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Okay so this has got to be the absolute worst part of my game. I find myself frequently in situations where I have top pair and top kicker, 2 pair or even a set but there’s a possible straight or 3 to a flush on the board and even though I know I likely have the best hand I check back the river and find I’m good and my opponent definitely had a hand I could have made a little more money off of.
Am I just traumatized from years of losing to 1 and 2 outers on the river? Or is there a basic strategy that I’m just not grasping? I’ve always known this was a bad part of my game but after watching Brad’s vlogs and seeing how well he bets for value on the river I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something completely.
Perfect example: playing a tournament recently with 66s I open on the button and get 1 caller from the BB. Flop Kd2c4d BB bets and I call. Turn comes 6d and opponent bets and I raise 3x his bet and he calls. River comes 9s and he checks and I check back. Opponent had AdKs…. and I checked it back!!!
This happens to me way too often… please help!
Given the variance of the game there is probably two things going on. 1) You are only remembering those bad beats, not all the times your opponent did not fill up or such and you won the hand. 2) You are not reading the situation properly.
For #2 – you are probably not reading the board and your hand properly. No disrespect intended for your game. What do you block? Where does your hand sit with respect possible betting hands from your opponent. From what you say above, you had a set, he had one pair. There was no straight available, so a set should be good. Sometimes you should just toss the chips in win or lose. Unless he was betting so strong I thought he had a set of kings, that is betting time for me.
Monsters under the bed is a real thing. Happened to me a few years ago because I did not want to lose my stack. I made a lot of bad decisions then. Be prepared to put the chips in and lose. Take your time too. Think about what could beat you: straight, flush, higher set? Then act.
Hope this helps.
Thought about this a little more. And there is one other thing that could come into effect. What is the possible chance you will get called. If you don’t think you will get called, no matter what, a check is fine too.
Thanks HJK that helps… I feel like I read the board too well and assume my opponent always has whatever hand would beat me. I definitely need to spend more time assessing the situation and try to get my thinking away from just the hands that beat me. I haven’t played a cash session in a few months but I think I’m gonna go soon with 3 buy-ins and do my best not to play scared. Win or lose I don’t care… I just want to make the best decisions I can.
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