I Watched a lot of good poker players do this, and I make a lot off those that practice this subtle mistake. Here is how it starts…you went in with Ks Js, the flop is 5h 8c Qs, there is a bet and 1 caller, comes to you and you think….ok a 10 hits and I am 4 to the STR, a Spade hits and I am 4 to the Flush, the 10 of spades hit and I am 4 to the str, 4 to the flush, 4 to the royal flush, you call, there is now a raise, you have to know you are probably facing Q’s up, but you just put in a bet and all those outs IF one of the cards hits…you call the turn is the As, there is now a bet you call, a raise, you call again – you are 4 to the flush now and it’s the Nut Flush!! The River is…..9d – crap, there is a bet you fold, a raise, a re-raise a call the pot goes to a player holding A 8 beating out Q 5. You think to yourself – that’s Hold’em, type NH and go onto the next.

Sound reasonable?? Well think again!! That will kill your poker bankroll and fast…read the section on Pot Odds it will help. What gets players into trouble here is they started with great cards after mucking 10 or 20, and just can’t believe the correct play is to muck those beautiful cards when the next card could bring so many possibilities, and if you do this enough, 2 things happen. One you get lucky, and pull 2 running cards to make your hand – THAT YOU REMEMBER – and you will see your bank roll slowly go away wondering how it happened when you won several huge pots. This happens a lot in limit games, and is not as noticeable, in No Limit and Pots Limit, doing it once or twice in a session will also bankrupt you, you know what you did, but justify it in you mind as a bad beat, never really attributing it to the bad call at the flop that put you in the situation to being with.

Players that do this most of the time never realize it is happening, if they went in with 3 3 and the flop misses they fold, so do not see or believe they are fishing at all – we are human and humans LOVE to play, so it is easy for us to justify our play. If the flop fits (Gives you a Set, Top Pair, 4 to the Flush, 4 to the Strait, or Middle Pair with a strong Kicker) stay, if it not – GET OUT OF THE HAND!!!

BTW – this was a problem I had to overcome – it is hard, but if this rings a bell in the back of your mind, or think I wrote this about you – don’t, it simply a part of the evolution of a good player to an even better player!

Thanks to TechMan Poker for contributing this article!

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