Why You Lose at Holdem
“Gambling: the only sure way of getting nothing for something.” –Wilson Mizner
Mizner’s quote is funny because it’s true. Those of us who have stuffed a paycheck or two into an online poker account only to see that account drop to 0 in just a few hours know the truth of Mizner’s words. Why is it so easy to lose money playing poker?
To understand why you lose at poker you have to understand the attitudes, play styles, and behaviors that can lead to big losses at the poker table.
Here’s a breakdown of the 10 most common reasons you lose at poker.
- You lose at poker because you play too loose pre-flop.
Truth is, most poker players take part in more hands than they should. It’s common to see poker players playing so loose pre-flop that they burn up their bankroll before they ever see their first set of good cards. Deciding whether or not to play a hand through before the flop is a matter of deciding if you have cards that are good enough to play through the flop.
- You lose at poker because you don’t know when to fold your hands on a clear beat post-flop.
Not knowing when to fold post-flop demonstrates a lack of discipline and a lack of poker knowledge. If you don’t have enough experience playing poker to know what hands are good and what hands must be folded, you should at least have the discipline to learn from your mistakes.
- You lose at poker because you don’t understand the importance of position
When poker players use the word “position,” they’re talking about a player’s position at the table. The dealer button is the position standard, meaning the dealer has the best possible position in Texas holdem. He’s the last to act, which means he has the most information. If you don’t understand the power of position, you’ll never succeed playing poker.
- You lose at poker because you don’t understand the importance of pot odds.
Calculating poker pot odds means understanding the price a player has to pay to call a bet. Think of this cost in direct proportion to the current pot size. If you don’t understand pot odds, you’ll lose money at the poker table every time. If your hand has a better chance of winning than the odds of winning the pot, you call. If not, you don’t. It really is as simple as that.
- You lose at poker because you’re too focused on other player’s mistakes.
Poker on television and in the movies has convinced many people that the proper way to play poker is to concentrate on everyone else at the table, figure out their “tells,” and try to get in their heads. Those are very advanced tactics that poker players who are losing money don’t need to worry about. Concentrate on yourself.
- You lose at poker because you don’t trust conventional poker strategy
If you think you’re smarter than the poker pros and statisticians who are providing you totally free poker advice, you’re wrong, and you’ll lose money every time you play.
- You lose at poker because you don’t understand the difference between cash game strategy and tournament strategy.
If you play the same tight-aggressive cash game style in poker tournaments, you won’t succeed. Poker tournaments reward an entirely different style of play than cash games. A super-tight aggressive approach works well when the blinds are low in relation to the size of your stack, but when the blinds are high in relation to the size of your stack, you have to loosen up and play even more aggressively.
- You lose at poker because you fold too often.
The two most important decisions in Texas hold’em come pre-flop and at the turn; pre-flop decisions are whether or not to play your hand at all; turn decisions are all about pot odds. (The turn is when the price of continuing goes up.)
If you can master the pre-flop decision and gain an understanding of pot odds to inform your decision at the turn, you’ll be way ahead of most of the sloppy competition you’ll see online and even in traditional poker rooms.
- You lose at poker because you are drunk or high.
Check out the online poker forums and you’ll see a wealth of addictive and alcoholic thinking. Post after post, you’ll read people talking about the perfect combinations of drugs and alcohol that put them in the right mindset for winning money playing poker. Sedatives, uppers, good old marijuana, and plenty of single malt Scotch whiskey is consumed on the road to poker playing Nirvana.
Avoid this trap. You need a clear head to win money at poker. Smoke your grass on your downtime and save yourself some big losses.
- You lose at poker because it just isn’t your game
At some point, you might just have to face facts. Your losing streak may be an indication that poker is not the best game for you.
This doesn’t have to be bad news. Many people find happiness (and winnings) at online blackjack tables or playing video poker in their local casino. If you’re losing tons of money playing poker, stop the bleeding for a while and look for a game at which you’re better.
Somewhere among these ten common reasons you lose at poker is the antidote to your poker slump. If that little slump has turned into a two or three year losing streak, it might be time to consider whether or not you should even be playing poker at all. There are tons of casino games to choose from.
Why not give them a try if you keep losing at poker?
