Phil Gordon's Common Mistakes

Phil Gordon is one of my favorite professional poker players. Not only is he great in those Celebrity poker tournaments but he's also a world class poker player. Here's a short article he wrote regarding common mistakes by your average poker player.

Everyone makes mistakes. The thing is, a good player will learn from them while a bad player will make the same mistake over and over again. And poker players that can exploit these mistakes will win.

Here are some of the most common mistakes that bad players make and my usual methods for exploiting them:

A player doesn't bluff enough. When these players bet or raise, I usually give them credit for a good hand. When they check, I will usually bet to try and take the pot.

A player overvalues top pair. The "average" winning hand in Hold 'em is two pair. Yet many players are willing to take tremendous risks with top pair. When I have a hand that can beat a player who overvalues his top pair, I will over-bet the pot and put them into a position to make a big mistake. I go out of my way to play small pocket pairs against these players because I know that if I flop a set, I'm likely to get paid off in a huge way.

A player under-bets the pot. It is incredibly important, especially in No Limit Hold 'em, to make bets large enough to punish opponents for their draws. When a player under-bets the pot and I have a draw, I take advantage of their mistake by just calling the small bet. When I think I have him beat, I'll make a raise.

A player calls too much. I will very rarely bluff against a "calling station." I will, however, make value bets throughout the hand.

A player tightens up under pressure. Most bad players "squeeze" too much in the middle stages of a tournament, or when they're on the bubble. They tighten up and wait for a huge hand. Against these players, I will play a lot looser, looking to steal a larger share of the blinds and antes.

A player telegraphs the strength of his hand with "tells." I am always observing these players, whether I am in the hand or not.

Playing perfect poker may be nearly impossible for most players but, by recognizing your own tendencies - and those of your opponents - you're much more likely to limit your mistakes and capitalize on the weaknesses of others at the table.

More about Phil Gordon

Bluff Magazine | The Thrill of Poker, Poker Rankings, Poker Tournament Coverage

Here's a nice little Q&A with Bluff Magazine's player of the year, Phil Ivey. I think Phil's a great tournament player, probably one of the top three in the world. The funny thing is, many professional poker pros consider him an even better high stakes cash game player.

"With a chip and a chair, and an iconic stare, Phil Ivey clearly emerged in 2005 as the greatest player of his generation – or perhaps any generation, for that matter. Tell him that, though, and he’d probably just shrug and look at his shoes. Phil has no time for fame or ego – just a whole lotta gamble. Phil was surprised to learn he was number one, because, as a big cash game player (and we mean BIG cashgames!), he didn’t feel he’d entered enough tournaments to have a shot. This year, with a newfound commitment to tournament play, he could prove to be unstoppable. Bluff hails our first ever Player of the Year and poker’s most reluctant celebrity."

Bluff Magazine

People cheat at poker all the time...

This book should be interesting. It talks about cheating at Las Vegas poker rooms and at online poker rooms. I always thought this kind of stuff happened but never to me. But some of the things he says in this article is interesting. It would be fairly easy for two or three players at a table collude and take your money. I'm sure its happened to me before, both online and at the LV poker rooms.

"If you are one of the millions of people who've taken up online poker, there's a pretty good chance you are being cheated on a regular basis according to a man who may be the most successful gambling cheat ever. Richard Marcus knew every trick in the book when it came to fleecing the casinos. He retired without ever getting caught and is now warning poker players about what they are up against. Marcus spoke exclusively with George Knapp of the I-Team.
There's an old saying about poker. If you can't spot the sucker at the table, then the sucker is you. Considering how much money is involved in poker these days, Richard Marcus says it's entirely possible someone will shoot him for revealing that poker, despite its popularity, is crooked. It's rigged, both the online games and the live tournaments in Las Vegas casinos. He's written a new book called Dirty Poker in which he lays out the sordid details."

ABC7Chicago.com: Dirty Poker:

POKER - Image Problem

Nice little article regarding your poker image by Phil Gordon.

"Fix your image and realize that at the poker table, image is everything. You want to have the image of a thoughtful, fearless, aggressive, tight player that is observant, willing to take big chances, and has the best of it more often than not. Have the image of a good guy that respects opponents, gives back to the community, and is good for the game. Attain that image, and your opponents will run from your pots kicking and screaming. And, you might just get a loud cheer the next time you are in front of 200,000 fans at the racetrack."

ESPN.com - POKER - Image Problem

You need discipline to win at online poker

Here's a great line from the actor turned poker pro, James Woods. I strongly believe in what he's saying. You have to be disciplined to win at online poker. I realized that there will always be ups and downs when you play online, so you have to play a disciplined style of poker to leave a winner. If you play too long, you can lose your winnings OR lose more than you want. It's always good to set a limit for yourself. For example, if I win $250, I will quit. If I lose $250, I will quit. If you play a tight game, I think you can win $250 and then quit before you give it back. Stick with a limit and pull yourself away. James' response to Bluff magazine is what I follow myself.

Bluff: Excuse the interruption. You've been playing online?

James Woods: Yes. Every morning I get up and think: "OK, while I'm reading the paper I'm gonna just play." But there's a big distinction between playing and really playing -- you get people who say, "OK, I'm gonna settle into the evening and play poker all night," and of course, what happens is they go up a bit, down a bit, you might have a little rush and then go back down, but by and large they're gonna kind of grind themselves down. What grinds you down more than anything else is fatigue, sheer fatigue.

A friend of mine, who was once in a terrible car accident, plays poker for a living -- he hangs out at Hustler. He has to live off his poker winnings and plays incredibly tightly and aggressively -- he plays the tightest hand imaginable, but when he's got it, he plays. He will lay down a full house, if he thinks it might be the weaker full house, without even thinking about it; and the reason is he has to make $500 a day to live. He says: "If I make 500, I take my 500 and I get out of there before I make any mistakes." He says you have to learn to be disciplined more than anything you could possibly imagine. So I thought: "Well, I'm gonna try this as an experiment."

So about five or six weeks ago, I decided to get up every morning and play, and I have a kind of ritual: I play with the dog a little bit and, before I take a shower, I order my room service (I'm in a hotel at the moment), read the paper and play online. Which means that I'm not enjoying myself (although I always do enjoy poker), but I'm gonna be playing just to win $500, no more. That's my deal. The second I win 500, I log off.

The first month, I lost one day out of 31 days -- so I've won every single day by playing incredibly, incredibly tight, not playing for fun. It's amazing what happens if you don't get emotionally involved in the game and you sit down to win.

Full James Woods Q&A