Bit of a hill I’ll die on... the biggest leak for heaps of players isn’t bad luck, bad beats, any of that rubbish. It’s just playing way too many hands because they get bored. Blokes will peel with any suited cards, limp in with trash, call raises with stuff that should be in the muck straight away, then act shocked when they’re punting chips by the second level.
I reckon folding pre-flop is massively underrated, especially for newer players. Position matters more than people want to admit too. Half the pain comes from calling with a hand that looks decent-ish, then having no clue what to do after the flop because you’re out of position and already committed in your head. Seen it a million times.
Another one — people love getting fancy before they can do the boring stuff properly. Mate, forget the hero calls and weird check-raise bluffs for a sec. Just value bet your good hands, stop paying off every river when the story is obvious, and quit convincing yourself top pair dodgy kicker is the nuts.
Curious what others reckon is the first proper adjustment that actually moved the needle for them. Tightening up early? Being more aggressive in position? Folding more to 3-bets? Happy to hear cash game and tourney views because some of the advice people throw around is bloody useless once the format changes.