Learning to Fold Big Hands

[FFinesser]

One of the hardest lessons for me in poker has been learning to fold strong-looking hands when the situation clearly says I’m beat. For example, folding an overpair or top pair with a good kicker never feels good, but sometimes it’s the correct play.

I’ve lost a lot in the past by holding on too long, so now I try to remind myself that saving chips is just as important as winning them. Letting go of big hands has probably saved me more money than any fancy bluff ever did.

 

[sandy358]

For example, folding an overpair or top pair with a good kicker never feels good, but sometimes it’s the correct play

Spots like this indeed exist, though you shouldn't jump to the polar opposite and overfold TPGK and overpairs to aggression. You mostly do that on extremely dangerous boards or against a (usually tight) opponent who has shown extreme strength, including raising you at some point postflop. Overpairs and TPGK are extremely strong hands on unpaired and bricked boards, while on paired and somewhat drawy boards (excluding 4-card flushes, 4-card straights) they are still quite strong, just should be played with caution without inflating the pot too much.

Also let your reads guide you and avoid folding those against maniacs.

 

[fundiver199]

Overplaying a strong one pair hand is in fact one of the biggest leaks, new players tend to have in cash games and early in tournaments, when they are playing with a deeper stack like 75-100BB or more, especially in single raised or limped pots. Its a little different in tournaments, when we are playing with a stack like 20-40BB. Then such hands are often to strong to fold, unless its an extreme situation like 4 cards to a straight or flush or a super multiway pot.

Regarding the deep stacked (cash game) situation, there is even an old theorem saying, that you should strongly reevaluate the strength of any one pair hand facing a raise on the turn. Meaning if we raised preflop, bet the flop, bet the turn, and now the opponent suddenly wakes up with a raise, then this is usually going to be at least two pair.

Similar in the classic book "crushing the microstakes" the author suggest the rule, that "a raise on the turn is usually the nuts, a raise on the river is always the nuts". This might not be true today, if you are playing against really good players, who balance their range and find bluffs in most situations. But in online microstakes games you will still not go wrong, if you massively overfold to turn and river raises, unless the opponent is a known maniac.

 

[CRKDPOOLCUE11]

One of the hardest lessons for me in poker has been learning to fold strong-looking hands when the situation clearly says I’m beat. For example, folding an overpair or top pair with a good kicker never feels good, but sometimes it’s the correct play.

I’ve lost a lot in the past by holding on too long, so now I try to remind myself that saving chips is just as important as winning them. Letting go of big hands has probably saved me more money than any fancy bluff ever did.

Toughest thing to do but makes a big difference in any game style.

 

[Mig32]

One of the hardest lessons for me in poker has been learning to fold strong-looking hands when the situation clearly says I’m beat. For example, folding an overpair or top pair with a good kicker never feels good, but sometimes it’s the correct play.

I’ve lost a lot in the past by holding on too long, so now I try to remind myself that saving chips is just as important as winning them. Letting go of big hands has probably saved me more money than any fancy bluff ever did.

I can totally relate to that. Learning to fold strong-looking hands has been one of the toughest adjustments for me too, but it really makes a difference in the long run. I’ve realized that discipline in those spots is what separates decent players from good ones, because it’s not about ego or proving a hand—it’s about protecting the stack. Like you said, saving chips is just as valuable as winning them, and I’ve noticed that the more I accept this, the more consistent my results become.

 

[dannystanks]

You should first consider how many big blinds you have when considering folding a big hand, especially in a tournament. The less you have the more you’re going to want to just be committed and go for it. The deeper your stack, like at the beginning of the tournament when you have like 250+ BBs your not necessarily wanting to call off 3 streets with top pair or maybe even top 2, or maybe even bottom set, which may sound weird but it could save the tournament for you. Where as with like 50 BBs I’m ok to get my stack in there with those hands, so I’m not looking to fold a “big hand” here.