Difficulty dropping a Top Pair.

[Gritz18]

I believe that many of the players here at Cardschat have had this difficulty dropping top pair, especially when it comes to freerolls, where villains pay or raise with anything.
I tend to only play freerolls, and as villains usually play anyway, I've been wrong to overvalue a top pair and call or raise sometimes all the way to the end.
It is difficult in these cases to make a correct reading because they are freerolls, many times we think that the villain is stealing and in fact he has a better hand, like having hit a set on the flop.
Leave your opinion, do you pay until the end with Top pair?
Thank you Cesar

 

[Andyreas]

In my opinion, it highly depends on the highness of the pair, your kicker and also the bet sizes and continuity of the bets.

The lower the top pair is, the higher probability of an overpair. Additional possibilities of sets/straights/flushes not included.

But without a read of the opponent and also the bets being small, I might also call him down.

Would definitely not call him down if the bets are quite high, for example more than half of the pot and also if he bet every street so high.

 

[Gallarado777]

here you need to choose a situation that suits you, the main thing is not to rush

 

[pavel1111111]

not at all , im not too gredee sometimes Ș)) , but for serious I dont have this problem , if the flop or the ction is too bad for me I will drop any high pair even AA in a secound Ș)

 

[Gritz18]

In my opinion, it highly depends on the highness of the pair, your kicker and also the bet sizes and continuity of the bets.

The lower the top pair is, the higher probability of an overpair. Additional possibilities of sets/straights/flushes not included.

But without a read of the opponent and also the bets being small, I might also call him down.

Would definitely not call him down if the bets are quite high, for example more than half of the pot and also if he bet every street so high.

I made that mistake today in the partypoker CC freeroll.
I had Ak in the middle of the table, it came to me in a fold, I raised with the usual raise 2.2bb and the big blaind called, on the flop came A,7 and the other card I don't remember, I c-bet and the villain raised, and I moved all-in, thinking he was trying to take the bluff, but villain had trips of 7, and I walked out of the tournament.
My reading was wrong, I thought he might have a weaker A.

 

[Andyreas]

I made that mistake today in the PartyPoker CC freeroll.
I had Ak in the middle of the table, it came to me in a fold, I raised with the usual raise 2.2bb and the big blaind called, on the flop came A,7 and the other card I don't remember, I c-bet and the villain raised, and I moved all-in, thinking he was trying to take the bluff, but villain had trips of 7, and I walked out of the tournament.
My reading was wrong, I thought he might have a weaker A.

Aw that's a shame. Usually top pair with top kicker is pretty safe.

Those blinds are always tricky since they can have any two cards.

I probably would have played the same with AK. 😅

 

[fundiver199]

As everything else in poker "it depends". Stack sizes, positions, number of players to see a flop, board texture and quality of your top pair. AK and K2 are both top pair on K74, but for obvious reasons AK is way stronger, since it is ahead of any other top pair, while K2 is behind to any other top pair. A9 on 976 is also not a very strong top pair, since someone could easily be ahead already with an overpair, two pair or a straight. And even when A9 is the best hand right now, there are almost no future cards, it like, other than an A or 9. Any T, 8 or 5 will put a 1-liner to a straight, or someone can spike a K, Q, J or T to make a better pair. So while we should often be willing to play for stacks with AK on K74, with A9 on 976 we need to take a far more cautious approach and control the size of the pot.

 

[June4Spades]

I must admit, I often do play until the end with a top pair. I am not quite sure, whether that is good or not, too. Would have to read the statistics. Psychologically, though, I find it very hard to drop it. There are cards you have been waiting for long.

 

[Matt_Burns88]

Remember that not every top pair is made equal.

Holding AK on an A-8-3 rainbow is very different to holding T-2 on a T-9-8 monotone board and these hands shouldn't be classified or played in the same way. As always, position and stack sizes are very relevant as well as opponent tendencies.

 

[Mauricio Perrotta]

I take advantage of the fact that I see this question to say the following. Lately I have seen that it goes all in all the time in the Cardschat freeroll, as if you were playing a hyper or turbo tournament, it changed compared to a while ago, but that is surely due to the change of players in them. That's why you surely see plays where they pay with cards that are impossible to hold when you raise with premium pairs, such as AA, or KK and end up losing to 8-4.
At least that's what I believe, not everyone agrees with me for sure.
Hugs

 

[makisaa]

Yes, a top pair can be a temptation, but when you see the clouds gathering, it is time to leave the super pair, because it becomes a super leak for your chips

 

[kunkgreen]

As mentioned above, it depends on many factors.

As everything else in poker "it depends". Stack sizes, positions, number of players to see a flop, board texture and quality of your top pair. AK and K2 are both top pair on K74, but for obvious reasons AK is way stronger, since it is ahead of any other top pair, while K2 is behind to any other top pair. A9 on 976 is also not a very strong top pair, since someone could easily be ahead already with an overpair, two pair or a straight. And even when A9 is the best hand right now, there are almost no future cards, it like, other than an A or 9. Any T, 8 or 5 will put a 1-liner to a straight, or someone can spike a K, Q, J or T to make a better pair. So while we should often be willing to play for stacks with AK on K74, with A9 on 976 we need to take a far more cautious approach and control the size of the pot.

I agreed with everything!

@Gritz18
But remember as we are used to the CC freeroll, we know that 99% of the time we will be ahead as players should play ANY cards.
We know that the beginning is more turbulent, and towards the end it tends to feel more like a game of poker.

Top pairs are easy to drop when you're playing against opponents who don't play dice!

 

[nelomec]

I believe that many of the players here at Cardschat have had this difficulty dropping top pair, especially when it comes to freerolls, where villains pay or raise with anything.
I tend to only play freerolls, and as villains usually play anyway, I've been wrong to overvalue a top pair and call or raise sometimes all the way to the end.
It is difficult in these cases to make a correct reading because they are freerolls, many times we think that the villain is stealing and in fact he has a better hand, like having hit a set on the flop.
Leave your opinion, do you pay until the end with Top pair?
Thank you

Sometimes it happens to me too, it's hard to let go of top pair, when we know that a villain tries to steal the pot, normally in freerolls this happens often and 90% of the time, the site helps these villains to hit their hand. What we have to learn is that in cash tournaments we have to play more cautiously

 

[Leandro6803]

it depends on the cards on the table and the image that villain gives me, if I believe he can bluff on that board still then I leave him in the action and check and call.

it also depends on my stack, if the board is smooth with no straight draws or flush draws, and I have a lot of chips then I play more in the trap.

weaker players when they make trips like to go out betting so it's an easier decision when the cards aren't favorable for you.

it's hard to fold top pair but the most important thing in this type of hand is knowing the villain.

 

[Gritz18]

I think I need to take a break from poker.
Today I made the same mistake in the $300 pokerstars freeroll, first-hand villain opens reise mp, 3.5bb, the table gives up, until I reach Big Blaind, I have AqoF, only paid, after all it's the start of the tournament, on the flop A,5 and J, I check, villain c-bet 7.5bb, I think and raise it to 29.1bb, the villain raises another to 50.7bb, right now I thought more, and that's when I did it A mistake, I should have folded, because it was true that the villain has value, but I paid in the hope that I would hit a card that would improve my hand, or scare the villain and he would play Chack, hit a 2 on the tuner, which in my opinion doesn't change anything, I checked, and the villain was all-in with the rest of the BB that he had, I spent the whole time Analyzing, and worse, I don't have much information about the villain, but he liked to clean up sometimes, end of story, I ended up paying, a 3 came on the river that didn't help me at all, and guess what the villain presented, a beautiful pair of and JJ.

 

[Rijckenborg]

When I stick to top pairs, usually it make me lose too much chips and I don't reach paid place because of that. I should avoid that at all cost.

 

[Tato Ivan]

I think I need to take a break from poker.
Today I made the same mistake in the $300 Pokerstars freeroll, first-hand villain opens reise mp, 3.5bb, the table gives up, until I reach Big Blaind, I have AqoF, only paid, after all it's the start of the tournament, on the flop A,5 and J, I check, villain c-bet 7.5bb, I think and raise it to 29.1bb, the villain raises another to 50.7bb, right now I thought more, and that's when I did it A mistake, I should have folded, because it was true that the villain has value, but I paid in the hope that I would hit a card that would improve my hand, or scare the villain and he would play Chack, hit a 2 on the tuner, which in my opinion doesn't change anything, I checked, and the villain was all-in with the rest of the BB that he had, I spent the whole time Analyzing, and worse, I don't have much information about the villain, but he liked to clean up sometimes, end of story, I ended up paying, a 3 came on the river that didn't help me at all, and guess what the villain presented, a beautiful pair of and JJ.

Don't get upset, it's poker. Plus it's just a freeroll. Calm down, rest, gain strength - this will help to gather your thoughts. Sometimes after the elimination I continue to watch the game (it helps) with a glass of beer, rooting for some participant. And I rejoice with him if we reached the final table, it's funny to see how you would have acted in this or that situation.

 

[rock0001]

for me its quite difficult to fold top pair and top kicker and maybe top pair with 2nd or even 3rd best kicker because these are very strong hands. however with hands like k10 or k9. with a board like k27 rainbow, if a villain plays aggresively i might consider folding on the turn or even on the flop after a big raise because most likely i will be losing the hand. however with kj or better, it wont be an easy decision to fold the hand if an ace doesnt come on the turn or river...

 

[jonaselloco]

I take advantage of the fact that I see this question to say the following. Lately I have seen that it goes all in all the time in the Cardschat freeroll, as if you were playing a hyper or turbo tournament, it changed compared to a while ago, but that is surely due to the change of players in them. That's why you surely see plays where they pay with cards that are impossible to hold when you raise with premium pairs, such as AA, or KK and end up losing to 8-4.
At least that's what I believe, not everyone agrees with me for sure.
Hugs

Hi brother. At least I think your comment is very accurate. I see the same in tournaments whether they are free or paid. There is too much bingo going around in the tournaments, before it only happened in the free ones, today it happens in all of them. Regards

 

[bowserdon]

I find it hard to fold top pair,best to go all in

 

[jonaselloco]

Hello Cesar, how are you?? My name is Carlos
Well first of all I tell you not to be disappointed by these hands and do not leave this beautiful game, out there everything is a matter of lucky streaks.
Especially with top pair on the flop there are two situations that are tricky.
1 when you think you have an AK for example and an A always flops is super tempting. But if the villain paid you a bet with, for example, 33 and the flop came out, for example, A3Q, let's say, in truth, the villain is in glory. In this situation I have seen this a lot in tournaments, if you make a very strong bet when you see the A on the flop, the villain will immediately go all in, he knows perfectly well that you put the top pair he licks his lips with his trio of 3 and if you pay only if there is a miracle he always beats you.
Therefore, when I have the top pair I never make huge bets except that this is already very played in a tournament with few blinds and well at some point in the tournament you have to play it no matter what.
If you in the previous situation make not so big bets, in general all those who have trios on the flop only pay and let you continue betting so they empty you completely. If you with that situation reach the river and you did not get any complement that can ensure you a better situation than a top pair (example straight / color / full / etc) then there is always the possibility of folding and continue playing. Even though you never see Villain have 33 unless he shows it to you if you fold, it's better to lose a battle than the war. Sometimes even the villain can bluff too and many people think that it is easy to detect a bluff but in truth I don't even see professional players who detect them.
2 The other situation is that you think you have the top pair with a high kicker and the villain has a hidden top pair but well that is another situation that is also difficult to play
Greetings brother and thank you for sharing your gaming experience with us.

 

[darkvick]

I guess to pay most of the times, but you should look the action preflop and the style of the villain. If you don't have any information of him is better to play check/call after turn.

 

[Igor Popadyk]

everything is not so clear, a lot depends on the structure of the board and on the opponent, you should not believe so unequivocally in the strength of the top pair - you need to think all the time

 

[flail1]

Depends on various factors such as your read on opponents, risk / reward regarding pot size and at what point you are in the game.

 

[Armandomza]

countless times I have been eliminated from tournaments, confident that my TOP PAIR was the winner. Being AA or Kk, it's too hard for me to fold.