How to minimize losses from a monster hand

Alucard

Alucard

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This is a particular place I'm not very good at.
When you are dealt a monster, you almost always try to play it very aggressively at least the flop and the turn. Even in a dry board, if a deep stack or the BB tags along you and somehow they hit the flop with cards with less to no potential, you are almost guaranteed to loose a big chunk of your stack.

Lets say you are in a MP with AA. You have a good stack. You bet 3bb. Everyone folds & the BB calls. flop comes 57K. And he catches two pair with 57off which he choose to take a chance with.

Almost always I'd bet big in a flop like this. So I'm gonna loose a chunk of my stack.

What are the steps & the reads you take to avoid such a scenario?

I'd say reading the opponent, and him continuing with ease and whatnot. But nevertheless you'll loose a big amount.
 
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Supmargy

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Honestly you shouldnt try to not lose lots of money with those hands. If your bankroll management is fine, then you should just be able to go all in at any given time and AA is a good spot to go for it, especially on a dry board. 1/10 times you'll lose it. But you shouldn't try to lose less because of that.
Things can change on a wet board. But since your example and question were about getti g unlucky and trying to avoid losses when unlucky, thats my opinion.

Im assuming this is not the case for you, but If you wager 60% of your bankroll then sure, dont risk everything on the hand. But if you're not risking everything on the hand, why not just buy in for less.

Hope this helps!
 
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Rational Madman

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Okay, you need to so two things differently.

You need to set an 'amount' (relative to the big blind) that you raise for certain hands. You need to be raising the same level as AA for say... a KJ. This isn't to help you 'think' of AA as weaker at all, it's so that your opponents can never tell how baitable you are in a hand (if you only got KJ and they hit the flop hard they aren't gonna overbet you as they are unsure if you'd buy into it and if they do overbet you now can be a lot more sure they have a huge hit on the flop).

Once they don't instantly read you betting 'big' as a MONSTER but simply a GOOD hand, you are in a position to read their actual hand. If they are loose and happen to outflop your KK etc then consider "why would they raise THAT MUCH?" At the end of the day it's also psychological; the luckier one has been throughout the past 20 or so hands, the looser they will be with their aggression (very few people can step down on a stampede run). If this is the case, overplay your hand and hope for the best. If they have lost quite a few hands until that point I'd fold as psychologically people who have lost a lot in recent hands, especially in a tournament as opposed to a cash game, tend to see a tunnel of darkness where it takes a lot for them to bet confidently.

Basically, you want to start getting inside people's heads, never 'warn' them of your actual hand only of the ballpark strength. From here you can combine your reads on the individual with your unreadable style and consistently outplay them.
 
Alucard

Alucard

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Honestly you shouldnt try to not lose lots of money with those hands. If your bankroll management is fine, then you should just be able to go all in at any given time and AA is a good spot to go for it, especially on a dry board. 1/10 times you'll lose it. But you shouldn't try to lose less because of that.
Things can change on a wet board. But since your example and question were about getti g unlucky and trying to avoid losses when unlucky, thats my opinion.

Im assuming this is not the case for you, but If you wager 60% of your bankroll then sure, dont risk everything on the hand. But if you're not risking everything on the hand, why not just buy in for less.

Hope this helps!

I'm talking about tournament play where such a beat would cost you dearly.
In cash games you can pot control and limit the situations but in tournaments it can get out of hand because the blinds are higher and the stacks aren't that deep
 
Alucard

Alucard

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Okay, you need to so two things differently.

You need to set an 'amount' (relative to the big blind) that you raise for certain hands. You need to be raising the same level as AA for say... a KJ. This isn't to help you 'think' of AA as weaker at all, it's so that your opponents can never tell how baitable you are in a hand (if you only got KJ and they hit the flop hard they aren't gonna overbet you as they are unsure if you'd buy into it and if they do overbet you now can be a lot more sure they have a huge hit on the flop).

Once they don't instantly read you betting 'big' as a MONSTER but simply a GOOD hand, you are in a position to read their actual hand. If they are loose and happen to outflop your KK etc then consider "why would they raise THAT MUCH?" At the end of the day it's also psychological; the luckier one has been throughout the past 20 or so hands, the looser they will be with their aggression (very few people can step down on a stampede run). If this is the case, overplay your hand and hope for the best. If they have lost quite a few hands until that point I'd fold as psychologically people who have lost a lot in recent hands, especially in a tournament as opposed to a cash game, tend to see a tunnel of darkness where it takes a lot for them to bet confidently.

Basically, you want to start getting inside people's heads, never 'warn' them of your actual hand only of the ballpark strength. From here you can combine your reads on the individual with your unreadable style and consistently outplay them.

as much as it is psychological, it won't bode well if the opponent connects with the board very strong. you are almost always deemed to loose chips at that moment.
 
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Rational Madman

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as much as it is psychological, it won't bode well if the opponent connects with the board very strong. you are almost always deemed to loose chips at that moment.
I explained when to fold to their raise.
 
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Rational Madman

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what if the opponent will just call all 3 streets?
If they are so brave why not bet even bigger preflop then? If they'd really call with anything, blackmail them harder so that you benefit greatly from their player-type the vast majority of times.
 
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Supmargy

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I'm talking about tournament play where such a beat would cost you dearly.
In cash games you can pot control and limit the situations but in tournaments it can get out of hand because the blinds are higher and the stacks aren't that deep
Yeah I missed that part. My bad.

Well the only think I can think of to help you in this situation is to not minraise but raise higher preflop.

I dont know at what point a raise makes defending BB not worthwhile. (I'd guess around 5 BB? Maybe even 4...) But thats what I suggest you do. If it's mathematically unprofitable to defend the blinds, there's a smaller chance he'll call with his 75o.

And if he still hits 2 pair on a dry board, well bad luck for you. Doesnt happen often anyway.

The problem with raising a bit higher is that they'll be able to tell the fifference between normal and "great hand" raises. Which you want to avoid, like rational madman said.

Hope this helps!
 
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