Villain flopping sets

I've noticed a pattern lately.

Most of my tournament loses come from villains flopping sets. It's happening to often that i want to know what to do.

I guess one approach would be not to overplay my top pairs. I usually play aggressive post flop when i hit or when i see a safe board, and its usually those 'safe boards' the ones that are getting me eliminated in tournaments.

I know pocket pairs have a chance of hitting the flop 1 out of 7-8 times, but im getting hammered that time when they hit.

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

Ever thought about how you make a lot of your profits? One of the biggest 'profit centers' is when you hit a set. So, hence, when the villian hits his set and you hold top pair or an over pair you will get stung.

Keeping the pot small when the betting/calling pattern of the villian seems suspicious can help. However the best solution will be to monitor the other players habits and play accordingly. You want to make sure you stay aggressive and don't look for every monster under the bed, but your reads on the players may save you some chips. You hold AA on a rag board and the tightest player at the table stays around or pushes against you...be afraid.

^ agreed.
unfortunately, when an opponent flops a set you are bound to lose money. what you want to concentrate on though is losing the minimum. in tourneys it may be unavoidable to go bust depending on the blinds and you relative stack but always keep in mind this rule - if you are unsure, keep the pot small. just call instead of raising and generally just play the hand cautiously. it really helps if you know your opponents tendencies but its hard in tourneys when you keep getting moved to different tables. most importantly just remember that at the end of the day, if you keep running into sets, you're eventually going to start to hit a few of your own sets and bust people

One of the common betting patterns I have observed with people hiting sets by paying them off or seeing them paid off is:

limp pre-flop
call pre-flop raise
check flop
call bet on flop
check turn
check raise bet on turn

If I run into this pattern on a disconnected board where I have an overpair, then I usually give up the hand. IMO its not worth it to call to catch a bluff. The bluffing fequency with pattern has been very small in my experience. Remember chips saved by folding are just as good as chips won.

A set is a very hidden hand. It is hard to put someone on a set so when you have a set you probably will get paid off a lot. It is one of those sneaky hands. If you fear he has you beat then slow down. One pair is not something you want to be going broke with anyway.

Amen brother.

Same thing was happening to me way to often. So many people slow play there pocket pairs / Ex. (10s,9s and below.) when you see those low cards and you are lead betting and you have a top pair or a higher pocket pair and they are reraising and what not its not a bad move to fold ak or aa sometimes. You need to learn to know when your beat.

Put a note in front of your computer screen:

"I will not stack with top pair, or with an overpair against a good player."

See if this goes away.

Here's my 2 cents:
Example of how this play usually plays out (in a perfect world):
UTG limps
You raise from hijack with AQsuited
Button folds
SB folds
BB calls
UTG calls
Board hits (Qs 7d 4c)
Big Blind Checks
UTG Checks
You lead out with 75% pot size bet
BB folds
UTG Flat Calls
WHOA! Here is your siren and blazing neon lights. Think about the range that your opponent would limp in from early position and then call with. Almost always a small to medium pocket pair or hidden aces. The check and smooth call on the flop is very sneaky. If he was holding 74, he would probably raise. If he was holding AQ, then he would probably raise. If he is holding set of 7's or 4's, he would probably smooth call. Why not? You were the raiser, so he's gonna let you have all the rope.
If this happens to me, I will usually make a small (1/5th pot) bet to control the pot, just in case he is holding silly KQ or 56. If he smooth calls again, then I don't see any value in betting River. If he missed the draw, he folds. If he hit something and you bet for him on the river, expect the reraise. Another scenario is that he bets out on the river, in which case he probably has you beat too. At that point, you have to use your reads and calculate pot odds, etc.
Can I get an analysis of my analysis?

But if they have 56 then you are giving him odds for his open ender. If he has KQ, then you have him dominated and may want to extract more money.

Working on this part of my game.