How to Avoid Paying Off Your Opponent?

Is it possible to get away from a good hand when it looks like you might be beat but you're not sure? Most of my losses come to sets and full houses when I have two pair or straights. I think the poker gods require you to pay off your opponents in some situations. Should I just accept that or is there a better way to deal with it?

Sometimes you just have to pay off the winner. There's no way to get around it in those situations where you have a very good hand. Fold in these situations too often and the sharks will be reraising you and check raising you on every occasion.

Exactly, this happens when you're up against trips especially...no real way to combat it if you flop two pair or top pair, top kicker...just have to take the beat, move on, and hope it'll even out.

This occurs much more often in online poker for me. There are not many reads I have on people in online poker, which results in me paying off players much more than in live poker, with the second best hand. Only reliable tells I have for online games, which are betting patterns, which can be difficult to pick up sometimes. But even in live games, I have trouble laying down the second best hand, especially when that hand is the best I have gotten all day.

There's no way to never pay off your opponent. Sometimes you both run into big hands, but theirs is bigger. It happens. That being said, just make good reads and it won't happen terribly frequently. However, don't start overfolding because you're afraid of paying someone off. You don't want to get scared of paying them off and having it cause you to fold the best hand.

This is why two pair is a dangerous hand. If you flop two pair and someone flops a set your destined to get stacked. Nothing you can do about it. The same with the straight question. From two pair to a straight there are 2 cards in the deck that will make then their full house again nothing you can do about it.

Sorry stupid question, what does it mean to pay off your opponent? Does it just mean you are shipping your chips to him?

Yes it means going in on a pot and then folding out ultimately giving your opponent your chips.

yea if you fell your beat went threw the hands u can and the hands u cant and determine that there r more hadns than beat you then fold unless u hv a strong read on your oppenent. dont call out of curiosity(which i hv done i few times lol)

Lol, I mean I call to see what they have and then keep that in mind as I continue to play them in the tournament. Thanks for defining that for me by the way stepan!

No, I don't mean folding a good hand. I mean going to the end with a good hand, usually all-in, when you've both shown strength but you don't know for sure that you're ahead, mostly in a cash game scenario. You have a very strong hand, but they have a well-concealed monster (or they're bluffing), and then maybe they make a final bet on the end that leads you to believe that you're beat, but you can't fold in case they are bluffing. You just have to pay them off. It's only one hand out of thousands, after all -- no big deal, nothing to get upset over. Just accept it and move on is the best advice, I think.

Now on the other hand, I'm not sure what "shipping your chips" means. Anyone care to elaborate?

Ive been getting a little bit better at this myself. I just try and keep track of people betting patterns and how that changes based on hands theyve had. Granted, its takes a little while to get this info, but ive folded aces against trip kings just because of the way the guy was betting (small reraises and flat calling to the river, then the push) and it worked.

It actually means calling your opponents bet when you have the worst hand.

I watch how they bet and when, getting a good read helps to... Also if they are calling you on a big bet i would watch out. I have been called on big bets and i checked till the river, and is saved me alot of chips...
They are hard to spot you just have to watch there betting and calling more...
Dose that sound right!

If i have AK and raise, and get called by a loose player, and don't hit, I am willing to fold the hand... Learned from playing....

You never have to pay off your opponent. I'm sure I've folded lots of hand that would have won. Say I fold 2 pair, middle and bottom, and they show me a bluff. It sucks, but it's alot better than not folding the 2 pair and having them show me a set. As far as I'm concerned, unless you're really shortstacked, you are never pot committed and you don't have to pay off anybody for anything.

The other day, I was playing against a friend in a 9 person table, and I had J5 off, and the flop showed AJ5 (no flush possibilities). I bet 3xBB, friend called. I was like "wow this flop hit me hard." So, then I went all-in after turn, which was a harmless 7. Turns out my friend had AJ....

I felt the urge to go all-in, and so I did it. I didn't want my friend to see more cards because I put him on an Ax range, probably weak ace or something.

I was recently, humorously, nicknamed "slinky" probably because I throw away a hand rather than ride it to the River. (That is because I intuitively sense another opponent has a better hand.) What some don't realize, that this fellow did notice, however, I am actually "inviting" aggressive players in order to induce opponents to fight each other and hopefully knock one of them out. Food for thought, when at my table [smile].

I like to get my chips in good. When you have two pair or a straight on a board where you know you might not be good, Muck. You want to be the one nut peddling and pushing the action when you know your opponents are weak.

thats a good point but still you dont want to do this to often like some one said earlier the sharks pray on the weak and folding the best too often is picked up on u call to river or bet to river and then fold to a big reraise alot then every one will just act like they have a monster to fold u
pick your spots but make the big calls when u fell you the best monsters dont come along to often so dont over fear them and leave yourself out there as shark bait

this waS WHAT I WAS COMMENTING ON

It is not possible in poker. It's variance and there is no escaping it. The art is reducing your losses as much as possible in those situations, but there is no getting away from it all the time.

Look at the classic Negreanu vs. Hansen hand from High Stakes Poker where Hansen makes quad 5's and Negreanu has 6's full of 5's. He almost knows he's beat as he's shipping the last $180k. He even says "I was nervous a little bit, but I wasn't exactly going to throw it away."