Like a tiny snowball causing a giant avalanche, making a small mistake while playing poker can lead to disastrous consequences. This is especially true while playing no-limit Texas Hold’em. The ability to put your entire stack on the line at any time greatly increases the impact that a single mistake can make. The earlier in a hand that you make a mistake, the more time that mistake has to snowball into an avalanche of bankroll destruction.
One of the best ways to have a significant impact on your overall profitability is to take a look at your pre-flop game and see if you have any leaks there. The mistakes that you make pre-flop are magnified on every street, as the pot grows larger and larger. That early position limp with 46s can end up costing you your entire stack when you get raised all in on the river with a bad flush. By playing tightly pre-flop and using position to your advantage you can minimize the overall cost of mistakes.
Bet sizing is one method that can be used to reduce losses. If you currently make continuation bets (cbets) of 80% of the current pot, try reducing your bet size to 65% of the pot. You will achieve nearly the same results with the upside of saving 15% of the pot when you make a cbet with air and get raised. On sites with “bet pot” buttons you will often run into people who either bet pot or nothing. Use this to your advantage! They are making costly mistakes by building large pots when often they will have marginal hands.
Pot size control is another method that can be used to reduce losses. If you raise pre-flop from the button with AJo and the flop comes out 5JK rainbow you now have a decent hand with good showdown value. Most people would make a continuation bet here, but perhaps a better move is to check. This keeps the pot small and allows you to get value on later streets from hands such as 9J or TJ that might fold to a cbet on that flop. It also gives your opponents a chance to bluff at a pot. You are even setting yourself up to play flopped sets in a tricky way while in position.
When playing online, you should be using a tracking program such as PokerTracker or Holdem Manager as well as a heads up display (HUD). A HUD gives you access to vital statistics such as “Fold to cbet”. If you are up against an opponent who folds to cbets 90% of the time you can safely make small cbets for 50% of the pot and lower your possible loss on a check raise. Against an opponent who folds to cbets only 25% of the time you probably want to only cbet when you have a good hand or a good draw.
The snowball effect applies to tournaments as well as cash games. A great way to keep perspective on not making mistakes early on in a tournament is to repeat the saying “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” but with a poker slant “A chip in the stack is worth two in the pot”. Basically every chip you have is valuable and you need to think twice before putting any into the pot.
Early in a tournament the blinds are very small so it might not seem like a big deal to limp marginal hands in bad positions, but those chips add up. Later in a tournament the blinds get larger relative to your chip stack and become even more valuable. While it might be tempting to complete the small blind with 8Jo after a few limpers getting great pot odds, those chips are more valuable in your stack than in the pot on a long shot of hitting a monster flop.
Steer clear of making the mistake of putting in chips with marginal hands and you can avoid causing an avalanche!
