Why cant I lay them down?

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knwmr

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So lately I've been making bad calls. I somehow know what the other hands are, but because my hand it so strong I can't bring myself to lay it down, despite being beat or an underdog to the best hand. 2 pair with 2 to go against 1 pair with a flush and straight draws.... Why can't I lay them down?
Anyone else face the same issues?
 
ccocco

ccocco

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if you got to be very cautious with those hands. when the flop flush or straight proyesto appears. I will not bet or if I reraised me
 
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lukeellul92

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Practice! It'll all come with time, until you get experience and a better understanding of the game, it'll be hard to lay down even top pair with bottom kicker :p
 
PokerSprout

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So lately I've been making bad calls. I somehow know what the other hands are, but because my hand it so strong I can't bring myself to lay it down, despite being beat or an underdog to the best hand. 2 pair with 2 to go against 1 pair with a flush and straight draws.... Why can't I lay them down?
Anyone else face the same issues?

Hey Knwmr, let's assume that you do have perfect knowledge of spots you're playing. You've identified what is called a cognitive dissonance, and it's quite common with poker players, and really, in daily life.

On one hand, you have a "strong" hand, 2 pair or better. On the other hand, you feel like you're beaten. So now what?

One HUGE idea is to understand that in poker, hand strength is relative, not absolute. So if you told me that the bet was twice the pot and you called with 2 pair, I should have absolutely no idea if it's a good or a bad play. Loads of factors go into considering ranking hands, but let's end with a quick thought experiment to illustrate the point.

Is T:spade: 9:spade: generally a better hand on an A:spade:T:heart:9:heart:6:heart:K:heart: board or on a T:heart:9:club:3:spade:5:diamond:2:heart: board?

If you can answer that, then you're well on your way to making what you once thought were "big" lay downs. The concept of ranking your hand inside of all the specific hands that you can have for a spot and comparing that to the odds that the pot is giving you when facing a bet of a particular size is what poker is all about, and separating absolute and relative hand strength is only the beginning.

Hope that helps!
 
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hffjd2000

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Maybe you are on tilt that youre not aware of or you are really a loose player.

If tilting, you must know those signs ex. rushing things. If loose, you can tighten a little bit.
 
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nygmen2007

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This is the right thread about laying down to ask the question... When you call someone's hand, and know what they have and you call... Why do we do that?? Is it to prove we are right?? To me I would rather be wrong, and fold.. lol How often does this happen??
 
alittlepoker

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Yeah more often then not i find myself in the same boat just remember that this is not live poker its net and your playing the deck not just the player or the site if you prefer some times no matter what you play your not going to win the hand.
 
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11012015

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Perhaps you something in a hurry.?
 
12551255

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Sounds like you have already made up your mind as to what your going to do before the hand play out. Try and only focus on each step at a time.
 
rawbad

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its all in the gut sometimes trust it others times just fold and see that had win then say GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
 
Arjonius

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If you know you should fold but can't bring yourself to do so, the crux of the issue seems to be self-discipline. I've been there myself, all too often, so I'm very familiar with sitting there telling myself "This is the time I'll beat the odds." When I find myself doing this, it often helps (but not always) to remind myself that hopeful poker isn't good poker.
 
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knwmr

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Is T 9 generally a better hand on an AT96K board or on a T9352 board?

I would say the later. Lack of flush and high straight draw. 2 pair on both.
TBH the example provided isn't exactly what I keep facing.

Typically I'm facing the issue of being relatively short and having top pair on a board with no meaningful draws (scattered rainbow) at the flop. Checked to me and I make a half pot sized bet and get called by a player.
I make the same sized bet on when I hit a second pair. They call again. A 2 comes on the river they bet all in. I call and see they had pocket 2s.

(the above is not an actual hand, just a hypothetical example based on vague recollection of why i posted this... Honestly it was a kind of random posting)

I keep calling (what are feeling like) bad beats and it's getting to me. I'm pretty certain I'm becoming too loose when strong and conservative when short/weak. It's just been buggering my game to no end.

I'm just going to keep grinding, I guess.
 
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knwmr

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And I figure I'd add a question about practicing. Does any use anything where they play AI? I've been using PokerTH to play a few hundred hands an hour to get my instacalc skills up, but feel like I don't know enough about the AI to know whether it's a good marker winning those or not. (I also wonder if increased speed decreases AI intelligence or if it just uses more cpu, haven't looked). I wonder if anyone else does this... I don't like using play money to practice due to the allindonk percentage...
 
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lukeellul92

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I would say the later. Lack of flush and high straight draw. 2 pair on both.
TBH the example provided isn't exactly what I keep facing.

Typically I'm facing the issue of being relatively short and having top pair on a board with no meaningful draws (scattered rainbow) at the flop. Checked to me and I make a half pot sized bet and get called by a player.
I make the same sized bet on when I hit a second pair. They call again. A 2 comes on the river they bet all in. I call and see they had pocket 2s.

(the above is not an actual hand, just a hypothetical example based on vague recollection of why i posted this... Honestly it was a kind of random posting)

I keep calling (what are feeling like) bad beats and it's getting to me. I'm pretty certain I'm becoming too loose when strong and conservative when short/weak. It's just been buggering my game to no end.

I'm just going to keep grinding, I guess.

If you're going to fire a continuation bet on the turn,don't make it the same size as your bet on the flop. a %50 bet on the flop is like a %25pot bet on the turn...

If you're not betting enough , and giving someone with 22 the right price, then they'll play.
In saying that, someone whos gonna play 22 post flop and didn't hit a set, needs to be %100 sure his hand is the best, OR, doesn't know how to fold a pair.
 
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