Poker Champion Explains Poker Mistakes At Every Level

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So you’ve been getting smacked around at the tables and you’re wondering what the hell’s going on, right? From messing up preflop basics to missing out on subtle bluff spots, there are a ton of leaks that keep you stuck. Whether you’re a clueless beginner who bets “to find out where you’re at” (spoiler: that’s a giant leak), an intermediate grinder leaving EV on the table by playing too predictably, or even a solid pro who isn’t pushing the boundaries enough-there’s a clear path forward. Stop pretending everyone thinks like you, start using a more flexible arsenal of bet sizes and lines, and for the love of everything, get your tilt under control. The difference between you and the guys crushing it at the highest stakes often comes down to a handful of key insights and adjustments. It’s time to plug those leaks, rethink your strategy, and enter the Jungleverse for the community, tools, and resources you need to finally turn the corner. Ready to level up or what? Subscribe and let’s do this.
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[@JunglemanDanCates]

What mistakes are you looking to work on in 2025? Let's get a discussion going! 👇👇👇

[@frederick4929]

PLO: I flop a hand that gives me 30%- what to do, pot odds suck me in vs. I risk my entire stack with 30% selecting starting hands depending on stack sizes-

[@suchabadbeat2617]

Check call too much.... fliping way 2 much

[@steveg93]

I often play when I am not feeling well or where the opposition is too strong. I intend to quit games sooner when I am not playing well or am outmatched.

[@PaperPlateParody]

You say a big mistake of intermediate players is sticking too much to GTO, I would say I'm the opposite and need to add more GTO. Currently I just cbet 1/3 pot on almost all boards and probe bet a ton which is fine since most people don't raise enough, but it would be nice to be more grounded in theory when I'm facing tougher opposition. When I check twice OOP, I'm too weak vs. a balanced opponent, same for checking 3 times. When I take a bet/check/bet line IP and face a check/raise on the river or an over bet lead it can kind of suck sometimes. I also knowingly over fold to certain bets so that I don't make future more costly mistakes, but I should probably just learn those lines better. In SB v BB I'm pretty much just making it up as I go. I usually c-bet 1/4 flop with everything. Mostly bluff turn, but check back my good hands. Seems to work pretty well, but if a reg eventually pays attention to what I'm doing, I'm going to be in a world of hurt. For 2025, I plan to improve my skills and also work on my mental game for when I have losing sessions.

[@pitslz]

My biggest mistake is still preflop 😢 Love you content! 🎉🎉🎉 From all the top pros I would love to meet you and Galfond.

[@greeninitiatives]

I’ve watched probably 100 hours of poker KZbin in my life. This was the most constructive 20 min.

[@josephmooney7196]

Outstanding education here! Thank you jungle!

[@philliprusakov1478]

Really good stuff here jungle man, I appreciate it.

[@TacoBully]

Sick knowledge, thank you jungleman! ❤

[@robertwilkinson8421]

Thanks for the always timely advice and information.

[@jerrydoyle5622]

AWESOME!!!! Thank you Jungleman!!!!!

[@scilles]

Love this video, especially population exploits category.

[@DatAceTho]

3:15 Must mean bet to get better hands to fold aka bluff. Wouldn't make sense to give just 2 reasons to bet and have them be value and protection. Assuming we're talking about a big bet game, anyway. Fixed Limit protection is more of a thing, but it still wouldn't make sense to ignore bluffing completely.

[@vivek200311]

bro this is just top level, i can so much relate on all levels. All 3 traits of top level players are missing in me, I have so hard time implementing them.

[@alley5022]

Was that clip at 1:31 from when you threatened to kill Scott Seiver? That was a classic episode.

[@louismaberry9683]

You do an outstanding job! Thank you.

[@nathansmith7335]

at 3:15, you mean bet to fold better hands?

[@daniellc11]

Yeah you’re right

[@heathalexander9643]

That was the question I kept having. Why do we want worse hands to fold? Am I not understanding something?

[@saiajay6663]

I think he means protecting our hand?

[@user-rx1mb5fp7c]

I think he means what he said - you sometimes have an urgency to bet "for protection", that is to say you likely have the best hand right now but there are a lot of cards that can come which improve significant portions of the opponents' range to a better hand.

[@MarcusDickeyPoker]

That was a great video. Thank you

[@bigslickphoto1519]

I struggle with river calling and feeling arrogant. I get surprised sometimes when I call on the river and lose, I feel that realistically is the frequency I should be losing. But often times I call bets and when I know I’m losing I’m able to call the exact hand. I feel arrogant folding because in my mind I’m telling myself “I can’t be always right here or I would be rich”. If I could just stop doing this I’d be ok lol.

[@awwitsHurts]

This is fked up dude, same for me. I fold fold fold fold, one time I go "ok Ill call see if Im right", lost, I was right. So I keep folding wondering when will they not always have it... AND repeat

[@UncleBenjs]

Amazing content! Cheers!

[@JimmyBHarvests]

Thanks, Jungle! Upswings only 2025, good luck everybody!

[@cowboybill777]

Thanks for useful excellent information

[@erikemanuel3418]

I really really really struggle with projecting my own thought processes. I try to stay away from it but often run into people playing a hand so unbelievably bad that i take those types of holdings out of their range and they show up with it and get me for big pots. Both ways. Ive been identifying that and coming up with ways to work on that

[@andreserafim1256]

What a great video! Thank you

[@Handjinson]

That's some nice tips, thanks

[@kloston1]

The actual value of "gto" is understanding it, not just playing like what people think it is; its understanding why a spot is gto but then also using your own intellect, reasoning and reads in that specific spot with that specific villian. People love to just play in a "gto box" and call others idiots when their little "gto" play doesnt work out. Theres a reason why people like Ivey, Hellmuth and other old school pros that have openly said they haven't really studied much gto are still around and doing well these days. Now if they studied gto and ivey even said eventually he wants to sit down and do a deep dive into it, it will probably just make them better even more so

[@evabeekers1398]

I couldn't easily find it on your site so thought I might ask here: do you have much (or any) short deck content on Jungleverse?

[@chizick14]

Dan you are the absolute best! I had the unfortunate experience to play with Maurice @15:31 and he is the perfect example to use when it comes to tilt. He 100% destroyed amateur fields with his ability to piss people off

[@dsrrellgriffith1161]

I played against Maurice in the WSOP last year, he got so lucky on many hands. I started to jab with him, i called him a luck box and he got pissed. I loved it, he had a big stack on hitting everything , but later he pissed off all of his chips. I kept calling him lock box, and he kept saying back to me,,,,really, luck box,,,,,everybody was laughing at the table

[@suchabadbeat2617]

Hi dan cates..what are yout thoughts on automatic shuffler against manual shuffling

[@LukeRock197]

I'm working on not telling people they suck when they make crazy calls and suck out. Haha😂

[@Mr.Muckington]

Ya leave the fish alone. I freak out on ppl who do this to bad players. That's our profit and you trying to get the guy to leave and cost me money... no. You chase a fish off my tbl and you off my tbl next I guarantee you that

[@dylanhom58]

@@Mr.Muckington Not for nothing, berating someone who is berating a fish, is also tapping the tank. The fish aren't completely clueless, they realize you defending them means you're targeting them. You also have no ability to make anybody leave the table so probably settle down there, and find a more subtle approach to fix the problem

[@novinnovations4026]

​@@dylanhom58 saying "settle down there" to the person who wasn't the problem is very .... Misdirected

[@dylanhom58]

@@novinnovations4026 They may not be the initial problem, but they are certainly still a problem. If someone is criticizing a fish, the move is to be subtle, "hey man, he had a gut feeling and made the call, I make that call all the time." People who say things like "You chase a fish off my table and you off my table next I guarantee you that," are both delusional, and also contributing to an environment that chases away fish.

[@thebeerhunter98]

People will suck out. In the bigger picture, that’s not necessarily a bad thing - it means both that you’re getting your money in ahead and that you’re either inducing bad calls or playing with lesser caliber players than yourself. I’d honestly tend to be more concerned if I never got sucked out on - that means you’re basically only getting money in behind and/or you’re playing with people who are much better than you and you’re the target.

[@mbtadhl]

Great video, thanks so much.

[@NikosVouzas]

What can you do when you are in the "winner's tilt" situation ?

[@adrianoalves20]

Amazing video!

[@user-xn2wg2oe7s]

How did you handle the financial swings when you were playing Tom during the Durrrr challenge days. I know you had an edge and so perhaps that brings natural confidence, however the hundreds of thousands of dollars flying around could make it difficult to stay emotionally neutral (I'm projecting to some extent of course, but still wondering).

[@shayetrezise2927]

I don't have any issue tilting. I'm not good enough to get angry. Maybe remind yourself that next time. Good luck to u all out there

[@DefusedxD]

which site would you recommend for cash games?

[@Interesting_Facts_1000]

Americas Cardroom

[@daniellc11]

Unibet if you play low stakes. We have a breakdown in the jungleverse

[@MonteCristoKaramazov]

I’m going to go to my local poker club to see if this really works.

[@JUanHernandezism]

I used to consistently make a double up every friday at the casino, I decided to take it more seriously and studied upswing poker and now I lose 2 buy ins every time I play XD what's worse is that if you try to play tight at my local card rooms now, everyone will either fold or call for a family pot. there's no winning for me. used to be 1/2 at a small casino then 2/5 at winstar. i wanted to build a 30k bankroll to play 5/10 in vegas but that's just a pipe dream now, I try to play online poker, but it's illegal in my state, so I can only play on offshore sites like ACR and Bovada, but I do so poorly that's the only place I actually tilt because the players are so nitty. live my range used to be 8% utg - 14% button, and online is 22%-37% but i try to play 9 handed but a lot of online players prefer 6 handed where they play disgustingly nitty that it's just not winnable for anybody but the rake.

[@charlesnicot7363]

if you go from 1/2 live to 1/2 online is normal you loose

[@jefferylord3068]

Quit now

[@timetravelerpokerrecordhol9246]

Awesome Video

[@michaelhollander5249]

Ya…. That’s all true …. But why not name the podcast…. “Welcome to the Jungle”?

[@yodathecloverholder69]

Gonna bring you to your… chunununununununuh knees!

[@rarity2006]

Get sued by Guns and Roses

[@lasisy]

On reason for betting no 2. I thought we bet to fold better hand, and bet to get called by worse hand?

[@sethshapiro5973]

There are several potential reasons to bet. Those are the two most basic reasons but there are plenty of others.

[@WayneChiangPoker]

Jungle is super pro.

[@joedon1706]

Pro players mistakes: Quitting a real job and blowing your life savings sitting in a casino listening to the fkbomb every sentence.

[@elcaramelero1512]

I find my self leaking chips calling river bets when players get lucky with draws, need to fix this leak in 2025

[@luismatosoliveira4117]

Very good for real poker (live) and zero value for online (scam) poker

[@charliej8104]

What’s the difference between riding your wave and winners tilt?

[@user-rx1mb5fp7c]

No difference that I can see. You either play "correctly" or you don't. Of course part of playing correctly includes playing exploitatively (as he mentions in intermediate) so if as a result of the circumstances, people start over-folding to you, then you will naturally be betting and raising more than what you would "normally" deem to be appropriate

[@AGT0M]

Yeah, this ain't Stamford gambit, you gotta think here...

[@J-Bags]

Bluffing too much multiway. Calling when I know they have it.

[@bentonja668]

Best poker player in the world 🔥

[@xaviererickson3351]

Pull the what?

[@AndrewBogle13]

Bro what are these generic clips of actors showing a royal flush in five card draw, etc.?? Lol. Just show more clips of hands you've played, those are cool. Anyways, great info, thanks for sharing.

[@daniellc11]

Ok listened to

[@yodathecloverholder69]

Who gives AF what clips he’s showing. The question is are you listening to what he’s saying.

[@TheGillenium]

Nobody tells the The Jungleman what to do. The Jungleman does what he wants when he wants.

[@DatAceTho]

Royalty free clips. Very common tools for editors to use.

[@LukeRock197]

Best

[@TwinBnotTwinA]

Quit giving the game away 😂

[@enijize1234]

Everyone is giving the game away

[@thebeerhunter98]

That ship sailed 2 decades ago. It’s so far out to sea now that I honestly think a break even/winning online micro stakes reg is at least as good as an average high stakes professional poker player circa 2000-ish was.

[@betadecay6503]

​@@thebeerhunter98yet pretty much everyone still sucks at poker.

[@pitslz]

@@thebeerhunter98so not true

[@thebeerhunter98]

@@pitslz It’s very true. The amount of hands they’ve seen and the information they have access to now makes them much more knowledgeable and unpredictable. High stakes poker was way more standard before the boom.

[@glaubs65]

Mistake at 3 minutes : bet to get people to fold better - not worse.

[@JasonDeville-fi4dh]

Too many pros. All of them except the good pros are intermediate.

[@TiltyfishPoker]

Great video!