Losing at poker can be frustrating, especially when it feels like you’re just one step away from turning the tables. In this article, we’ll explore seven common pitfalls that could be costing you chips—and provide practical tips to help you overcome each one and start winning more consistently.
Too Much River Calling
This is the most common leak you will find in any player losing at poker.
Your opponents are supposed to have a certain number of bluffs on the river. If they don’t have those bluffs in their range, you can massively overfold to their river bets. If you actually study and drill into what people are supposed to be bluffing, you’ll find that almost no one is bluffing enough. They don’t even know what blockers they’re supposed to use.
This makes sense emotionally. Getting caught bluffing sucks. When your bluff succeeds, you win a medium-sized pot. When your bluff fails, you lose a much bigger pot, and everyone gets to see your dumbass move.
Most people understandably don’t want to feel dumb on their day off, so they don’t bluff enough. This means you can overfold versus their river bets.
Take more time when you face a river bet. Ask yourself if your opponent actually value bets anything worse. If there’s only one missed flush draw on the board, that’s generally not enough of a reason to call.
Too Much Continuation Betting Leads to Losing at Poker
You see players do this all the time. They raise preflop and get three callers. They completely miss the board. Then, they continuation bet again.
These players feel they have to “continue the story.” They feel that they still have premiums in their range, so they have to represent them.
However, on a coordinated board versus multiple other players, it’s likely someone flopped something. Today’s players hate folding. Unless you’re willing to triple barrel, just don’t even bother.
When you continuation bet as a bluff multiway you want the board to be unlikely to have hit anyone. You don’t want multiple high cards out there. It would also be better if you have some kind of backdoor draw or over-cards.
Not Enough Reraising
When you think you have the best hand, you need to raise the stakes. If you’re not, you’re likely losing at poker.
When you’re in position, you’ll have the advantage of watching what your opponent does on every street. You want the pot to be as big as possible when you have this advantage.
If you’re in the blinds and some moron is opening 50% of the hands against you, it’s time to take the fight to him. Re-raise and attack post-flop. He’s unlikely to hit the flop well and won’t be able to stand the heat.
When someone keeps raising on almost every hand, you should take that personally if you’re on the button, cutoff, or hijack. Why do they think they can raise with you to their left? Why do they feel they can take your steal position?
Reraise them with some halfway decent hand and be prepared to fire. Let’s see how well they can defend their J-To or 6-4s.
Inability To Bluff Leads to Losing at Poker
There are many poker players who have the same strategy:
“I’ll see as many flops as possible. When I hit a huge hand, I’ll start betting, and then I’ll win a huge pot!”
The problem with that strategy is that most people have learned how to fold one mediocre pair by the river, so they’re not as likely to pay you off. Everyone else at your table will be playing the same strategy, so you’ll all be trading coolers with each other.
You need to pick up pots when no one has much of a hand. If you can win money with nothing, then you can increase your earnings with skill.
If your opponent just calls you out of the blinds, that tends to be a weak and large range. They won’t likely hit the flop solidly. Keep blasting them, especially on boards with flush and straight draws where they likely would have raised their sets and two pairs. If you think they’re holding on for dear life with one pair, keep over-betting and see how brave they are.
Not Betting Large Enough With Big Hands
This is another problem you’ll see many players have who are losing at poker.
Early position will raise. Lojack calls. Hijack calls. They call from the cutoff with 5-5. Button calls. Big blind calls.
The board comes Ah-Th-5c. It gets checked to the cutoff player who just flopped a set. And they bet 33% of the pot because they want to be balanced.
Don’t balance here! Your opponents aren’t paying any attention. They’re on their phone scanning X and sports betting. Or they’re watching the game.
It is incredibly likely that someone has a good flush draw here or top pair. They’re not going to fold to the first bet. Bet 80% pot. Bet huge! Start building the pot now and get your chips.
Too Much Cold Calling
This is the crown jewel of leaks. Professional poker players are aggressive. Players losing at poker are passive. Professional poker players want to win the most money from the biggest pots. Losing players want to see the most flops so they don’t get bored.
You can make money calling raises from the button or cutoff because you’ll likely be in position for the rest of the hand, but if you cold call from an earlier position it is extremely likely you’ll be out of position or someone will squeeze behind you.
If you call from the small blind, you’ll be out of position the entire hand. People will get to see if you fold, call, or raise on every board. If you just call and don’t raise on a dangerous board where most premiums would raise, they’ll use that information against you and keep firing.
Stay out of trouble. Reraise or fold more.
Playing Too High And Tilting
No one gets tilted when they go on a ski trip and spend tons of money on the lift tickets. Why? Because they’re not trying to make money skiing. They know how much money they’re spending and they’ve prepared for it.
Poker is no different. You’re supposed to play poker for fun. You’re supposed to have a fixed budget. There should be no expectation of making money. If you make money, great, but that wasn’t the point. The point was enjoying yourself and getting to play some cards.
If you’re playing too high, you’re going to tilt. You will be the one losing at poker. You’re making a card game too important. Move down.
Conclusion
Improving your poker game often comes down to recognizing and correcting these common habits that drain your stack. By learning when to fold, bet boldly, or control your tilt, you can turn these pitfalls into profitable adjustments and play smarter in every hand. Then you will no longer be losing at poker.
Want to read more from APT Head Pro Alex Fitzgerald? Try his article about Five Tips for Playing Against Tight Players
