Major leak - how to fix this?

I find myself folding on the river because I get scared of large bets. I can play aggressive post flop and if I'm getting called and a scare card comes up on the river (for example third suited card, 4th straight card or a paired board) often the person I'm against comes in with a huge bet, raises or reraises me. And this is before anyone has a chance to read me.

I think I just get scared off of my hands too easy with hands that I'm not 100% sure are the nuts. If I don't have a huge amount of outs or a huge hand then I'm more likely to fold, having invested way too much money along the way. Then the table knows I can get scared off of hands and does it every time.

Any way to fix this? Should I go down a few levels and get used to showing down these hands just to get my confidence up?

The way you fix this is to get reads on the player before the river.
People usually play drawing hands a certain way. For instance, let's
say you are dealt:

Jc Jd

and the flop brings:

Ts 6s 3h

You have two opponents and you are first to bet.

You bet a hearty 5xBB and get a call and a fold.

What does that tell you? Somone has a hand. The board looks like a
flush draw. Someone may be slowplaying 66, seeing that you have a strong pair.

Turn comes as 7c.

You check. He checks. Bingo! He's on the draw. A set or two pair would bet out here fearing that you might improve on the river card or that you may be on the flush draw yourself!

Now if another spade comes out you check and see what he comes back
with. Typically he will value bet you or go all-in to try and ellicit a bluff catch.

If the spade doesn't show what should you do? Alot of folks bet the river hoping the opp has paired along the way and may want to make a further donation. I will sometimes do this but I usually just get a fold unless he feels like a bluff. But a bluff here is very easy to catch so that doesn't worry me too much.

There are several issues you raise there.

What is your read?
How did the opponent play the hand preflop, flop and postflop before making the big bet?
How many are left in the hand?
How strong is your hand?
Are you already committed to the pot such that calling the big bet is even money or less?

The whole point is to bet the draws out of the hand before you get to the river, or at the very least make them make the mistake of calling with garbage odds.

One thing you can do when you have a solid hand that you are not afraid to show down and is not the nuts is to make a defensive bet. If you bet a reasonable amount on the end and are raised big you can get away from it. Unless someone has you crushed they will not reraise your river bet unless they are wild and have you pegged as pathetically weak.
Whereas a check on the end smells super week and you are inviting your opponent to steal the pot from you.

Another thing to think about is a huge be on the end is often a stupid beginner bluff. If you have the balls it is easy to pick off these bluffs and make some money. Think about it... if you just made a huge hand or the nuts would you want to blow the competition completlely out of the hand or would you extract as much money as possible by betting a callable amount. The latter is much more sane and profitable.

Then again some tricky players will push big attacking their opponents ego when the tricky player has a huge hand. It all depends on how the hand played out and what you feel about the opponent.

Also, as a final "general rule" don't call big bets on the end with something as week as top pair. If you bet out the hand and showed strength throughout w/ TPTK and your opponent has been calling all the way and then pops it on the river, lay it down and don't feel bad about doing it.

Finally, look at your remaining stack. Have you been betting and raising to the point where the call is even money or more ie. pot odds are 3:1; you have to call $8 to win $24 or more. In other words, if you call you only have to be right 1 in 3 times to show a profit. In that case, you want to think about making the call unless you just know you are beat.

Originally Posted by DimitriT

The way you fix this is to get reads on the player before the river.
People usually play drawing hands a certain way. For instance, let's
say you are dealt:

Jc Jd

and the flop brings:

Ts 6s 3h

You have two opponents and you are first to bet.

You bet a hearty 5xBB and get a call and a fold.

What does that tell you? Somone has a hand. The board looks like a
flush draw. Someone may be slowplaying 66, seeing that you have a strong pair.

Turn comes as 7c.

You check. He checks. Bingo! He's on the draw. A set or two pair would bet out here fearing that you might improve on the river card or that you may be on the flush draw yourself!

Now if another spade comes out you check and see what he comes back
with. Typically he will value bet you or go all-in to try and ellicit a bluff catch.

If the spade doesn't show what should you do? Alot of folks bet the river hoping the opp has paired along the way and may want to make a further donation. I will sometimes do this but I usually just get a fold unless he feels like a bluff. But a bluff here is very easy to catch so that doesn't worry me too much.

But why would you ever check the turn? I don't like to give free cards to draws.

Checking the turn (when you don't have position) is a way for you to
figure out if he's on the draw. Yes, its a free card. If you are already
sure that he's on the draw, you bet out to ruin his odds.

I'll agree that checking is a sound play, but it does not mean that he is on a draw. He may check with a weaker pair, he may also bet with a weaker pair. Play the player.

Also, checking on the turn limits the pot size so you don't get an out of control pot into the river.

-'rilla

Originally Posted by DimitriT

Checking the turn (when you don't have position) is a way for you to
figure out if he's on the draw. Yes, its a free card. If you are already
sure that he's on the draw, you bet out to ruin his odds.

However, if he is truly slowplaying he might check as well just to give the impression that he is on a draw to entice you to bet on the river, correct? Or is this stupid because it would give me a free card and potential to crack his hand?

Originally Posted by ponyboy

Originally Posted by DimitriT

Checking the turn (when you don't have position) is a way for you to
figure out if he's on the draw. Yes, its a free card. If you are already
sure that he's on the draw, you bet out to ruin his odds.

However, if he is truly slowplaying he might check as well just to give the impression that he is on a draw to entice you to bet on the river, correct? Or is this stupid because it would give me a free card and potential to crack his hand?

Not many plrs will slow play with a coordinated board, with anything but the nuts. Some may, though. You have to know your plr in this situation. On the turn you have to decide if he's drawing or not based on all the factors we've discussed. Then when the scary card shows on the river and he bets out, you can make some educated decision whether he has made his hand or is bluffing a busted draw. If he does have the nuts and is slowplaying you, at least your check has limited the size of the pot which can allow you to walk away from that river bet (since you are not comitted to the hand) or to limit your loss if you decide to call. The smaller pot will also make it less profitable for a bluff, since they will need to commit a large bet for a small pot. This is often enough to discourage the bluff altogether.

In typical low-blinds games, plrs rarely bluff the river. You might see it 1 in 10 hands and it will typically be a very loose plr that you can identify. I would say, the more common situation is someone overbetting their strong hand. The reason they do this is because alot of beginner plrs will call them. These beginners are worried about getting bluffed so much, they often call an obviously dominating hand to make sure he's legit.

Originally Posted by a500lbgorilla

I'll agree that checking is a sound play, but it does not mean that he is on a draw. He may check with a weaker pair, he may also bet with a weaker pair. Play the player.

Also, checking on the turn limits the pot size so you don't get an out of control pot into the river.

-'rilla

extremely good advice right here on how to play overpairs (with control)...

great post.

I am a weak player that can be pushed off decent hands. One thing I have started doing is using pot odds to help me call in these situations. Eg. Pot is $1.87 and the river bet is $.50. Do I call? The bet is only 21% of the pot so if I think my hand will beat his more than 21% of the time then I call it. It’s a judgment call but it has helped me call big bets and win when I otherwise would have folded. I think my logic is sound. If it is not, someone please tell me. Hehe.