What the hell is wrong with me? I can't seem to fold top pairs!!

In reality pocket Aces, Kings or pocket Queens for example are a good starting hand. What I've noticed though, I can go broke or bust more holding top pairs than any other hands when I'm sure I am beat and rightly so they get their straight or flush I still feel it is necessary for me to keep calling down and deservingly LOSING my stack. I think it's more because I'm mad that someone called my raise with Ace,Rag or some other rubbish.

So what is wrong with me? Say for example I manage to limp with A,10 suited in the BB and I hit an Ace. I'll call down to the turn and If someones betting and I'm sure I'm beat to a straight or flush etc I can quite easily let the hand go. The problems happen if I pick up pocket Aces and get called and the board again is dangerous I still tell myself "Aces are good" When I actually know in fact Aces are crushed yet I still feel it's nesscary to contiune with them.

Two more examples are Kings and Queens. I've not really had much success with them either. If I raise for example and get called by one or two people and a board is somewhat dangerous. IE: An overpair to my Kings or Queen or straight/flush possibilities I just find it so hard to throw my "good" hand away be it crushed at the time. I get mad with the though someone has called me with Ace,Rag or King,Rag and are beating my pokcet Kings or Queen and contiune on. If I pair an Ace/King/Queen paired on the board with a rag with it and someone is betting hard I just see it as an easy fold yet when I have the pocket pair in my hand I seem to think it's invincle yet i know it isnt! Is that just ****ed up?

Another example Is Trips Queens or Trip Kings etc. If there is a blatent flush or straight out there I just can't let go of then hand yet I can say before I click "call" I'm also certain they have the card to pull of their straight or flush. I think this is what is killing more than often.

Why can I instant fold without hesitation if I have a pair of Aces/Kings/Queens which have been paired on the board yet as a pocket pair I seem to talk myself into thinking they are the nuts yet I know I'm beaten most of the time. The same applies for middle pocket pairs although I'm more willing to let them go if there are Aces,Kings,Queens and still a few people in the pot it's easy fold then.

Last but not least! How do I get myself to throw away my Queens/Kings to pocket Aces? I raised once with Kings and was reraised I thought Ace,King or Aces. Flop wasn't dangerous no picture cards, he raises, I re-raise he goes all in and I say "He has Aces im sure" Yet I still call with my Kings?......What is wrong with me? Why the hell is it so hard to fold kings preflop to all-in bets? I mean, I was quite deep and so was he so I thought there's no way he would go all-in like this if he didn't have Aces and I'm sure when they have aces to my kings I still call even though I'm dominated.

It's like that Sam Farha vs Barry Greenstein. Farha was sure Barry had Aces when he went all in but just couldn't let his kings go and he managed to luckily hit a set of kings.

So my question here is, are people always willing to go all-in with Kings even if their instinct is telling them the villain has aces? Seems crazy...

Sometimes it is very hard to lay a hand down,but when you know you are beat,you better lay them down.In tourneys,the main idea is to stay alive,not win every hand.Everyone has a hard time layin down great hands,but it gets easier.

99.5% of people can't or won't lay down pkt kings PF. It doesn't matter the lvl of play nor how experienced the player is.

I've lost a large chunk of change @ the ring tbls running into pkt aces when I've had pkt kings. Instinctive poker players that really rely on "reads" might be able to fold pkt kings @ a higher % than most. Or players who have specific stats on another that screams the villain has pkt aces.

I've only folded pkt kings PF twice, maybe 3 times (all in MTTs). I've never folded them in ring games, I'd be WAY ahead BR wise if I would've though lol

GL on your discipline.

You really have to get it in preflop and go for it then. AA/KK are impressive, but if you have people raising and reraising after the flop, it is still a one pair hand and is easily beaten by random two pairs or trips.

I have the same problem as you. But I also agree that in order to continue putting money in I have to be SURE that I'm ahead. With QQ or KK, generally this is only pre-flop. It seems to me that every time I have KK, there is an A on the flop, and I just know that my caller is sitting with AJ or AQ or AXs and it just infuriates me that they will hit so much that I will continue to call/bet.

I need to learn to either get it all in pre-flop and just hope that it holds up, or learn to lay them down. Both are hard to do. Anyway, I feel your pain on this one.

1. Raise pre-flop and get the rags out of there
2. Learn how to raise. RAISE RAISE RAISE... I'm not saying your whole stack but you can get info by raising the min and sometimes get lucky and those people on draws will just fold

i've encountered this issue as well. i just make the raises a little bit larger to make the limpers really think if they want to make a call with ace rag or king rag. if the do, which they do of course because people suck, that's a tough loss. maybe you should be more aggressive post flop and really make them pay to see they're straight or flush hit. even if the hit an overpair, aggressive play should make them think they ran into a set or a flush/straight draw. i think that makes sense at least. i could be wrong

There's nothing wrong with you, you just need to evolve a little as a Poker player. I just came from there. Do you play FR or 6max? If you are a tight player who can patiently wait for good situations play Full Ring. Next How much are you raising preflop with these hands? If you are in a loose game then rasing 3xBB is not nearly enough. Raise more. If you are Out of postion and you raise 5/6 Xbb and everyone folds guess what? You collected the blinds and you didn't have to play out of position. When someone raised in front of you re-raise AA KK QQ and not just 2xraise, make it 4x their bet.The only exception to this is with QQ, If there is a raise and a reraise before the action gets to you your Queens are likely no good.

AA KK QQ are not the same.

AA, get all the money in. Raise and re-raise. Hammer the flop and keep hammering until you meet aggression. Here's my secret. Since I win 92% of the time with AA, I'll allow myself to get stacked once in awhile. Sometimes you'll be surprised and find out your opponent grossly overplayed a smaller overpair. Other times they flopped a set or two pair. Big deal, it happens, move on.

KK, almost exactly like AA. Try to get it all in preflop. Once in a while you will run into AA or AK that flops TP, again over time KK is a huge money winner. The difference with KK is 1 out of 6 times on average an Ace will flop. If your opponent psushes back then you need to think abouut laying down. Soemtimes they will be bluffing but they won't be enough to make your pf raise and cbet pay off for getting stacked. Be smart, lay KK down to the A. Otherwise relax and allow yourself to occasionally get stacked with KK against a set. It happened to me twice in 10 minutes this morning. I still do really well with KK.

QQ. Against tight opponents (VPIP/ PFR under 14 or so) or a 3bet under 5% you should generally lay down to a 3bet with QQ. After the flop you need to re-evaluate if an A or K hits the flop, see above about bluffing. Otherwise raise here. If your cbet gets called and you get raised on the turn, muck your hand. QQ is a decent overpair hand but unless you are agaisnt a total fish or whack job QQ should not build a huge pot unless you hit your set. Sometimes your opponent will check down to the river and show that he has JJ or TT.

JJ. you didn't mention but JJ is like QQ but worse. Fold to almost any3bet and on the flop you will see an over more often than not, so proceed with caution. Really with JJ you are trying to showdown cheaply or hit a set especially as lots of players love to overplay AJ KJ QJ JT.

There you go. Raise bigger, re-raise bigger, get the money in with AA & KK, don't worry about getting stacked. Use a fair amount of caution with QQ and even more with JJ.

Go have fun now.

^ excellent post!

Thanks for the replies guys and a very nice one fx20739, that was very helpful indeed.