Having a hard time laying down premium hands.. ¿What to do?

I figure most of you have experienced this kind of situation.

When you're dealt specific hands like QQ, JJ or KK. Let's assume you have position against your opponent, you have KK make a standard raise, your opponent calls you, flop comes rainbow 7-A-2, Villain checks and you make your c-bet/value bet, and he calls. Can you assume that he has an ACE?

Same with the the other type of hands, I have a hard time laying those down when I'm in this kind of situation, losing sometimes big pots and sometimes winning big pots because Villain was representing having something.

Was the best thing to do here? I know everything it's situational depending on your opponent move, if he raises, if he checks, if he limped, etc. But I just find it extremely hard.

Most of the time in situations like the one you discribed, it is a bad idea to be betting, it is a much better play just to check back and re-evaluate on the turn, obviously this depends a lot on the opponent you are up against but in general with PP and an overcard on the board, it is not a bad idea to check back the flop.

To get the best advice post specific hands and information on villains and we can tell you what you want to hear but right now it is a little too broad.

Consider the outcomes..especially if you do not know your villains. You didn't hit, and there is the potential killer staring you in the face.

Without some idea about your villains you should probably assume he is fish playing A4o and hit. Thus you either fold or spew......your choice....

If you know your villains, that knowledge will tell you whether he is likely to have that ace, or is an habitual bluffer and is attempting the resteal.

Nobody gets this right most of the time, so don't feel too bad about it.

The alternative is to shove (all-In) with KK or maybe even QQ preflop (pf) and then close your eyes. But we greedy bastards seldom see the wisdom of doing that, so again, don't fret it too much.....

Depending upon villain & the exact situation we're talking about.. 'it depends'.. but generally speaking if fairly deepstacked in tourney-style play I would check behind. By leading out here we are folding out hands we could get value from (ie. JJ, TT) on turn or river.

To me, it's much easier to fold JJ than QQ or KK. If you raise with JJ, two people call you and the flop comes A, K, 8. I have no problem folding there.

As 'marginal' suggested -> post a HandHistory illustrating a situation where you've raised preflop with KK/QQ and are hu in a pot with an A on the flop. ('how to play it 'it depends' on a bunch of stuff).

if you post a HH I'd be happy to explain my actions & thoughts about it

Thank you both for your responses. Another thing that botters me is slowrollers, can't do anything about that, as you guys stated you need to know the villain whether he's a TAG, LAG player, what kind of hands does he play, the way he plays them,etc.

Another hard situation is when the flop is favorable for us, but Villain calls and the turn brings the potential killer (An overcard for the pair we are holding)

Well if its only you and one other player in the pot and everyone else folded...you d b naive to think theres no way he has an ace. I would bet agreesively on post flop to see his reaction. Depending on what the other guy does i ll either call or fold. but I dont think its hard laying down KK when theres an ace on the board.

I was trying to post a hand but I don't know where to find them. Another thing that confuses me it's that other people tells me that I should be raising post-flop, for the c-bet, and that most of the time we will win the pot right there (of course if villain isn't holding anything or didn't hit anything)

Point here is c-betting when you have a pocket pair to know where you're standing. Any thoughts?

Read this thread, from the archives:

The WA/WB concept

+1. Was just about to search for this to post it.

I can't speak to the specifics of that hand, but to do the tough lay-downs, you've got to be able to trust your instincts. Laying down trips or a full house is tough, but if your gut tells you your beat...

I routinely see guys (even pros) who know they're beat, talk themselves out of a good lay-down. It takes practice to get your ego out of the way but it's definitely doable.

Thank you very much, this was really helpful. I'll try to check the "archive" more often.

Same goes for me, interesting post was that!