What are some common holdem leaks?

[flopdanutz]

i play relatively tight, i think sometimes I leak money by not playing certain hands with positive EV or misplay the flop and turn and or river. Sometimes I take AK too far or not far enough. sometimes i pay off the person who drew or fold the better hand on the turn. I also preflop raise with marginal hands in s shorthanded game and take it too far. Sometimes in a shorthanded game when a player is very loose agressive I call him down all the way to either win or lose with middle pair (when I should have raised or folded). What are some common leaks you had and how did you plug them up to become more successful?

Making a mistake is one thing but having a leak in your game that others will try to exploit is another!

[SunTzu68]

One of the most common mistakes I see in games is cold calling two bets preflop in the wrong situation. IE....Cold calling two bets preflop from a UTG raise w/ something like KJ or even AQ.

[bernie]

lots of great books have some sections on this. i know feeney has a common mistakes essay in his. cardplayer, im sure, has had articles on this. the essay of stages in a players career may give you some ideas. lots of stuff out there.

how to plug them? well, first you have to recognize them. go street by street analyzing.

posting hands and/or responding (before you see other's answers) will help. you can then check your response and reasoning against other players.

postflop mistakes can be more costly, but it's usually compounded by the fact one probably shouldnt have been in the hand anyways.

id recommend staying away from shorthanded til you get a very solid grasp of the full game. or vice versa. concentrate on one type of game. i found it easier to play/learn tighter (full game) first, then loosening up playing shorthanded later. it also made learning another type much easier after having another type down. not only full game to shorthanded, but limit to no limit/pot limit. ring game to tourneys.

play tight getting used to the easier hands to play, then add hands as you get more confident with your game. it may seem too tight at first, but you may pick up on it rather quick. play only a few hands really well, rather than a bunch of hands only marginally when building the foundation.

some may not agree, but it worked for me

b

[smd]

For me it's the big blind. Getting a free play of the big blind with a hand like K4, getting a king high flop. It seems like this type of hand always costs me as I'm outkicked at the end.

[Joe Tall]

I have trouble with 77, 88, 99, TT - overplaying and/or folding preflop in the wrong situation. I used to have BB trouble, however, I read and read and analyzed and analyzed and have come up with a 'BB defense plan' which has plugged the leak.

However, I think my most common leak is not adjusting to each individual game quickly enough, such as playing online vs live...trying to establish an image...building on it. Picking up on player reads quickly enough before it costs you too much money. Or even the opposite, trusting my player read so I don't go overboard. It's been more than once where I've thought ('I'm going to get shown a set of 6s by this guy - I should lay off the gas - and I didn't lay off my top pair/top kicker and it cost me) I found now that I'm comfortable with my strategy, the leaks are beyond hand selection now.

Good luck!
Larry Fish

[flopdanutz]

playing a 3-6 table, I raise UTG with KQo, a player that just sat down 3 hands ago is in cutoff or button and 3 bets
and I call.

flop comes King high, I check raise and he 3 bets.
Turn and river are blanks. He bets them both I call them both.
He turns over AA. I think to myself, how could I have saved money?

[flopdanutz]

Same table..
I raise early position AQo, no one has limped yet.
SB calls, BB folds.
flop comes 245 rainbow
SB bets, I call
turn comes 3
SB bets, I raise SB flat calls
river comes 2: SB bets I call.
SB turns over 56s
Fold the river?

[DaBartman]

KQo UTG is a limping hand. I am quite uncomfortable with it if the pot gets raised behind me. It is subject to be dominated. Fact is the only time I raise with it is if I'm open raising from LMP to LP position. If I'm on the button I'll generally raise a MP to LP limper or 3-bet a known steal raiser form the button or SB.

Bart

[Trefo]

I wouldn't have raised on the turn as you have a low end straight.....i would have called him all the way down though.

[Inthacup]

KQo UTG is a limping hand.

If you don't feel comfortable raising KQun UTG, then just fold it. KQun is not a limping hand, ESPECIALLY UTG. I think limping is the worst move here.

I am quite uncomfortable with it if the pot gets raised behind me.

You should be. The raiser could be raising with a variety of hands 9 9 and up. If you raise in EP and get 3-bet you have a lot more information on the player than if he just raises after you limp in.

It is subject to be dominated.

KK is subject to be dominated too. Does that mean you limp with it UTG for fear of AA?

[bernie]

sometimes ill limp, but ill usually raise with it here if i decide to play it. the more passive the game, the more likely ill limp.
sometimes, ill even fold it. and wait for EMP to play it.

the raise behind could be anything. it could be 22 or 67s or whatever. raising usually will give you a better read to start out with. unless of course youre with players who will cold call with anything. but on those types of tables, you may have gotten in cheaper than raising. they just want to see the flop, so they wont be raising much preflop. if they do, it can be predictable.

b

[bernie]

if you dont know the player. and you dont know his betting standards, and you have him HU, id call this down. unless you have a different read based on his actions other than the play of his hand...

b

[bernie]

was youre read strong enough to fold the river? it's only 1 bet. id call maybe looking for a split. also depends on how this player bets on paired boards. if you dont know, call.

b

[TimTimSalabim]

The most common (and costly) leaks I've seen, among otherwise solid players (including myself, at times):

1. Having top pair, weak kicker, and chasing all the way to the river with your 3-outer. Someone on one of these forums once said that this is the most costly mistake in hold'em, and I tend to believe it. It certainly does come up a lot.

2. Playing too tricky against non-tricky opponents. This one has many manifestations. One example would be, flopping or turning or even rivering a monster and failing to bet it, hoping someone else will bet it for you, then raking in a tiny pot when you could have built a huge one.

3. The ever-popular, crying call on the river. You're 99% sure that your straight or your two pair or whatever is beaten, but it's just too good a hand to fold. And sure enough, 99% of the time you lose that last bet. Of course, you have to learn to distinguish those from the times when you're only 70% sure you're beaten, and the pot is offering you sufficient odds to call.

How do you fix such leaks? You just fix them, I guess. You get tired of making the same mistake over and over, and so you stop doing it.

[rkiray]

Actually KQo came up many times in the S&M hand review I played in about a month ago. They highly recommended limping with it in either ep or mp. They said just occasionally raise with it to vary your game.

[Packerfan1]

In his wonderful 30/60 to 100/200 trip reports I think Sgt. Rock sums up a player's leaks perfectly by suggesting the following OTBS (Opportunities To Be Stupid).

PTMH (Playing Too Many Hands)

CTMR (Calling Too Many Raises)

TMC (Too Much Calling)

Initials to live by. (Hey, it's easier than the BIRCILLHE from Lee Jones that I kept on a piece of paper my first year of play... bonus points for anyone who remembers that one. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif )

Pack

I /forums/images/icons/heart.gif my dog but I /forums/images/icons/spade.gif my cat.

[SoBeDude]

I think I would have raised the flop, then if he bet in to me again on the turn I'd have to fold...

-Scott

[SoBeDude]

[SoBeDude]

Actually KQo came up many times in the S&M hand review I played in about a month ago. They highly recommended limping with it in either ep or mp. They said just occasionally raise with it to vary your game.

Wow thats very suprising. Did they explain the rationale behind it? If I've been playing this wrong I need to know why...

Is it a hand that should be limped with in a loose game, but raised with in a tight/typical?

-Scott

[SoBeDude]

...is not how to fix a leak, but how to properly identify it (them).

I'm struggling with this myself. I clearly have a leak (or two, or three...) but I'm having a hard time identifying them.

I think I've found one, and thats semi-bluff betting my 4 flush and 4 straight draws from EP in the typical loose games I find online.

I also think I'm completing the SB too often.

I'm still (desperately) looking for my other leaks.

-Scott

[Nottom]

I think folding on the turn to one bet is a mistake. I would expect to see something like a small Ace, an overpair, or some other hand you are beating here often enough to at least call looking for the split.

[SoBeDude]

against 2+2ers I'd agree,

but in the games I play, getting bet in to after you've raised the previous street means you're beat. they have at least 2 pair, a set, or an even better made hand. hence the value of the raise on the flop.

-Scott

[Joe Tall]

I found my specific leaks by simply going through hand analysis over and over...keeping a log of what hands I've frequently lost with, overplayed, layed down, called down (and lost) should have raised, etc. Basically when I lost a hand, I tried to apply a reason. Especially when I know I made a mistake. After a few 1000 hands I found things like:

0. FAILED TO RECOGNIZE A SET.
1. Overplayed AQo, AJo - too aggressive when rags hit trying to drive isolated-weak limper off.
2. Failed to defend JTo QJo in BB when loose raiser came in with Axs.
3. Over playing 'second-nut' too agressively when the board is paired. (this one goes right up there with - failed to recognized a set when my nut-flush is taken down by a full house)
4. Unable to release pocket JJ-QQ, with no overcards on board while heads-up with a preflop raiser, re-raising with AA or KK.
5. Not taking the free card after value raising a flush draw in proper position.
6. Went for a check-raise against weak player who is just going to call down anyway. (Mike Caro's FPS "fancy play syndrome")

I've developed this short-hand/language for each mistake and I focus on the ones that reoccur. Then I try to make the proper adjustments. Which is the challange and the beauty of the game!

[rkiray]

Actually the comments are generally very terse in S&M hand reviews. I guess the leave the reasoning as exercises for the student, although they sometimes give short hints. I just went back and looked and found for example someone raised UTG with KQo and their comment was "ususally call". WHat was even more clear is they definetely want this hand folded if someone raises with it in front of you. They frequently commented good when this was done and fold when it wasn't. THis was an incrediably tight game (generally around 10% of people seeing the flop), so they even recommend calling with it in tight games.

[SunTzu68]

In a tight game limp in UTG with KQ off? I have to agree with InThaCup here....raise it or fold it. I'm ok with either decision, but I don't like smooth calling this hand. Do you really want to invite people in cheaply to play against you or do you want to limit the field w/ KQ off? If you are raised after a smooth call what hands could your opponenet have? If you are three bet what hands could your opponent have?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

But do you /forums/images/icons/club.gif your seal?