Ridding stubborness

DO you guys have any techniques for ridding stubborn habits? When I get high pocket pairs A-Q it becomes very hard for me to fold them even when it's pretty obvious I will lose. It is also sometimes like this for other hands. When you're caught up in the moment, sometimes you don't think. Any suggestions? I was thinking of putting a big sign on my wall, like "Don't be an idiot".

In order to not get "caught in the moment" I like to count to five in my head before I take any actions so I can think things through clearly.

Not knowing when to fold AA-QQ is probably not the biggest leak in your game, especially in limit. First, you'll only get one of these hands about 1 in 74 hands. Second, you probably win with these hands (collectively) better than 50% of the time. Third, it will not always be obvious when you are beat (e.g., someone hits a small set against you).

Concentrate on things like not cold calling an early raise with KJo and forget about the times you lose with big pocket pairs.

Sometimes you have to know when to call it quits as well. Tuesday night I was in a $25 NL game, and caught Big Slick 3 times....not in the session - in a ROW. In spite of very heathy preflop raises I had to fold post flop to AI moves. Four hands later, I caught AA played it the same way someone pushed all in and I figured thye were just trying to push me around. I called and was cracked by a set of threes. Several hands later I had K-Qh and flopped a flush, pushed AI and was called by the Ah who was only 4 to the flush - he caught his heart on the river. I decided it was a good time to pack it in for the evening. Even when you get "good" cards and make the right call, things can simply go poorly for you. If you think you are beat - you probably are, fold the high pocket pair and keep playing solid poker - try again the next day/hand.

Originally Posted by bigred

...it becomes very hard for me to fold them even when it's pretty obvious I will lose.

If it's so obvious you will lose, why is it so hard to fold? Just think of the money you will save.

Originally Posted by Xianti

If it's so obvious you will lose, why is it so hard to fold? Just think of the money you will save.

Also remember, folding the best hand in a large pot is one of the worst mistakes you can make in poker.

LOTS OF GOOD INFO HERE.

Yep

Riding stuborness, what an interesting choice of words...

people have a hard time folding high pocket pairs because when they are delt them pre-flop, in their head they are expecting to make money. So when things go wrong and they may be beat, it feels like they are actually losing money (that imaginary money that they were going to win) and they don't want to believe it so they call anyway.

This may sound weird, but what worked for me is that I tell myself "Only a real man will fold QQ, KK or AA". Every time I get AA, KK or QQ, I tell myself that. It doesn't make me fold too often (AA I win 91% of the time) but it does "motivate" me just enough to fold when I know that I am beat.

Originally Posted by Fnord

Originally Posted by Xianti

If it's so obvious you will lose, why is it so hard to fold? Just think of the money you will save.

Also remember, folding the best hand in a large pot is one of the worst mistakes you can make in poker.

comparable to calling large bets with second best hands.



I wonder if Fnord even remembers making this post.

Actually, ridiculously enough, I've found that simply pushing preflop with AA leads to a lot of idiotic calls. Even if there is no action before you, short stacks and smaller pairs will sometimes call.

Eg. - Earlier tonight I had pocket aces and there were 3 limpers ahead of me and some action to be had behind (it was an incredibly loose table), so I just pushed. Everyone folded to one of the limpers, and after a half minute or so of thought, he called with AQo, and I took down a nice sized pot.

But really, playing like a bit of a nit, a folding when you even suspect you are beat will in the long run save you quite a bit I've found so far. I was playing break even poker for a good three weeks there before I started believing the raises that were headed my way, even when I was holding a solid hand, and as of late I've always been in the money.

Take for example earlier today, I was holding Ace King sooted on the BB, there were a couple limpers so I raised it up to 5x the BB; two callers. Flop came KJ6, a rainbow. Being first to act, I raised it up to 3/4 the size of the pot. First guy called and the second guy raised, being the nit that I am I quickly folded, only to see the caller re-re-raise and then the other guy push.

They had a set and two pair, respectively. But the point I'm trying to make is that even though I had TPTK, when faced with a re-raise, especially at the 10NL tables that I play, just folding and getting your money in on a later hand, with what you know or are quite confident is the best hand is more worth your while.

Learning how to fold will be what makes you or breaks you.

Originally Posted by FlopTurnThenRivered

Learning how to fold will be what makes you or breaks you.

There's a whole bunch of stuff that will make or break you, and folding is just one of those.

Originally Posted by Lukie

Originally Posted by Fnord

Originally Posted by Xianti

If it's so obvious you will lose, why is it so hard to fold? Just think of the money you will save.

Also remember, folding the best hand in a large pot is one of the worst mistakes you can make in poker.

comparable to calling large bets with second best hands.



I wonder if Fnord even remembers making this post.

This was a limit post. You usually dont face "large bets" in limit unless the pot is realllly small.

Just post some hands and we'll laugh at you and make your eGay ass cry. Then when you're at the table you'll remember the pain you felt by not folding, you'll start sobbing uncontrollably and will time out having your cards auto folded. Then you'll thank FTR.

Originally Posted by swiggidy

Just post some hands and we'll laugh at you and make your eGay ass cry. Then when you're at the table you'll remember the pain you felt by not folding, you'll start sobbing uncontrollably and will time out having your cards auto folded. Then you'll thank FTR.

LMAO