How to deal with keep betting against a better hand

imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

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Hi forum,

The past few days, when I'm playing poker I found myself in a difficult situation at the tables. When I'm have for example AK and the flop is 8 K J. So I have top pair and I bet a nice amount of money (3Bet). And my opponent keeps calling my bets. And at the end, he/she shows me that from the moment the flop came, he had the best hand.


My question is, how can I STOP myself from keep betting in this situation, instead of just thinking hmm, lets check..


Thank you so much!
 
aqqr

aqqr

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Hey. I think that your hand may have been obvious to your opponent. Are you doing light 3bet? Use a smaller bet size on the flop (0.3PSB - 0.5PSB). And just use the pot control on the turn. Also, on the turn, you can mix your game using check-raise with nuts and with bluffs (50%).
 
imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

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Hey. I think that your hand may have been obvious to your opponent. Are you doing light 3bet? Use a smaller bet size on the flop (0.3PSB - 0.5PSB). And just use the pot control on the turn. Also, on the turn, you can mix your game using check-raise with nuts and with bluffs (50%).



So you say, in cash games lower the bets and at the river raise again? But some people at lower stacks are calling machines, who won't let a hand down and missing the board.
 
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mayoroftittycity

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I would pay attention to your bet sizing as well as to what other cards are coming. You have to remember that a single pair is not very good when it comes to the showdown. Good luck!
 
This Fish Chums

This Fish Chums

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Avoiding Traps

If you're getting trapped a lot and need to cut down on your losses when you get to the river to reveal a losing hand, the main thing you need to do is realize that if you're going to just keep betting, the opponent is going to let you. But how do you resist the urge to continue to bet your top pair or better? Well, let's set the stage. Let's say you flop top pair with a great kicker. You make a large flop bet, maybe pot-sized or even better and they call without re-raising. Stop and ask yourself this, why would they be calling such a large flop bet? Obviously they have something, but what? Well, there are 3 types of hands to always consider your opponent having.

  1. An over-pair is always very possible. Everyone plays pairs and there's a good chance someone has one larger than yous in many situations.
  2. Two pair is also extremely possible. Someone who snuck into the hand with a suited 8J and hitting two pair would be very dangerous for you.
  3. And finally, going along with the everyone plays pairs mentality, someone could have played a pair and hit trips.
All three of those things are very common in poker and could easily cause you to be dominated. If someone calls a large flop bet, even if there are no draw possibilities, always consider the three things above as legitimate hands that could be trapping you.


The second aspect is the amount you are betting. If you are betting for value and not to push them off the hand then bet lower, maybe even as low as 1/4 of the pot. It won't push anyone off the hand, but it could do a couple of things.

  1. It could cause them to bet large and expose their hand. This may help you get away from the hand without losing many chips.
  2. If they do call and you bet similarly down to the river, then you're losing a lot less chips while still building a decent stack in case you do win. If the initial pot is 1000 and you bet 250 and get called the pot is 1500. Then 350 and a call builds it to 2200. Then 450 and a call builds it to over 3000 which is triple the starting stack and not a bad hand if you do win it.
So, I'd say if you're falling into traps too often, limit your flop betting and hope to expose the trap before you put in a ton of chips, and keep in mind the 3 very common hands that could have you beat.


It's a hard thing to do and I still have problems with getting trapped. But when I've been able to stick to the above concepts I find myself leaking a lot fewer chips to traps.
 
imnoobpoker

imnoobpoker

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If you're getting trapped a lot and need to cut down on your losses when you get to the river to reveal a losing hand, the main thing you need to do is realize that if you're going to just keep betting, the opponent is going to let you. But how do you resist the urge to continue to bet your top pair or better? Well, let's set the stage. Let's say you flop top pair with a great kicker. You make a large flop bet, maybe pot-sized or even better and they call without re-raising. Stop and ask yourself this, why would they be calling such a large flop bet? Obviously they have something, but what? Well, there are 3 types of hands to always consider your opponent having.

  1. An over-pair is always very possible. Everyone plays pairs and there's a good chance someone has one larger than yous in many situations.
  2. Two pair is also extremely possible. Someone who snuck into the hand with a suited 8J and hitting two pair would be very dangerous for you.
  3. And finally, going along with the everyone plays pairs mentality, someone could have played a pair and hit trips.
All three of those things are very common in poker and could easily cause you to be dominated. If someone calls a large flop bet, even if there are no draw possibilities, always consider the three things above as legitimate hands that could be trapping you.


The second aspect is the amount you are betting. If you are betting for value and not to push them off the hand then bet lower, maybe even as low as 1/4 of the pot. It won't push anyone off the hand, but it could do a couple of things.

  1. It could cause them to bet large and expose their hand. This may help you get away from the hand without losing many chips.
  2. If they do call and you bet similarly down to the river, then you're losing a lot less chips while still building a decent stack in case you do win. If the initial pot is 1000 and you bet 250 and get called the pot is 1500. Then 350 and a call builds it to 2200. Then 450 and a call builds it to over 3000 which is triple the starting stack and not a bad hand if you do win it.
So, I'd say if you're falling into traps too often, limit your flop betting and hope to expose the trap before you put in a ton of chips, and keep in mind the 3 very common hands that could have you beat.


It's a hard thing to do and I still have problems with getting trapped. But when I've been able to stick to the above concepts I find myself leaking a lot fewer chips to traps.


Thank you so much for this reaction! So happy with this and it is so clear to me.
 
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Manifestor

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I think it's better if you have top pair and A kicker, then you can bet, 2 bet can call. If all in better to fold, but it still depends on the opponent's stack, and the board. Better to do 2-3 bet with two pairs and a higher combination.
 
T

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Cbet with TPTK is fine. Getting called is also fine. You can check/call on the turn for pot control and check/call the river.

In most cases, betting and being called usually means you're ahead. If you're faced with a raise, you might be able to let TPTK go.
 
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ps_komaklos

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Cbet with TPTK is fine. Getting called is also fine. You can check/call on the turn for pot control and check/call the river.

In most cases, betting and being called usually means you're ahead. If you're faced with a raise, you might be able to let TPTK go.

I think so too.
Espacially when the 3bet from you was big enough. Around 30% equity to call.
And sometimes u just run out of luck. Its ugly.
Review the hands closely. Are u in or oop? Betsizes? What was ur table image?
 
8bod8

8bod8

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You are betting with 1p without read on the opponent; this is close to a bluff.
I'm suffering from the same, read everywhere to be agressive, but end up loosing chips.
My solution: reduce expenses until I 'know' my hand is better, or bluff (but then I know it's a bluff). This way I get much deeper into MTT's.
 
C

clasrasmusso

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In this case, you are not wrong in my eyes, but it is important to read their opponents.
 
aqqr

aqqr

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yeah

If you're getting trapped a lot and need to cut down on your losses when you get to the river to reveal a losing hand, the main thing you need to do is realize that if you're going to just keep betting, the opponent is going to let you. But how do you resist the urge to continue to bet your top pair or better? Well, let's set the stage. Let's say you flop top pair with a great kicker. You make a large flop bet, maybe pot-sized or even better and they call without re-raising. Stop and ask yourself this, why would they be calling such a large flop bet? Obviously they have something, but what? Well, there are 3 types of hands to always consider your opponent having.

  1. An over-pair is always very possible. Everyone plays pairs and there's a good chance someone has one larger than yous in many situations.
  2. Two pair is also extremely possible. Someone who snuck into the hand with a suited 8J and hitting two pair would be very dangerous for you.
  3. And finally, going along with the everyone plays pairs mentality, someone could have played a pair and hit trips.
All three of those things are very common in poker and could easily cause you to be dominated. If someone calls a large flop bet, even if there are no draw possibilities, always consider the three things above as legitimate hands that could be trapping you.


The second aspect is the amount you are betting. If you are betting for value and not to push them off the hand then bet lower, maybe even as low as 1/4 of the pot. It won't push anyone off the hand, but it could do a couple of things.

  1. It could cause them to bet large and expose their hand. This may help you get away from the hand without losing many chips.
  2. If they do call and you bet similarly down to the river, then you're losing a lot less chips while still building a decent stack in case you do win. If the initial pot is 1000 and you bet 250 and get called the pot is 1500. Then 350 and a call builds it to 2200. Then 450 and a call builds it to over 3000 which is triple the starting stack and not a bad hand if you do win it.
So, I'd say if you're falling into traps too often, limit your flop betting and hope to expose the trap before you put in a ton of chips, and keep in mind the 3 very common hands that could have you beat.


It's a hard thing to do and I still have problems with getting trapped. But when I've been able to stick to the above concepts I find myself leaking a lot fewer chips to traps.


Great answer. I would also add that you can check on the turn if your opponent often uses float. You can punish him by using a check-raise with both air and very strong hands.
 
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Depends on position if you are first to act then it is harder.
If you have been checked to on the river, (possibly with the opponents expectation that you will continue your pattern of betting), you could just check behind if you have become suspicious.
Otherwise try to impose some pot control with smaller bets.
 
IcyNicy

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Position is a key thing here. In the position you can pot control if you are not sure about the strongness of your hand.
Being without position I think you play well. How could you know if the opponent has a better hand. Having such beautiful cards and having top pair on the flop you can't think of anything else except betting.
 
kbuinowski

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deal with a better hand

to me if some one is a better hand than you. i would just check unless you know you have the winning hand then slow play it.
 
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Open bet less frequently out of position (you still need to bet some marginal to good hands), even when you have the lead. You can use the check raise to stop people from running you over (or bloat the pot with nutty hands), while pot controlling with a marginal hand. As a side benefit, you can earn some free turns with hands that miss this way.

In position, consider using a delayed C-bet, or checking behind on the turn or river. In general, I think TPTK is worth 2 streets of value with 2/3 to pot sized bets.
 
MKaizer07

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Your bet on the turn should say that he has a stronger hand than yours especially because top pair isn't particularly a strong hand. Also sometimes you have to bet to see where your opponent is at instead of betting on what hand you have.
 
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