5 Mental Mistakes That Kill Your Poker Win Rate

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Arved Klöhn Pokerlistings Author
  • Fact Checked by: PokerListings
  • Last updated on: January 10, 2025

Mental mistakes are the single biggest factor keeping a 1BB winner from truly beating the game of poker.

In golf you can go from shooting 120 to 100 and below just by eliminating three-putts.

Mental mistakes in poker are golf’s three-putts – they absolutely destroy your win rate.

Sure, it’s possible to still beat the game. But you’ll never realize your full potential if you’re regularly making these five critical poker mistakes:

5 Critical Poker Mistakes

Playing Too Long While Stuck

You wouldn’t be a poker player if you’ve never played too long while stuck.

When you’re losing you just want to get even, so you force things and you play too long.

When you’re losing and trying to get even, your game obviously suffers.

It’s easy to slip into autopilot during long sessions and even the best poker players are susceptible to tilt.

When you’re losing this is all magnified. You may not truly be tilting, but you’re certainly not playing your best.

And if you’re not playing your best poker, then you’re “tilting.”

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Quitting Early to Book a Win

The flip side of the first mental error is booking a win prematurely.

Now, if you’re coming out of a downswing, booking any win can be great for your confidence. But if you’re regularly quitting as soon as you’re up a buy-in, then you have a problem.

If you combine that with playing too long when stuck you have yourself an epidemic. You’ll be playing 2,000 hands when losing and playing your “B” or “C” game and then booking small 300-hand wins when you’re winning and playing your “A” game.

What happens is that you end up playing your “B” or “C” game far more often than you’re playing your “A” game.
In any sport, confidence is your best friend. Poker is no different. If you’re playing your best and winning and the games are good, keep playing. This is the optimum situation for playing winning poker.

If you were to quit now you’d be leaving money on the table.

Example:
Not long ago, I was playing in a mid-stakes online game and found myself up nearly two buy-ins after an hour. My first instinct was to lock in the profits and sign off. But I noticed my table image was positive; I’d shown down strong hands like A K and J J without getting too fancy. Sensing the players were still ready to bleed chips, I stayed an extra two hours. By capitalizing on my clear advantage—especially when I three-bet a looser player holding A K —I ended up finishing with nearly four buy-ins. Walking away early would have cost me half my eventual winnings.

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Poor Game Selection

In poker you never have to be the best player in the world to make money. You don’t even have to be the best player at the table. 

You just have to be better than the majority of the table.

If you don’t put the time in to find a good table, you’re making a mistake every single time you sit down. There’s no reason for it. Search the lobby for potential good tables and sit down.

If they’re no good, don’t be afraid to quit the game and find another one. Not recognizing when the table has gone bad can be a real win-rate killer. 

Always pay attention to your tables and never be afraid to quit them in search of a better table.

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Making -EV Plays Against your Best Judgment

This, above all, is the real win-rate killer. It’s usually at the tail end of one of those long online poker sessions where you’re stuck and tired and not playing your best.

You’ll be facing a big bet and you know your opponent is very rarely bluffing and yet you’ll call anyway with your bluff catcher. What causes it? Who knows, but if you want to progress as a poker player you have to eliminate that part of your game.

Trust your gut. Don’t call just to find out if you’re right. Take a deep breath, think about his range and if you’re beat, you’re beat. Fold. 

Making calls you know to be -EV is a problem that causes too many players to stay stuck at the small stakes.

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Making Bad Bluffs

Bluffing is definitely a big part of the game. But bad bluffs shouldn’t be a part of yours.

When you bluff you have to be representing a hand. If you’re not, a good opponent is going to catch on. Don’t just bluff without thinking; think about what hand you’re representing and whether you can credibly represent it.

If you can, good. If you have plan B equity – like a gutshot or overcards – even better. Bluffing becomes even more effective when you have a back-up plan. That is, if you get called you can still hit your long shot and win the hand.

If you bluff with a back-up plan and you think about the hand you’re representing, you’ll eliminate the bad bluff.

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Additional Strategies

A professional poker mindset requires consistent self-awareness and a willingness to adapt. Even seasoned players who understand the nuances of hand selection and positional play can unravel due to emotional swings or poor decision-making under pressure. By adopting a structured approach to mental preparation, it becomes easier to maintain clarity and protect your win rate.

Embracing preventive tactics—such as setting clear session time limits and analyzing your decision-making process—can preempt many of the pitfalls described above. Consistency in mental training, much like a physical workout, builds the resilience needed to power through tough sessions. The stronger the mental game, the less likely emotional and cognitive lapses will undermine profits.

Fortifying Emotional Control

Many experienced players treat emotional control as a passive skill, assuming they either have it or they don’t. In reality, it is a dynamic process that can be trained. When tension rises after a bad beat or a misread situation, recognizing the onset of tilt and stepping away from the table, even briefly, can reset your mindset. Consider how top professionals utilize breathing exercises or a quick walk to manage stress. These actions look simple but are often the difference between shaking off adversity or spiraling into reckless play.

A proven technique is to create a mental checklist focusing on the type of tilt you might be experiencing. Are you succumbing to “revenge tilt” by targeting a specific opponent who got lucky? Or is it “mistake tilt,” where you overcompensate for a previous error? Identifying the cause helps shape the immediate remedy, keeping you anchored in logical decision-making rather than emotion-driven play.

Building a Resilient Mindset

A resilient mindset often involves reframing setbacks as investments in your experience. Whether your top set was cracked by a runner-runner flush or your value bet was shoved on by a short stack, these moments can test composure. Evaluating the situation afterward—rather than ruminating on your loss—lets you refine your approach for future hands. This transforms short-term disappointments into lessons that pay dividends over the long run.

Combining self-reflection with dedicated off-table study ensures continuous progress. Tools such as hand review sessions or advanced analysis software can uncover leaks that your emotional responses might hide in the heat of play. By systematically addressing these issues and integrating mental discipline with strategic insights, you strengthen every facet of your poker skill set.

FAQ

What are mental mistakes in poker?

Mental mistakes are lapses in judgment or emotional control that lead to suboptimal decisions. They include playing too long while stuck, quitting early to book a win, and making rash calls or ill-timed bluffs against your better judgment.

Why does playing too long when losing hurt my win rate?

It increases the likelihood of fatigue, tilt, and suboptimal decision-making. The more hands played under emotional pressure, the greater the risk of drifting away from your A-game.

How can I avoid quitting prematurely when I’m up?

Keep your focus on game quality and self-awareness. Evaluate whether you still have an edge at the table and the energy to continue playing effectively. If the game remains profitable and your mindset is strong, press on.

What’s the key to strong game selection?

The key is consistent evaluation. Don’t just join the first table available; analyze your opponents’ tendencies and look for soft spots. When the table dynamics change or become unfavorable, move on.

How do I prevent myself from making -EV calls I know I shouldn’t?

Develop a pause-and-think routine before calling. Ask yourself whether the opponent’s range realistically includes many bluffs. If the evidence doesn’t support a call, trust your analysis and fold.

How do bad bluffs differ from well-executed bluffs?

Bad bluffs lack a credible story behind them. They often don’t represent a plausible hand and rarely include back-up equity like overcards or a draw. Well-executed bluffs align with your previous betting lines and leverage possible outs.

How can emotional control techniques improve long-term results?

By consistently managing tilt and anxiety, you protect your decision-making process from emotional swings. This heightened discipline helps maintain a solid win rate by minimizing the errors that often occur under stress.

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