How to Avoid Playing Too Many Hands in Poker

Making too many hands in poker can lead to large losses, so avoiding this pitfall requires setting a strict starting hand requirement and understanding how position plays into play.

Regularly review your hand history to assess progress and performance. Doing this can help identify errors quickly and make adjustments as necessary.

1. Don’t Over-Raise

Typically speaking, the more money an opponent puts into a pot indicates their strength of hand; this is why beginners often raise their bets to gain information from opponents even with inferior hands.

Avoid this common error by carefully considering your opponents’ betting patterns and table dynamics before raising. In addition, adjust your own playing style according to what is happening at the current table dynamic.

When playing against aggressive opponents, tighter range and waiting for strong hands may be more profitable; but on passive tables increasing aggression to steal pots could prove more fruitful – just make sure not to overraise and give opponents sufficient odds to call your raises!

2. Don’t Over-Fold

Mistakenly folding too frequently is another mistake poker players make and can lead to significant money lost over time as opponents recognize your pattern of folding more frequently and start bluffing against you more frequently.

Adopting a starting hand chart and paying attention to position can help prevent you from folding too many hands prematurely, while at the same time keeping in mind that even weaker hands may still offer value in certain situations, and shouldn’t be dismissed too quickly.

Consideration should also be given to board texture when making decisions to fold. A weak pair with an excellent kicker may look strong on a dry board but may lack equity against coordinated opponents. Therefore, it’s crucial that after each session you review your hands and set goals for improvement.

3. Don’t Over-Call

Playing too many hands at once is one of the biggest mistakes a poker player can make, particularly during periods of bad run. Playing too many can quickly lead to significant losses; to prevent this mistake from reoccurring, be selective with your starting hands and aggressive post-flop.

Example: if you call with A-6 offsuit pre-flop and run into a big Ace on the river, this hand could potentially result in you losing a large pot. Therefore it would be better to fold and wait for stronger hands to come.

Do not over-call with weak value hands such as top pair good kicker in early position if your opponents can easily read you, giving away too much information and making reading you easier for them. Slow playing these hands also reveals your intentions which could make bluffing difficult.

4. Don’t Over-Bet

General advice suggests you should avoid overbetting until your opponents’ calling range has been restricted, although in certain situations overbetting may be appropriate; for instance, if you know an opponent will likely play weak hands early and late in a hand then overbetting is an excellent way to increase pressure on them and put pressure on their hand.

Over-betting can be an effective strategy that can help bluff opponents, extract value from weak hands, and manipulate the size of a pot. But over-betting may also reveal your hand to opponents and make it more difficult for you to gain value later. That is why reviewing hands after every session and setting improvement goals are so critical in helping catch and correct mistakes quickly.

5. Don’t Over-Sit

One of the biggest mistakes players can make when they experience bad luck is not sitting out hands when their fortune changes, which not only limits winning potential, but is also rude towards other players at the table.

As important, it is also vital that you refrain from speaking during hands not being played; doing so may reveal information and mislead opponents into making poor decisions.

As part of your effort to increase your win rate and keep boredom at bay, try playing as few hands as possible in order to increase your win rate. Strong starting hands with emphasis on position are also recommended since being in an advantageous position provides you with additional information and allows you to exploit opponents more easily resulting in +EV decisions and higher profits.