do is NOT show my hands unless I am called. What have you to say on this particular item? It seems pretty popular to show cards, especially bluffs. Most pros say never. What say you?
I will sometimes show my cards, particularly if aces, but in general think it is a bad idea. I have tried many times to show the stone cold nuts to establish that I am a super rock, but I still get players calling me down light so feel it really has little value. The problem and/or opportunity of showing bluffs is that it kind of shuts you down on future attempts. That said, if you show the bluff then it is wise to set up a similar situation where you get the call holding a great hand cause they "put you on the bluff". Bottom line, some of the best players I play with never ever show their hands unless called on the river (or are first in line to show).
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