Do you ever think you are ahead but would rather not gamble at that moment for whatever reason...
Recently I was in a tournament online with a pretty nice prize pool. 25k guaranteed.
Sitting pretty nice about 5th in chips about 3\4 of the way through.. I ran into a hand with another player who had about the same size chips as me. I had ....
flop came ...after he bet... I raised... then he shoved all in..The way the hand was played I really felt like I was winning.. I was looking real good to make some decent cash as long as I stayed the course.. I really really hated to fold but I didn't want to call and see him have ..or ..... I know I'm winning but don't feel like dodging and sweating this hand out...depending on the situation with chip stack... or the buy-in... or how far into the tournament and prizes another day I would call majority of time. But I folded.. and he showed me 1 card... it was .... which really messed my head up. I ended up going out 30 minutes later anyways..

Playing scared will almost always come back to bite you in the azz,,,

I knew I was winning and I was losing. I know I can lose with a strong hand or combination. This is closer to the truth.

I’d be pretty happy with the fold there seeing the 9 spades. Yes you were probably ahead but he had a lot of outs to flush and straight draws, if he didn’t already have the hand made. Even with just the 9 he had 12 outs which is close to 50% equity after flop. You could have improved to boat or quads but you were still basically flipping. Part of winning is saving chips as well as gaining chips. It can be a cruel game at times for sure but you need to put it out of your mind quickly and refocus

What?? I am shocked by what I have just read.. Are you serious, when you wrote this?)) 25k tournament, you're going well and there's a great chance of being high, but you're playing a such terrible line?? Why?

First, you have an opponent who has an equal stack, and second, a flash draw is open on the flop AND YOU DO NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CLOSE IT.... and you play a re-raise?? are you serious? why is there so much aggression? I am absolutely sure, that it is impossible to knock out an opponent in this situation, if he has spades, but if you show strength and you are sure, that he does not have spades, why do you re-raise to take a small pot? I don't know why you play like that...

I am absolutely sure, that it is a childish and very gross mistake on your part... You played very badly..

what can i say i know that you fold a hand which you can see later that you would have won that if you had gone with. But in this situation it is difficult to say what to do. The flop is very likely to have a flush and you only have one set. The probability that I will fold the hand when my opponent has gone all in is pretty high. And although he only showed the 9, he had more outs with the 9 than you had. So you can say on the flop you were in front but you didn't have the victory in your pocket. And a tournament is not only about getting as many chips as possible, but also about losing as little as possible. If you lose a hand it's not so tragic as long as you still have chips then the next hand comes and you still have a chance to get chips

When we flop a set on a board, where both flopped straights and flushes are possible, we dont absolutely have to raise it. It is allowed to just call and look to play some later streets. If the board pair, that obviously great for us. If on the other hand it runs out with a 1-liner to a straight or flush, it is allowed to fold a set on the river and not go broke.

If we do raise however, I dont see, how folding to a 3-bet can ever be a good play. Even if we are behind to a straight or flush, we have around 35% equity, and if they have a worse set, two pair or a draw, we are ahead. So once we go down that route of raising on the flop, we have pretty much committed ourselfes to play for stacks. And if we dont want to do that, we should clearly just have called.

I don't know about the others, but I would call.Probably he already had a flush, I would still risk it.

You have a great size stack in great position to make a great run. The flop is ugly and dangerous. You 3bet his bet on this flop, why? You know you were ahead but you might not have been. He shower the 9 and got into your head. He may of had 99 for a over pair and draw. He could have had A9 suited for the nuts at this point. He could have 97 for the straight. He could have you drawing dead as well if he had 97 of spades. for the straight flush. While you are more likely ahead the 3 bet on this board with top se might not have been to good an idea. Yes there is a chance you hand just needs to hold. There a lot of hand you need to hit to win as well.

Originally Posted by Luvepoker

You 3bet his bet on this flop, why?

It was just a raise or if you will 2-bet. But given that Hero ended up folding to a 3-bet jam, it was still a good example of betting or raising without knowing why. Maybe Hero was hoping for his opponent to fold, but this makes no sense with a hand like top set. Its not a difficult hand to play on later streets, and even less so when we have position. As I said already, we know pretty well, which cards are good and bad for us, so why just not call here and look to play some turns and rivers. Maybe the real problem is, that playing those later streets can sometimes involve folding, and of course its not fun to fold a set. But if the alternative is to fold already on the flop, because "we dont want to gamble", its really difficult to see, what raising the flop accomplish.

Even if you have a good hand on the flop, it doesn't mean that it will always win. Sometimes the opponent is ready to take risks, has a lot of outs or got nuts. The correct size of bets and control of the pot will help to avoid such situations.

You can't win a huge MTT without risking your tournament life. Sometimes you just gotta stick to the plan and go all the way through.

Originally Posted by fundiver199

It was just a raise or if you will 2-bet. But given that Hero ended up folding to a 3-bet jam, it was still a good example of betting or raising without knowing why. Maybe Hero was hoping for his opponent to fold, but this makes no sense with a hand like top set. Its not a difficult hand to play on later streets, and even less so when we have position. As I said already, we know pretty well, which cards are good and bad for us, so why just not call here and look to play some turns and rivers. Maybe the real problem is, that playing those later streets can sometimes involve folding, and of course its not fun to fold a set. But if the alternative is to fold already on the flop, because "we dont want to gamble", its really difficult to see, what raising the flop accomplish.

You are correct on that. it was a 2bet and fold to a 3bet. My error. You and I are very much on the same line of though on this though.

Big money is only on top, so i would never go for "decent cash" because long tearm you need FT's to be a winning player!

Originally Posted by mercyscercy

Do you ever think you are ahead but would rather not gamble at that moment for whatever reason...
Recently I was in a tournament online with a pretty nice prize pool. 25k guaranteed.
Sitting pretty nice about 5th in chips about 3\4 of the way through.. I ran into a hand with another player who had about the same size chips as me. I had ....
flop came ...after he bet... I raised... then he shoved all in..The way the hand was played I really felt like I was winning.. I was looking real good to make some decent cash as long as I stayed the course.. I really really hated to fold but I didn't want to call and see him have ..or ..... I know I'm winning but don't feel like dodging and sweating this hand out...depending on the situation with chip stack... or the buy-in... or how far into the tournament and prizes another day I would call majority of time. But I folded.. and he showed me 1 card... it was .... which really messed my head up. I ended up going out 30 minutes later anyways..

Nobody starts playing poker wanting to lose, but soon you realize that losing is inevitable. Of all the skill-based strategy games, I know of no one where players who have a significant advantage over their regular opponents lose as often as in poker. This is especially true in live tournaments, where even a high-profile player may not win a single major MTT in a career, simply because there are not many such tournaments. The hatred of poker players for losing is not unique; highly competitive people tend to suffer the most from this feeling. There are many reasons why players are tormented by losing, despite the fact that it is an integral part of the game.

people are more afraid of winning than losing.

Not going broke in this situation maybe it’s good decision, but raising flop it was really bad. With sets my play would check-call, and I will try to play small pot if I don’t hit a full house.

I like the feedback..some of it..the fact that he showed me a after i folded told me he either had ...............or ......I mean it could have been

but the fact he showed me 1 spade..any spade he had a flush draw..not to mention straight

draw.. I know I could have boat'd up with board pairing but like I said I wasn't ready to

gamble right then and there. just a poker hand thought id share