Most people who are looking to improve at a skill tend to take the same first step: Acquire more information. And whether it's in the form of reading books, watching instructional videos, or hiring a coach, serious poker players often go the same route. But sometimes, the best teaching is that which removes, rather than adds. And especially in the case of poker, where there are so many misconceptions and false beliefs, the removal of what is false can be more impactful towards win-rates than adding more concepts.
In the video and article below, I tackle five of the most insidious and destructive poker myths that have spread to the masses and are costing many poker players tons of money. Check it out here as we debunk some widely held beliefs that may be standing in the way of your poker success:
Here is the Cliff's notes version of the video:
Myth #5: I’m Often Priced In From the Big Blind
Reality - Once there is a raise and multiple callers, the big blind's hand loses substantial equity because now he must beat the entire field of players rather than just the original raiser. The seemingly great pot odds one is getting from the big blind can easily be overshadowed by how poor your hand's equity becomes once the pot goes multi-way.
It's also important to note that when you are out of position and don't have the initiative, your equity realization will be poor. A good rule of thumb is:
You will only realize around 2/3 of your raw equity when out of position without the initiative.
So a hand with 30% raw equity will usually wind up winning the pot only around 20% of the time in this scenario. When you call with a marginal hand with only 15% equity preflop (which is quite common in a multi-way pot), you'll usually only realize around 10% of that equity from the big blind, and your pot odds are rarely as good as the 9:1 odds that you'd actually need to break even. All too often, the big blind player on the right is throwing his money down the drain here with most preflop holdings:
Myth #4: I Needed To Bet to Find Out Where I’m At:
Reality - If betting for information is the main reason for your bet, you are at best not maximizing your profits and at worst you are bleeding money. Profitable reasons to bet in poker are for value or for equity denial. Information can be a nice side benefit for these types of bets, but one pays a price for that information (often unnecessarily as information can be gained by checking instead).
More information can be found on this topic here, but rest assured that betting to find out where you are at is often too expensive and fails to yield the type of immediate clarity that would justify the investment.
Myth #3: Protecting Against Flush Draws
Reality - On the flop, you can't protect against flush draws without over-playing many medium strength holdings. Flush draws usually have too much equity and implied odds, and it's a futile task to try getting them to fold to one bet. A better approach is to think in terms of extracting value from these draws that will inevitably call. It's also important to value protecting your range and your stack over protecting against draws on any one given flop. Often some fold equity will begin to set in on the turn once a brick card comes and the equity of your opponent's draws have diminished. At that point, if you size up, and if your opponents still call at the wrong price, the chips will flow your way in the long run.
Myth #2: Short-Handed Games Have Less Action Than Full-Ring Games
Reality - If you want to play as many hands as possible while still playing a solid strategy, there is nothing better (and more action-packed) than a short-handed game. In a 9-handed or 10-handed game with a reasonable amount of 3-betting, it is hard to profitably play more than 20-25% of hands. However, in a 4-handed game, it can be possible to profitably play 30-45% of hands and possibly even more depending on your opponents.
Having less players left to act behind you reduces the threat of your opponents waking up with premium hands in your blind spot. Once this is less of a concern, your ranges can widen accordingly. Short-handed games also put your hand-reading skills to the test as you'll be in the action more and faced with more complex decisions. While it's true that many times your opponents won't hold a strong hand at the same time that you do in a short-handed game, that opens up more creative avenues to winning pots than relying on a full-ring "cooler" that will not always work in your favor.
Myth #1: I Put You On Ace-King
Reality - This is the earth is flat belief of poker, and it still runs rampant in card rooms today. It is still all too common for someone to raise preflop and for another player to put that player on ace-king while ignoring all the other possibilities of hands they can have. One of the cardinal sins of bad poker play is putting an opponent on just one hand and forgetting that he is playing an entire range of hands for most sets of actions. This myopic focus on just ace-king (or any single holding) can lead to being blind-sided post-flop when an opponent makes an unlikely value hand. The good news is that whenever you hear your opponents talking about "putting you on ace-king", you know you are in a great poker game!
Bonus Myth: Blockers are Always Very Important and Powerful
Reality - Actually blockers usually only add 2-3% of an effect in most situations. If a play is really bad, it will likely still be bad even with a positive blocker effect. In other words, if you are getting ready to make a huge hero call against an extremely tight, value-heavy player because of your strong blockers, or you are about to make a kamikaze bluff against a calling station because you block the nuts, think again! Look past your own hand and consider the other variables. Blockers are best used as more of a tie-breaker for when your decision between two options is fairly close after considering the full picture.
PTO Poker Proposal: "Blockers" Should Be Called "Reducers"
And remember that "blocker" is really a misnomer. If you hold JJ and your opponent jams all-in on a 7-8-9 board, you don't exactly "block" JT because he can still have it! You have merely reduced the probability that he holds JT, but you haven't eliminated it altogether. Therefore, it is much better to think of hands like JJ on this board as having a "reducer" effect, not a "blocker" effect. Otherwise you might assume that something is impossible ("He can't have the nuts!") when in reality it is all too probable once your tight opponent goes all-in.
These myths are some of the more common, widely held falsehoods that I come across all the time in private coaching sessions and while playing live poker. But they are really just the beginning. Too often, poker players don't realize what they don't know, and inaccurate assumptions and beliefs can get very expensive. If you are ready to unlearn the things that are holding you back in poker and reach your full potential, book a free consultation here. PTO Poker was also recently featured in the Feedspot Top 30 Poker Coaching Blogs. You can view the full list here: Feedspot Top 30 Coaching Blogs and Websites in 2024
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