Poker Resource Center
Questionaire
5 Simple Rules To Stop Losing Money,
And Start Playing Winning Poker
And Start Playing Winning Poker
Rule #3
Don't Chase Hands
Don't Chase Hands
We've all been there. You're holding something like AA on the button. The player two seats to your right bets 4 times the blind, and you call. Everyone else folds. The flop comes 7s Qh 2d. That's not too scary, but your opponent bets big. Well you think, he doesn't have a straight or flush draw, he must have hit the queen, so you call.
The turn comes Jc. He bets Real big. Ok there is straight draw potential out there, but he was betting big before that, so that's probably not it. There's no flush draw, so he must be proud of his Q's, maybe he's got AQ, or KQ. So you call.
The river comes 3h. He bets Huge. That 3 didn't make a straight. Ok, he must have queens with a big kicker and not be expecting KK or AA to come along and beat him. And you know, he may even be bluffing! Cards like AA don't come around very often, and your not going to be bluffed, or scared off by a pair of queens. So you call.
He turns over his pair of 7's, he's got trips, and rakes the pot. You cringe, and wonder why does this always happen to me!
Well you walked right into it, that's why. There are several things we could have done to prevent this outcome. But the most important thing we can often do is listen to what the other players are telling us with their bets.
He bet pre flop and you called. He bet aggressively after the flop and you called. After the turn he bet bigger yet. By this time you better start taking him seriously. Your call after the flop didn't slow him down one bit. He bet bigger after the turn! This should be telling you something.
A big mistake that a lot of players make, is loving the cards they have, and not paying attention to what the other players are telling you that they have. In this case the other player is telling you that he has you beat, but you're not listening, so you lose a lot of money.
You may have played very well for 2 hours, but let this happen a time or two, and you ended up losing money.
How many times have you kind of felt you were beaten, but you liked your cards and just wanted to see.
I remember a hand that I played once where I held Ah Th, the board held Kh, Jh, Qh, Jd, 5d. Not to bad for me, I'd flopped a royal flush. I just might play these cards I thought. My opponent had flopped two pair, and made a full house on the turn. After the flop she bet big with her two pair, I took a long time but finally called, no point in raising here and maybe scaring her off, I want to see how much I can get in this pot. After the turn she bet very large with her full house, I took my time and meekly called again. After the river she bet extremely large (oh darn I thought). I pushed all in. She called. I turned over my royal flush and she said, get this, "I didn't see that coming"! She didn't see that coming!?! Say what!?!
She obviously loved her cards, and didn't think enough about what all the possibilities were, and what my all-in was saying.
To be honest I may have lost all my money if I was in her seat too. That's a situation that most players would lose their shirt. Was it possible that I only had a flush? Yes. Was it possible that I only had a straight? Yes.
But to say "I didn't see that coming" simply means she wasn't thinking, or that she was blind, blinded by her full house. After the flop it was an obvious possibility.
The point is we can't afford to fall in love with our cards, and disregard what the other player has and is telling us.
When it looks like we're beat, we've got to get out of the hand. Unless the pot odds (see the article about pot odds) say that we should stay in the hand, when it looks like we're beat, we've got to get out. I may love my cards, but I love my stack more. The game is all about building up your stack, so if my cards are going to help me build it, I love them. But if my cards are going to help me lose my stack I fall out of love with them real quick.
In our first scenario, there are several things we could have done to save ourselves some money. One of them is of course just folding somewhere along the way and saving some money. Maybe after the turn, or certainly after the river.
We could have re-raised pre flop. It's not too likely that a pair of 7's would have called a raise, and we would have taken down the blinds and the other players bet and actually made money on the hand. But I can understand a call here, because we would like to play the A's. However a raise would give us more info about what kind of hand the other player is holding.
We could have re-raised after the flop. This would have called the bluff if the other player was just bluffing or had made a small pair, and we would take the pot. But in this case the other player wouldn't have folded. If he re-raised, that should make us go "Uh-oh", and probably get out of the hand. If he called that would probably be a sign to not put any more money in the pot unless we hit a third A.
In both cases where the other player doesn't fold, our raise was probably smaller than either of the next two calls that we made, so we would have saved money.
So the rule here is that we need to recognize when we are behind in a hand, and be ready to get out as soon as possible. Unless the pot odds dictate otherwise, get out of the hand, and save your stack for a better situation.
The biggest losses we often have are hands we should have gotten out of, and we really knew it. Sometimes we may feel like we just want to see what the other guy has. Sometimes maybe we feel like we've invested so much in a pot, and it's not much more to make this last call. Sometimes we may come up with some other irrational thought.
But when we feel like we're probably beaten, we usually are. It's best to save the money, even that last call, a save our money to fight another battle.
So don't chase pots when you feel like you're behind.
The turn comes Jc. He bets Real big. Ok there is straight draw potential out there, but he was betting big before that, so that's probably not it. There's no flush draw, so he must be proud of his Q's, maybe he's got AQ, or KQ. So you call.
The river comes 3h. He bets Huge. That 3 didn't make a straight. Ok, he must have queens with a big kicker and not be expecting KK or AA to come along and beat him. And you know, he may even be bluffing! Cards like AA don't come around very often, and your not going to be bluffed, or scared off by a pair of queens. So you call.
He turns over his pair of 7's, he's got trips, and rakes the pot. You cringe, and wonder why does this always happen to me!
Well you walked right into it, that's why. There are several things we could have done to prevent this outcome. But the most important thing we can often do is listen to what the other players are telling us with their bets.
He bet pre flop and you called. He bet aggressively after the flop and you called. After the turn he bet bigger yet. By this time you better start taking him seriously. Your call after the flop didn't slow him down one bit. He bet bigger after the turn! This should be telling you something.
A big mistake that a lot of players make, is loving the cards they have, and not paying attention to what the other players are telling you that they have. In this case the other player is telling you that he has you beat, but you're not listening, so you lose a lot of money.
You may have played very well for 2 hours, but let this happen a time or two, and you ended up losing money.
How many times have you kind of felt you were beaten, but you liked your cards and just wanted to see.
I remember a hand that I played once where I held Ah Th, the board held Kh, Jh, Qh, Jd, 5d. Not to bad for me, I'd flopped a royal flush. I just might play these cards I thought. My opponent had flopped two pair, and made a full house on the turn. After the flop she bet big with her two pair, I took a long time but finally called, no point in raising here and maybe scaring her off, I want to see how much I can get in this pot. After the turn she bet very large with her full house, I took my time and meekly called again. After the river she bet extremely large (oh darn I thought). I pushed all in. She called. I turned over my royal flush and she said, get this, "I didn't see that coming"! She didn't see that coming!?! Say what!?!
She obviously loved her cards, and didn't think enough about what all the possibilities were, and what my all-in was saying.
To be honest I may have lost all my money if I was in her seat too. That's a situation that most players would lose their shirt. Was it possible that I only had a flush? Yes. Was it possible that I only had a straight? Yes.
But to say "I didn't see that coming" simply means she wasn't thinking, or that she was blind, blinded by her full house. After the flop it was an obvious possibility.
The point is we can't afford to fall in love with our cards, and disregard what the other player has and is telling us.
When it looks like we're beat, we've got to get out of the hand. Unless the pot odds (see the article about pot odds) say that we should stay in the hand, when it looks like we're beat, we've got to get out. I may love my cards, but I love my stack more. The game is all about building up your stack, so if my cards are going to help me build it, I love them. But if my cards are going to help me lose my stack I fall out of love with them real quick.
In our first scenario, there are several things we could have done to save ourselves some money. One of them is of course just folding somewhere along the way and saving some money. Maybe after the turn, or certainly after the river.
We could have re-raised pre flop. It's not too likely that a pair of 7's would have called a raise, and we would have taken down the blinds and the other players bet and actually made money on the hand. But I can understand a call here, because we would like to play the A's. However a raise would give us more info about what kind of hand the other player is holding.
We could have re-raised after the flop. This would have called the bluff if the other player was just bluffing or had made a small pair, and we would take the pot. But in this case the other player wouldn't have folded. If he re-raised, that should make us go "Uh-oh", and probably get out of the hand. If he called that would probably be a sign to not put any more money in the pot unless we hit a third A.
In both cases where the other player doesn't fold, our raise was probably smaller than either of the next two calls that we made, so we would have saved money.
So the rule here is that we need to recognize when we are behind in a hand, and be ready to get out as soon as possible. Unless the pot odds dictate otherwise, get out of the hand, and save your stack for a better situation.
The biggest losses we often have are hands we should have gotten out of, and we really knew it. Sometimes we may feel like we just want to see what the other guy has. Sometimes maybe we feel like we've invested so much in a pot, and it's not much more to make this last call. Sometimes we may come up with some other irrational thought.
But when we feel like we're probably beaten, we usually are. It's best to save the money, even that last call, a save our money to fight another battle.
So don't chase pots when you feel like you're behind.
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