Most common mistakes Nemo's and Donkey's make (and me too)

**Beavis68** · 05-01-2006

I am having a little bit of fun playing 25nl with a min buy in (actually I buy in for 24bbs). The play that I see is crazy. Watching others make mistakes against me is helping my tournament play I think. If I analyze the mistakes these chumps make enough, maybe I won't make them.

Sizing Bets:

I was sitting with about 5.40 in chips. There were a few limpers, and I was in the BB with JJ, I kick it up to 1.50, and get one caller.

The flop comes J 5 3 - I check, the caller raises to $3. Now I only have 90c left. There is about 3.50 in the pot plus his $3 then I push in. so there is 9.50 in the pot and he only had to call 90c. So he sits there forever thinking, and finally calls with KTs and not one of his suits on the board.

What was his mistake? Obviously he made an atrocious preflop call. My stack did not give him the implied odds he needed.

But his bet size was silly and left him no room to play poker. A bet of 1.5-2 should have been plenty to get me off of my hand had I missed the flop, but gave him options if I came over the top. He may as well have just pushed all in. Don't tie yourself to a pot with a hopeless hand.

**Rascal** · 05-01-2006

now that I actually understand the week of poker cramming (vacation + 2 poker books = jello for brains)

"Theory of Poker"
"Small Stakes Holdem"

If you play tight and only use hands that have good value, people will call you with almost everything. Check Raising is extremely profitable, although it can backfire sometimes less than 20% of the time for me.

Sometimes I thank people for calling my hands.

Its even worse with pocket pairs. I've had people call all in with pocket 55, 66, 33. (in the .10 +$50 tourneys and 3.30+rebuys it happens a lot).

Even seen 23o and things like 45o.

The past few days have been profitable even in .01/.02's I'm making a decent hourly rate (at least US min wage). I'd love to see what its like up at the 25's

Also if you know pot odds your leagues ahead of most people playing on the net.

**Pok 7's** · 05-01-2006

Originally Posted by Rascal

Sometimes I thank people for calling my hands.

IMO it's never a good idea to thank people who are calling with weak hands when they pay you off. Or insulting them when they suck out on you when they hit a 2 or 3 outer against you. They're doing exactly what you want them to, and you're taking their $. That's all you can ask for, give them any more information then they need to play better aginst you and it takes $ out of your pocket. I find it's best to not tap on the glass....it scares and disturbs the fish.

**pocketje** · 05-01-2006

Originally Posted by Beavis68

I am having a little bit of fun playing 25nl with a min buy in (actually I buy in for 24bbs). The play that I see is crazy. Watching others make mistakes against me is helping my tournament play I think. If I analyze the mistakes these chumps make enough, maybe I won't make them.

Sizing Bets:

I was sitting with about 5.40 in chips. There were a few limpers, and I was in the BB with JJ, I kick it up to 1.50, and get one caller.

The flop comes J 5 3 - I check, the caller raises to $3. Now I only have 90c left. There is about 3.50 in the pot plus his $3 then I push in. so there is 9.50 in the pot and he only had to call 90c. So he sits there forever thinking, and finally calls with KTs and not one of his suits on the board.

What was his mistake? Obviously he made an atrocious preflop call. My stack did not give him the implied odds he needed.

But his bet size was silly and left him no room to play poker. A bet of 1.5-2 should have been plenty to get me off of my hand had I missed the flop, but gave him options if I came over the top. He may as well have just pushed all in. Don't tie yourself to a pot with a hopeless hand.

What about this major one:

$1000 tourney. Last 15. Me attemting a steal with 33 on the button.

3x raise? nope.. allin. BB has QQ. Busted.

**Jason75** · 05-01-2006

Originally Posted by Beavis68

IWhat was his mistake? Obviously he made an atrocious preflop call. My stack did not give him the implied odds he needed.

But his bet size was silly and left him no room to play poker. A bet of 1.5-2 should have been plenty to get me off of my hand had I missed the flop, but gave him options if I came over the top. He may as well have just pushed all in. Don't tie yourself to a pot with a hopeless hand.

I think this is a good topic that doesn't get discussed on its own often enough (good thread Beav).

I'm with Beav here . . . . bet sizing is one of the most critical skills in poker. While most folks will tell you to always bet 3x the bb PF and 2/3 the pot post flop and all that nice stuff . . . the reality is that it is actually much more complex.

You've got to take into account the size of your stack, your opponent's stack, what hand you think your opponent has (if raising/reraising), what type of opponents remain to act, and in tourneys what your M and your remaining opponent's M is.

**ypsieast** · 05-01-2006

The most common mistake that I see the fish make: calling down with dominated hands.
The most common would be Ax (x<10)
You always see donkeys call down each street only to turn over something like A5 on a board like A J 9 2 6. (Some will even do this with a weak King)
I will make a note of anyone that calls a substantial raise pf with a weak ace or someone that calls down their TPwK.
The other common example would be overplaying middle pocket pairs. If someone bets their 77 on a board of A K 9 and then calls a reraise or keeps firinig on every street - they are getting notes.
They fall in love with these average hands and can't seem to realize they are beat when it couldn't be more obvious.

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