How to Fix 5 Leaks and Beat NL50 According to Pete Clarke

Leak #1: Loose a Preflop With High Rake

According to Clarke, the first thing players should understand about the GG website is that the rake is pretty high. So much so that you just don’t have the right to play hands that lose in the long run. As an example, Clarke dives into the games of one of his subscribers.

In this situation, you wouldn’t want to play the above hand in the UTG position. With such a high rake it’s impossible to profit. According to Clarke, this is a textbook bad opening and a call too, a completely unnecessary play.

Then there comes another mistake, this time when the player 3-bets with King

of Clubs and Jack of Spades against another player with 27 BB. This is another relatively simple mistake. It will be a simple GTO fold since the hand is too weak and there’s three players behind you. If another player shoves you, you’ll be ending up in a weak position.

Leak #2: Playing Until the End, Instead of Folding

The second mistake on the list is a common problem at weak tables with not enough bluff. Even regular players sometimes get caught up playing too many hands instead of folding. The following situation is a prime example.

As Clarke notes, his subscriber is clearly playing against an amateur in this case. There are thus two possible scenarios here. The first is that the amateur in question is titled (betting more and more as the game goes on). The second is that this amateur actually has a pretty strong range, a set of two pairs, for instance.

In this situation the follower calls, and there is a Jack of Diamonds. The opponent starts to push two banks and the follower folds.

A prime example of a late fold that should have been done earlier.

Leak #3. Not Enough Bets With Value Hands

In this case, we’re talking about the river and how one of the most common mistakes ends up being the desire to bet less in order to get called more often. 

How do we gauge our equity on the river? This is crucial when deciding on the size of our value bet. I’m confident that our equity is well over 75%, so we should feel comfortable placing a bold, large bet. Sure, the original raiser might have some flushes, but there aren’t many of them, since hands like , , and would often have bet on the flop. The opponent is far more likely to be holding hands like QQ, AJ, or Kx.

Betting half the pot on the river isn’t necessarily terrible, but it’s a red flag—our hero seems to have a bad habit of always betting half the pot on the river. I even asked if he would’ve chosen the same bet size if the three hadn’t been a heart, and he said yes. In that scenario, betting 50% of the pot would be a huge mistake!

It’s pretty standard to check on the flop, but generally, a range bet on this kind of board in a 3-bet pot is a solid move. When your opponent leads on the turn, calling is perfectly reasonable. You’ve got a strong hand, but it’s not the absolute best, so there’s no need to rush—there’s still the river to come, and it’s often better to let your opponent keep betting. That said, there are arguments to be made for raising in this spot.

So, what’s our equity on the river after he checks? Pretty much 100 percent. Betting just half the pot would be a mistake at this point. Your focus should be on maximizing the pot, not just on getting a call. If you’re thinking, “How much can I get from KQ here?” you’re way off base. For one, your opponent might be holding something much stronger than KQ. And even if they do have KQ, who says they won’t pay more?

This point is crucial! Sure, you might get called slightly more often if you bet 20BB, but pushing for a bigger bet is the right move. In reality, people don’t adjust their calling tendencies enough to make smaller bets more profitable. Plus, according to GTO, pushing for a larger bet earns you more in the long run—you can double your potential winnings on the river, and it’s unlikely you’ll be called twice as often with a 20BB bet.

Leak #4. Careless Game

. Calling the turn and then folding on the river is not a good plan — you need to make your decision on the turn. Folding might seem overly cautious, but against an unknown or weaker player at NL50, it’s often the smartest choice.

Unfortunately, sometimes poker players start a game in a bad mood, tilted, or in a rush. That’s problem. Players often make mistakes by playing when they’re tired, careless, or for too long — essentially, these are all psychological issues. Fast-paced poker sessions lasting 2-3 hours without breaks are a recipe for disaster. How can you expect to play well under those conditions? Maintaining focus for that length of time is nearly impossible.

This is also a situation where you won’t see many bluffs; AK isn’t likely to show up at showdown. If you know the player is extremely aggressive, then you just pay the turn and river without much hesitation. But if you don’t have any reads on them, this is a prime opportunity to make a strong exploitative fold on the turn.

The opponent likely has all 12 combinations of KK and AA, and only a handful of JJ and TT combinations, so you’re usually up against a higher pair

Leak #5. Slowplay and Merged Range

We’re referring to situations where the opponent’s range is filled with medium-strength hands. In these cases, waiting around for a bluff won’t cut it—you need to take the initiative and extract more value yourself.

Playing standard until the river is fine, but checking at the end isn’t. This is a spot where players tend to underbluff, largely because their big blind 3-bet range isn’t polar enough. At NL50, the field doesn’t include enough bluffs in their 3-bets and rarely bluffs the river with hands like low pairs. Your opponent likely has plenty of medium-strength hands that they’ll just check back.

Sure, your hand might not be ideal for betting since it blocks top pair, and maybe in a GTO world, the solver might suggest a small bet or even a check. But in reality, checking here is a mistake—especially when you have a value hand against a mixed range. While it might seem theoretically sound, slow-playing in these spots, particularly at lower limits, won’t earn you money in practice.