Getting your money in when you have the nuts

So one of the issues I've had lately is in cash games losing a lot when I lose and not winning enough to make up for the losses when I get good hands. There are obviously a lot of factors that can be attributed to it but I think it's coming down to post flop play.

I know what the optimal raise amounts are pre flop and post flop in given situations depending on what the cards are and how many players are still in but it still doesn't seem to matter.

I know it's impossible for anyone reading this to know exactly what the problem is but it might help if you describe similar situations, problems, and remedies that you've found in the past.

I appreciate the input and constructive criticism!

You bet based on what your opponent has, if you deem opponent to have a weaker hand bet smaller, if you think he has a strong hand you bet bigger (If you have better) It's all about assigning a range to your opponent based on betting patterns and position and then betting against it to extract the maximum amount of value possible. As for the losses, again you have to play based on what cards your opponent could have and proceed accordingly.

If you flop a nut,do need to check.A 1/3 min raise is preferable.

Online, dont lose a lot with a big hand.

With winning hand, extract the most based on pot, his stack and his image/range.

Knowing what stakes you play and seeing some hands would help...


HOWEVER, I went through a similar phase. For a long while, minimizing losses and navigating the relative-middle hands was the focus because I don't lose with the nuts. The winning part required no thought. Turn cards over, then collect chips. Or guy folds, collect chips.

Then I realized that making money is a long term game. You'll trend down and bump up, and if the bumps don't exceed the down trends, well, you're losing in the long run

I started putting the same thought into strategy for playing strong hands as I did in navigating weaker or middle hands and realized the strategies are all intertwined.

While the specifics are going to vary a lot, what I can say is that if I were a betting man (and I am) one of your linchpin problems is that you're not putting enough money in the post to be getting the most out of the pot.

You say you are losing a lot when you lose, so you need to look at these situations more. Why are you losing a lot here? What is the winning player doing that is making you call? Are you doing the same thing as them when you are in a winning position?

Im working on this problem myself- Say I have KQ suited and raise 3x bb then the flop comes AKQ every time my opponent has AK or AQ. I was playing a lot of heads up and grinding away say half a buy in winning uncontested pots and small pots, but as soon as a big pot gets played I either get drawn out on by a flush when I have set or they have better two pair or my favorite is when I hit the nut flush only to have them hit full house on river. Only going to play one dollar tourneys for awhile and take plenty of time off to watch baseball playoffs == maybe only play live til there is snow on the ground.

Still Working On It

I have gotten into patterns where I have the same problem. Actually until recently I was doing this regularly. Most of the time I can now attribute this to my style of play and make adjustments. There are so many factors involved here that it is hard to say what will work best for you. There is no one strategy that works best all the time.

Recently I have picked up my aggression pre-flop with good hands. I'm generally a conservative fairly tight player. This picked up aggression has helped because it raises the pot pre-flop giving me a better chance at winning more. I have also learned not to over raise especially with hands like AA, KK AK and so on. Over raising chases out the players reducing the pre-flop pot size and the value of your hand. All ins with these hands are foolish also, they are not guaranteed wins. Get the flop and know that you are in a good position before you put your money on the table. Unless of course there are call stations all over the table, then I will go bigger (never all in) pre-flop knowing they are going to call with weaker hands.

Bad beats can change the way you bet and play if your not paying attention to how your playing.

For instance: I was holding A's flop dropped 2 3's and an A. I was in with 3 over betters. I checked knowing someone was going to go big and one of the other players went all in, I'm calling on my trips thinking he was on 3's. Bingo cards show he's on 3's. Holding a 3 8 unsuited. I made the right call as he's in on junk again. He hits the quad on the river.

Same table about an hour later. I have worked back most of my losses from my bad beat. I was holding AK suited flop gives me two suited possible straight showing. Bet is 2x blind I call to see the turn and bingo got the flush. No pair showing other player bets first and all in, he's either on the lower flush, straight, trips or trying to steal. I call, cards show he's holding trips 4's, river comes drops the table pair he's got the boat.

BTW same guy on both hands now has two of my buy ins. He was a complete call station playing junk and in on almost every hand and should had been an ATM to my hands but sometimes the bad beats are vicious. Even when you are doing everything right you will still get cracked and this can not affect your play.

I don't know if you are doing this but you can't play thinking this will happen all the time but now you have to work hard to get it back. What was happening with me was these types of bad beats would push me into being so bet conservative and playing so tight I wasn't getting it back when I had the chances. I was loosing hand confidence.

The above day was actually my wake up call. Only a few weeks ago. Since then I have tripled my bank at this site with a combination of tourny places and cash games. The only real change I made was paying better attention to my own play and catching myself if I started getting too tight or loosing hand confidence.

I hope my story helps, GL