Always the second best hand.

Here me fellow poker players. I'm relatively new to NL, been playing the 10 NL tables for about a month now. And my initial investment has gone from $50 to $70 $36 to $80 and now down to $19. The reason? I am losing huge pots to the second best hand. I lost a $30 pot today with a ten to Ace straight which hit the turn, and I raised, got reraised, and raised again to an Ace high flush... bc a club hit the RIVER. Now how do I know in situ's like this to fold? Btw the pot was at $25 at the river and he went allin with his last $2.50 and I called him to make $30.

Another situation was a $14 where I had AQ and I hit an Ace on teh flop.... raised, reraise, etc. The guy ends up having AK. ARgh!

This is what's killing me. I chase too much and don't know when to lay down, or I don't know when I'm beat because in micro stakes people bluff SO MUCH :)

Any advice on knowing when you're beat would be great.. esp knowing when you're beat in situations where you have the best hand at like the flop or the turn in a big pot, and then a card hitting the turn or river makes you lose. Thanks.

Bankroll management and posting of hands is two great tips for poker playing, post some hands that you are unsure about.

Hmf I'm having a bad run of cards too now. I'm getting an abnormally high amount of pocket aces, but they keep getting cracked on the river. My last 4 AA: Runner-runner flush beats me; All folds; river 2 pair (and I wasn't slowplaying); preflop all-in vs JJ he hits a J on the river. Guh.. it happens.

For starters, hands where I have 3 of a kind. Say I have AT, and theres AAK on the flop. Player 1 checks, I raise, he CALLS. J hits flop. I raise again, he calls. 7 hits the river. I raise, he goes all in. Pot is now $22.

Now of course I'm thinking based on his play, how could he possibly have an Ace, let alone a better ace than me. Turns out, he has AQ!

AQ?!?!?!?!?! I don't understand. Based on his play, how do I tell I was beat?

You are probably focussing too much on the bad beats/bad luck. More often than not you'll win this hand, right?

Oh and if he pushes there, he probably has the Ace.. why would he raise you when you are showing aggression already? I think this is how these guy standard play.

I'm not sure I understand... if he had AQ... well maybe I see what you're saying. Perhaps it occured to him I had AK.... but why would he go all in at the river if he thought I had AK? Plus what are the odds that he had AK AQ or AJ in that situation.. he called my raises preflop also. This guy never reraised once..

Why would he raise you? He just let you bet, build a pot, then push on the river. He wasn't afraid you had AK, he was afraid you had a much weaker hand and would fold if he raised earlier.

Ok.. I HAVE TO stop for the day.. this is getting abnormally weird. My aces got cracked AGAIN! wtf.. Flop is K82, all-in, pot $40, other guy flips K7 (lol).. and hits a 7. Ok when this happens 4 consecutive times I get AA, it's getting a bit much..

Pocket Aces cost me 3 buy-ins today, uncanny..

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Originally Posted by RevolverX

I'm not sure I understand... if he had AQ... well maybe I see what you're saying. Perhaps it occured to him I had AK.... but why would he go all in at the river if he thought I had AK? Plus what are the odds that he had AK AQ or AJ in that situation.. he called my raises preflop also. This guy never reraised once..

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Dont raise AT preflop, just dont play AT

Another newbie question:

I really question hands like AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ, etc. Especially when they are offsuited.

I just had AQo, raised 1.5x the pot, 3 people called, and what hits the flop other than 2 J 6.

This seems to happen wayyyyyyyyy more often than me actually HITTING something on the flop with these hands. Is this just bad luck?

First post here!!! :D

I'll try to help

AK - Good starting - you want to see a flop. Raise this hand from any position. Just do not get into a pre-flop raising war.

AQ - same as AK, except I do not raise in early position. Also, until you gather some more experience, do not call pre-flop raises with this hand. Risk of domination is too great.

When you miss the flop with these hands you need to c-bet, but let go when facing a raise. There are times you can hang around, but get some more hands under your belt before attempting this.

AJ,KQ, KJ, QJ - worthless in a hand that is raised pre-flop. Limp or raise in late position. Be prepared to let go if you face too much pressure. These hands are a huge risk for domination.

About the hand you described in the original post (flush over straight) . Assuming all the raising and re-raising happened on the turn, then you got what you wanted - all your chips in when you had the best of it. In the long-run you will win a lot of chips this way.

My one second recommendation is stop pushing without the nuts. (Or near nuts, like flopping a set). Two things will happen, your variance will go way down, and you'll stop paying dearly for 2nd place. Don't call/make big bets into small pots. If you raise good hands (like TT+/AK) then you'll be able to build that pot while your ahead.

If you want to try more aggressive hands, play suited connectors and fold if you don't have 2pair or an open ended straight draw and you're priced out of the pot. (Say .5 pot bet or more).

Patience and discipline and you'll be fine in the long run.

I just wanted to add a little bit to this thread. It seems you have at the very least a foothold on what to play, how to play, etc. I'm gonna tell you a little something that's going to save you a lot of money in the long term.

At these lower limits, RESPECT the raise. Respect it big. You said there are a lot of bluffers...there may be some, but more often than not, you are going to run into people that raise and raise ONLY with the best hand. If you are in a small pot and your c-bet or your Ax(10-Q) gets raised on an Axx flop, the chances are you're way behind.

Think about WHY people raise. They want more money in the pot. Even a minraise has to be respected. Going through the thought of (oh, it's only .50 MORE and I already put in that much)...is going to drain your funds. Get out while it's cheap; a small pot lost is a lot worse than a larger one.

Enough huffin and puffin, I'll leave you to it.

If you have an easily dominated hand (like A10, AJ, AQ, and especially KQ) then always play a little scared if you don't have TPTK. Try to keep the pot small, and get out to any aggression. Even if you have top kicker it's too easy for someone to have a set or 2 pair on ANY board, so fold it to a raise. Also, make sure your bets are big enough. 4Xbb preflop, and 1/2 - 2/3 pot on the flop if you hit.

An easier thing to do to begin with is just stop playing anything below AJ until you're comfortable with them.

And playing cards like AQ gets a lot more enjoyable when you learn when and how to c-bet and take small pots if you hit or not.

To the original poster - you seem to be annoyed baffled that people are making devious plays. Like the guy with AQ - he only checked, then only called, when he'd made top trips? Well, yes - a huge part of the game involves out-thinking your opposition.

But in this instance, his subterfuge is hardly subtle. The board is terrifying, yet when you bet (by which you are saying "I have the ace"), he calls you. And he does it twice. Does this really sound like someone without an ace? So you should be wondering what his kicker might be. Did he raise pre-flop? Is he loose or tight? What position is he in? Most decent players don't play Ax, where x is less than 10 - so the odds are that a decent player staying in on this flop has a better ace than you. Indeed, with the K and J on the table, he could very easily have made a full house.

So, your final hand was AAAKJ. This is, by itself, obviously a good holding; but you have to balance it against the context in which you have it, and in this case, you are going to be beat - and betting backs this up - more often than not.

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Originally Posted by RevolverX

For starters, hands where I have 3 of a kind. Say I have AT, and theres AAK on the flop. Player 1 checks, I raise, he CALLS. J hits flop. I raise again, he calls. 7 hits the river. I raise, he goes all in. Pot is now $22.

Now of course I'm thinking based on his play, how could he possibly have an Ace, let alone a better ace than me. Turns out, he has AQ!

AQ?!?!?!?!?! I don't understand. Based on his play, how do I tell I was beat?

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Hes calling on the flop so he likes his hand on a scary board, but does he only have the K......?

reads are important, is he loose tight or rockier than the rocky mountains?

I'd check on the turn to see what he does, if he bets check raise him to the value of the two bets you were going to put in anyway over the turn and river. He will push or fold this probably, if he pushes he reveals his hand you fold and voila you only lose the two bets you were willing to make and not the rest of your stack. If he calls probably just check fold river or call a smallish bet unless you hit your house (in which case you are back to the tough questions).

If you just always bet bet bet your holdings you have to expect thinking players to let you do the work for them and call you down.

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Originally Posted by RevolverX

Another newbie question:

I really question hands like AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, QJ, etc. Especially when they are offsuited.

I just had AQo, raised 1.5x the pot, 3 people called, and what hits the flop other than 2 J 6.

This seems to happen wayyyyyyyyy more often than me actually HITTING something on the flop with these hands. Is this just bad luck?

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Grouping a hand like AK and KJ together is really silly. They are miles apart in power and post-flop playability.

Big cards miss 2 out of 3 times. *shrugs*

Just learn to play better, and everything will be cool.