The most common mistake most holdem players make

[goopxx]

Not taking advantage of their position. Which is the smarter move. Raising with Ace-king in the blind or raising with pocket tens one away from the button or on the button. Although the ace-king is a slight favorite, heads up, in the real world the tens will win more money. When the ace-king gets a favorable flop he will win a small pot, but 3/4 of the time he be forced to bluff or check and is really at the mercy of the players following him. The pocket tens on the other hand can bet or bluff depending on the nature of the hand. Even when an over card flops you bet knowing your opposition puts you on a better hand. When the betting makes it is obvious that you are beaten, muck em. Calling that last bet, when you are beaten is futile and expensive. Stay tuned, more tips on the fine art of holdem will be forthcoming..

I play mainly No-Limit tourneys, and even with a full table you'll often get into a position where you're heads up with a showdown pre-flop. In these situations you've got to know the power of a small pair.

If you're getting short stacked and need to double up, a small pair is often the time to take your chances.

If you can get heads up with your small pair then your only fear is a bigger pair, against everything else you're either a small fav or a big fav. You're dream opponent will be a big stack trying to take you out and calling with something like A5s, if you've got 66 in your hand you'll be a 2-1 fav

You're actual point at the start of this thread about AK vs TT and the position of play when your on a full table is a lot more complicated. Is it a tourney or cash game? Is it limit, pot or NL holdem? If it's a tourney then what stage are you at, what's the blinds and what's the stack sizes of the players? Are your opponents tight, aggressive, lose etc?

Even with a lot more info about the hand you'll often still get the answer 'it depends' and that's what makes poker such a great game.

[Bugsbunny]

One point - AK is NOT a slight favorite over TT HU TT is, approximately, a 55/45 favorite (actually a bit more than that).

Any pair is a favorite (ranging from 52/48 to 92/8 ) over AK (although any pair is not always a favorite over any 2 unpaired cards).

That said position is a very important tool that is often not understood by newer players to the game. Although the ability to act first can also be a powerful weapon - especially postflop (assumng you're not all-in preflop). For example That AK bets into a board of JQx the TT is now in a tough position. This is especially true in NL.

Shortstack changes things and position has less impact (if short-stacked the TT is likely to move in from any position on the board, 22 becomes more problematic and position becomes more important in deciding whether to move in or not).

[Scully]

Some slightly contradictory advice here

[Misunderstud]

Another common mistake many people make is taking spammers' posts seriously

[petric]

In Pre Flop one costly thing many players, especially new ones, like to do is slow play big pairs before the flop. To slow play means to intentionally not bet a strong hand in the hopes of acquiring additional callers and winning a bigger pot. There are two big problems with this idea.The first problem is that you must realize that your hand is not as likely to improve as dramatically as other hands. The second problem is that if you don't bet, you have no idea where you are in the hand relative to your opponents.And in Post Flop a big mistake players tend to make is only paying attention to their own hand.
By keeping these pitfalls in mind, you can find yourself consistently on the winning side.