Five Psychological Traps That Ruin Good Players. A breakdown by Alex Fitzgerald with commentary from psychologist Oleg Rivernats

Professional player and author Alex Fitzgerald breaks down the five biggest mental mistakes that quietly ruin the results of even strong players. Psychologist Oleg Rivernats adds to the analysis — explaining why these traps work and how to defuse them.

1. "This is the best hand I've had in the last hour!"

You hear this phrase constantly, but it means nothing. The deal is always random. That's just a fact of life. Saying that is about the same as declaring:

Why is that guy so big?
Why does she have blonde hair?
Why does Canada have its own country?

It's all just a given. They have nothing to do with anything else. We sound like lunatics when we start reasoning this way.

So, it's the best hand in the last hour. So what? If the best hand of the hour turned out to be Q♠️5♠️ in UTG, would it be worth playing? No, because that hand is terrible.

In fact, it might have been the best thing you've seen in an hour, but that fact doesn't help you at all. It's like trying to make the NBA by saying: "Well, I'm the tallest I've ever been right now."

2. "He can't get lucky every time!"

You hear this phrase all the time. It's usually used as a universal excuse to just play on luck.

Yes, technically no one can have the nuts in every hand. But that doesn't mean you're obligated to call right here and now. There are tons of situations where the opponent shows aggression, and there's simply nothing you can do about it.

Why are you being "terrorized"?

1. Passivity preflop. If you just call instead of three-betting, the opponent understands: you're unlikely to have a premium hand. That means they can "fire" at you postflop until the bitter end.

   
   

2. Weakness on dangerous boards. Say the board is 8♥️6♥️4♣️ — tons of flush draws and straight draws. If you had a set or two pair, you'd almost certainly raise to protect against bad cards on the turn. Since you just call, your range looks limited. The opponent sees this and starts pushing on the turn with any reasonable cards.

In these scenarios the opponent doesn't even need to have a strong hand to knock you out. It's not that "he gets lucky every time." It's that you obviously have nothing whatsoever.

Most of the people who furiously shout, "He can't have a hand every time!" are people who were just forced to fold three times in situations like these. They simply got squeezed out by a double barrel or triple barrel when their weakness was obvious.

But don't confuse this with other situations. If someone raises you on the turn or river, makes a huge check-raise on the flop, or re-pots a bet into several players — they bluff much less often there.

If you're angry that someone read your weakness well a couple of times, you risk running into a "monster" at exactly the moment when the opponent actually has it all together. Stay patient and wait for the right moment.

3. "If I do this, they'll figure me out!"

No one is watching you. Trust me.

Once I came to a cardroom. Everyone there knew me. People knew I write books. I got curious whether they were watching my play.

I decided to run an experiment: for three months I didn't bluff at all. Not once. I was extremely curious — would anyone notice? In the end, no one did.

I played maybe 12% of starting hands at most and fired a triple barrel only when I actually had the nuts. And? No one folded. Everyone couldn't care less.

People are on their phones. Someone's watching football. Others are too busy gazing rapturously at their own cards. They don't think about what you had when you made an overbet and no one saw your hand.

4. "People will start noticing that I always do this"

Again — no. No one will care.

I've been playing against the same people for years, and they still haven't figured out my betting strategy. Even though it hasn't changed in years.

When I want a call: I bet between 20% and 80% of the pot. If there are two or three opponents in the pot on the river, I always bet exactly 40%. Why? Because I know: they'll hit "call" on a bet like that no matter what. They never fold. In the end they just hand me their money over and over.

When I want them to fold: I fire a triple barrel, make an overbet, or simply go all-in.

They've never once figured this out.

Comment from Oleg Rivernats: That said, it all depends on the level of your opponents. If they're amateurs, they really might not notice anything, because they simply don't know what to look for. But an experienced offline reg will spot these patterns quickly and adapt.

5. "I can't just leave with this many chips"

You see this constantly in both cash games and tournaments. A player brings $600 to the club to play $1/$3 stakes. He buys in for $300 and loses it. He buys in with the remaining $300, runs into a big pot, and is left with only $114.
If they feel they're playing badly, they need to get up and leave. But they never will. That $114 will sooner or later be tossed into the center of the table as a desperate "all or nothing" attempt. It usually ends badly.

The same thing happens in tournaments. Players lose 70% of their stack and just "gift" the rest, because they're too lazy to spend hours surviving with a short stack. They have no idea how many tournaments they'd win if they just gritted their teeth and pulled themselves together.

The chips you toss around so easily add up to entire fortunes. Don't give them away for nothing. Anyone can win when the cards "come" on their own. True players are revealed by their ability to handle downswings.

Comment from Oleg Rivernats: MTT players don't always have the skill of switching gears. You were the chip leader — then you became a shortstack, and emotions take over instead of calculation. Or the opposite: you suddenly became the chip leader, but didn't have time to adapt and change your strategy.

How to work with this. One way is to ask yourself three questions:

1. Who is sitting behind me and in front of me?

2. What is my stack size?

3. Which strategy is most effective right now?

Instead of giving in to emotions — whether it's joy over a big stack or outrage at the unfairness of the world — we ask the brain specific questions. It starts looking for answers, rather than auto-piloting a call and busting out of the game.

Conclusion

Mastery lies not only in honing your skills, but also in the ability to recognize and dismantle the mental habits that hold you back. By becoming aware of these five psychological traps, you give yourself the chance to replace self-destruction with clarity, confidence, and control.