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As a new player to the game of poker, you will soon come to realize that learning the game is a lot about trial and error. However, there are some errors that beginner players tend to repeat over and over again and if you learn to identify them, you will know what to avoid, thus saving yourself some hard earned cash in the process.

Here are a few do’s and don’ts to help you avoid those common beginner mistakes:

Don’t Play Above your Bankroll
While poker is an exciting and titillating game, you should not rush off and play without a care in the world. Before you hit the poker tables, decide how much money you have to play with, how much you can truly afford to lose and at what point you will stop playing. The difference between a good poker player and a bad one is the ability to keep control of their poker bankroll. Also, avoid poker tables where the stakes are too high for the size of your bankroll.

Do Use Pot Odds
While learning pot odds may seem complicated in the beginning, it is really worth learning this concept and applying it to your game session. New players who don’t understand pot odds regularly call too much. It is very good idea to learn how to calculate pot odds, or at least use a pot odds calculator.

Don’t Become Emotional at the Table
More seasoned players prey on beginners who have not yet learned to keep their emotions under control at the poker table. Players experiencing a bad beat should accept it as part of the gaming process. It doesn’t help to lash out, curse or throw your cards. Use every poker game as a practice session to keep your emotions in check and you’ll soon be bluffing your way to the bank!

Do Avoid Myths and Superstitions
Every gambling pastime has some form of myth or superstition attached to it. However, especially as a new player, you need to distinguish between good poker tips and silly myths. While poker is largely a game of skill, there is also the luck factor and nothing you do (or don’t do) will change the luck. Concentrate on learning the game and playing well. Nothing else will improve your chances of winning.

Don’t Imitate Other Players
While many feel that there is nothing wrong in emulating their favorite poker player, this could turn out to be a bad thing in the end. You want to develop your own personal poker style and that involves concentrating on your own game first and foremost. It is tempting to think that if you play like this year’s WSOP winner, we’ll turn out just like them, but the truth is that only hard work and a true sense of personal style got that winner there in the first place!

Do Remember your Manners
Poker is a social game, whether played online or around a physical table. Take some time to read up on common poker etiquette in order to avoid some common beginner mistakes that include calling and raising in the wrong way, using foul language, abuse of the chat features and other unacceptable forms of behavior that will only irritate other players.

One of the most common mistakes made by first time players when they start playing online poker is the mismanagement of their bankroll. A bankroll is the money that the player sets aside for his poker playing and the idea, of course, is to get this bankroll to grow. Players need to realize that it takes time and practice to build a poker bankroll, and it will not be something that happens overnight.

Poker experts agree that a player who wants to start building a good-sized bankroll should have enough funds at the beginning in order to do so. A good rule of thumb is to open an online poker account with no less than $150 in order to have something on which to build.

Starting bankroll of $150-$200: In order to increase this sized bankroll, a player should play stakes not exceeding $1, and entering sit and go tournaments with buy ins of no more than $5. By sticking to these limits, players are able to get in enough practice and slowly but surely build up their sum to around $500.

Bankroll of $500: This is considered a good-sized bankroll by all standards and allows players to continue playing $1 stake games with no problem. Players are encouraged to slowly increase these stake limits until they are comfortably playing $2 limit games. This is also a good time to slowly switch to $10 sit and go tournaments until the player’s bankroll reaches $1000.

Bankroll of $1000: By this time, the player should have enough experience at ring games and tournaments and feel confident enough to up those stakes. With a bankroll of this size, players can shift from $10 to $20 sit and go tournaments with ease.

Remember! Building a bankroll is a matter of trial and error. There may be periods where you will have to take a few steps back in order to pace yourself again. The main thing to remember is that this is a SLOW process. It is better to build up a bankroll steadily but at a slower pace, than to rush into things, make a killing in a short space of time but then lose it literally overnight.

Bankroll Management Tips
It is solid poker advice to only ever play with money that you can afford to lose. Don’t play with money that was meant for something more important, like paying the rent for example!

Don’t play over your limits. If your bankroll is $200, stick to low stake games. Don’t be tempted to sit at tables where your bankroll cannot support the stakes.

A good rule of thumb is to have 300 big bets at your regular play level to cover anything that could possibly go wrong during a poker session. Other poker experts suggest never spending more than 5% of your poker session on a sit and go tournament.

Keep your poker bankroll for poker only. Don’t be tempted to use the money for other games such as blackjack or roulette. You may very well lose your money and go back to square one.

Don’t be Afraid to Fold: Top poker players can tell you that they fold up to 80% of the time! The strategy involved here is to know that it is okay to fold and that it is better to land up losing a little money than a lot. Understand that you cannot win every game all of the time. Think long term. If you follow this strategy, you will see that in the end you will come out even and then start to win.

And Don’t be Afraid to Raise: If you have followed the strategy above and folded early, you will have enough chips to put into the pot when your hand is strong. In that case, the best strategy would be to raise – unless there are a lot of players at the table. In that case, you’d have to have an excellent hand and your best bet would be to fold on medium hands or less.

Learn to Read your Opponents: One of the best holdem strategies that players can adopt is to learn what their players are thinking by trying to get inside their heads. This type of strategy requires practice of course and the more you play poker, the more experienced you will become in figuring out what your opponent is going to do next, what you think hand consists of and how he may try to outsmart you!

And Learn to Bluff: If you manage to figure out what your opponent is thinking, you develop an advantage over his game. You can then use bluffing as a technique in order to throw him off your trail and make it difficult for him to guess what you are going to do next. A word of warning however: Bluffing takes practice and you need to gain enough experience in order for this strategy to work. An inexperienced bluffer is easy to spot and more seasoned players will have a field day on his attempts to use this strategy.

Understand Starting Hands: To win more hands in the long run, players need to understand the importance of starting hands. Essentially, these are good hands with which to continue in a game of poker and if players have bad starting hands, they should fold early on. Good starting hands in Texas Hold ‘em include Ace-King suit, Ace-King off suit, Ace-Queen suit and Ace-Queen off suit. Other good hands are pocket pairs of ten or higher. Good starting hands differ among poker variants and players should learn these as they switch from game to game.

Definition of Pot Odds
Pot odds is a strategy used in poker whereby the player uses the likelihood (odds) of winning while playing a drawing hand to decide whether he or she should call or raise a bet or not. As such, pot odds are the player’s chances of making a hand in comparison to the amount in the prize pot and what it will cost to get the pot.

Example of Pot Odds
There is $30 in the poker game pot.
A player needs to call $6 in order to stay active in the game.
Pot odds are therefore $30/$6.
This is translated to 5/1 or 5:1.
The pot odds are therefore 5:1.
Bottom line: Player should call the bet if his or her hand has a greater than 5:1 chance of winning.

Pot Odds Read as Percentage Values
While some players feel comfortable playing pot odds that are expressed in ratio terms (such as 5:1), others understand the concept more when the ratio is expressed as a percentage.

First we need to remember that the ratio is made up of the size of the pot: cost of the call.

To calculate the percentage value, we add the size of the pot to the cost of the call; then we divide the cost of the call by the total that was received.

Example of Pot Odds Read as Percentage Values
The pot in a game of poker is $30.
The cost for the player to make the call is $10.
The pot odds in ratio form can be read 30:10 or 3:1 (3 being the size of the pot and 1 being the cost of the call).
Using the calculation method above, we add the size of the pot (3) to the cost of the call (1) = 3 + 1 = 4.
We then divide the cost of the call (1) by the total (4) = .25
The pot odds in percentage value are thus expressed as 25%.

Implied Pot Odds
Implied pot odds, also known as simply implied odds, estimate how much money a player can win from a bet by hitting one of the outs. These are calculated in much the same way as above, however they also take into consideration future betting in the game.

Reverse Implied Odds
Also known as reverse odds, are applied to a game where the player could win the minimum should he or she have the best hand, but lose the maximum if he or she should not.