Yeah, its all about being aggressive/tight. If you play that way, you'll know when you're beaten, because people will play back at you ONLY when they have a strong hand. In fact, just the other day i am playing my normal tight/aggressive, showing down only strong hands like AA or KK, or other strong hands like 89s and such. I am dealth K9o utg, and because of my image, i raise to 12 straight. I get 2 callers and the flop comes 92K. I check my two pair, and i get bet into, because checking my hand
tells them i'm probably playing AJ or AQ, and i missed the flop. I'm bet 20 dollars. the other guy folds, and i smooth call. Turn comes a blank (like a 3 or something) and I check again. This time I get bet 40$ - only this time I raise 60 to a straight 100. The guy has no idea what i could have, and he calls. The river is the 8 of spades. I Bet 60$, and he folds, but shows me AK. He says I must have slow played Aces or hit a set. I only smiled and mucked my hand.
Yeah, i had the winning hand, but They have no idea I raised preflop with K9. It very well could have been 23 and I could have made that exact same play and got him to lay down his hand, because my image is to play tight, but when i have a hand, i play it hard.