How to let go of a good hand
Poker Strategy
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Marcus Bateman /
03 March 2010 /
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Weak players refuse to call with weak hands that could well be ahead, and lack the ability to fold strong hands that are probably behind, and this loses them a fortune over the long run.
One of the most common bad beat stories you will ever hear tends to have the words: 'I was sure he had me beat, but I had to call with my set/straight/flush/full house'. This phrase points to one of the hardest features of poker, and one which is crucial to overcome if you want to take your game to the highest level.
The simple fact of the matter is that it is not how strong your hand is on its own, it is how strong your hand is relative to the action and player(s) you are up against. As an example, a full house in hold'em is an extremely strong hand on the whole, but there are frequent situations where you should be folding a full house to a lot of action.
Say you have a hand like 5h6h and end up facing a large river bet from a tight player on a 5c5sKhKs7c board. Here you are very often behind and should be prepared to fold if you feel the situation is right - weak players habitually call too much in these spots, unable to lay down a hand because they think it is one of the stronger hands of poker.
Most weak poker players get pushed around by their hands, focussing too much on the exact value of their holding, rather than the relative value. The very best poker players are true masters of understanding the relativity of their holdings, able to fold full houses in hold'em as quickly as they can call bets with ace high, playing the situation instead of letting the situation play them. Calling with weak hands is the exact same concept, and leads to perhaps the other most common bad beat story: 'How could you call with that?!?!?'.
Poker is a game where sometimes very strong hands are behind, and other times very weak hands are ahead. The key to it is in understanding where your hand probably is at that particular moment - not just its pure strength. Weak players refuse to call with weak hands that could well be ahead, and lack the ability to fold strong hands that are probably behind, and this loses them a fortune over the long run.
Don't just look at your hand when considering what to do - poker is a game where you have to try and establish how strong your hand is not just on the scale of hands, but on the basis of what is going on around you.
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