HomeIf you read last week’s article, then you’ll already know that many beginner poker players find it difficult to fold – often playing too many hands or calling bets to chase draws when they should be laying their cards down. Don’t worry too much if you’ve made these mistakes yourself – it’s all part of the learning curve. Just try and avoid making them in the future. Today we look at two more mistakes that follow a similar theme.
Overvaluing the Ace
The ace is a powerful card in poker, but that doesn’t mean that every hand containing an ace is particularly strong. A lot of poker players make the mistake of over playing every hand that contains an ace. An ace with a low kicker is not necessarily that great a hand; even if you hit an ace on the flop you might come up against an opponent who also has an ace – but holds a better kicker. We’re not saying don’t ever play an ace with a low kicker, but just be aware that it isn’t as good as a hand as you might think.
Overvaluing Suited Cards
Flushes in poker are great hands – but they don’t actually come along that often. Many poker players believe that any two cards of the same suit is a great starting hand, but this really isn’t the case. An ace and a king of the same suit is a great starting hand, and suited connectors can be quite powerful too (such as a 9 and a 10 of the same suit). However, two random cards like a 4 and a jack of the same suit is not very good at all. There is a time and a place for playing suited cards, but don’t get carried away every time you get dealt two suited cards.
Next week, we’ll teach you some more mistakes you don’t want to be making.
