Poker ‘leaks’ explained

Everyone makes mistakes; in life we foul something up -usually trying to put something together without reading the instructions-learn a good lesson, and make sure we never commit the same mistake again. However, there are people out there who for some unknown reason refuse to learn from their errors: They go to work hung-over; get in trouble; vow to never drink on a weeknight again; and a week later they are in the same situation.

Well, these people are especially common in poker games, where mistakes can be small and almost go unnoticed. In poker uncorrected mistakes are known as ‘leaks’, holes in your game, and they can be very costly. If you continue to make big mistakes these are not leaks; they are glaring holes! This article is about leaks, so if you have any glaring holes you’ll need to pick up a book on basic strategy.

There are different types of leaks:

• Frequent small mistakes
• Infrequent small mistakes
• Non-Strategic mistakes

Frequent mistakes are when the decision will come up quite often. A frequent small mistake could constitute anything from playing too many suited hands pre-flop, to always attempting a continuation bet that has no chance of folding out the other player(s).

An infrequent small mistake is harder to pinpoint: Instead of playing too many suited hands, it’s more likely to involve playing one or two specific hands. Instead of blasting out continuation bets that have no chance of success, infrequent small mistakes are missing thin value bets on the river.

Non-Strategic mistakes involve aspects of the game that take place before the cards are dealt: Playing drunk or tired is a leak in your game. Playing under-rolled is a leak. Sitting in the first available seat, instead of scouting out the best games is a leak. Being too lazy to open your PokerTracker data-base, or not taking notes on players is a leak.

The easiest leaks to remedy are the non-strategic ones. Stop, take a deep breath, and realize you don’t have to play RIGHT NOW. If you’re not in the right mind-set to play don’t: If you are in such a hurry to start flinging chips into the pot you cannot spend 15 minutes scouting out a few tables you shouldn’t be playing cards right now.

The best approach to take is to tell yourself going in you are going to allot x amount of time to table selection: You’ll only open up 1 table at a time online until you have checked every player at the table to see if they are in your PokerTracker DB. Make sure you know you don’t play ok drunk or tired: that you need to be at your peak mentally and physically to beat the game.

Strategic mistakes are a little harder to identify and correct; especially if they are of the infrequent variety. A good player should be able to spot a frequent small mistake they are making simply by analyzing their own play. With infrequent mistakes it often takes another player pointing it out for you to notice it. This is where friends and poker discussions come in handy; and you should always keep an open-mind when someone is critiquing you, don’t just get defensive about your play.

Mistakes can be costly, but they can also save you money if you learn from them. Leaks are more like a parasite slowly eating away at you, and all you have to do to get rid of the parasite is acknowledge its existence! Unfortunately, some people just let it eat away at them until there is nothing left.