What’s harder for you: folding big hands or calling with weak ones?

[Pitonealal]

Hi CardChat family!

I've been playing a lot of hands lately and one thing keeps bothering me. Sometimes it's incredibly difficult for me to throw off strong arms like AA, KK, or AK when the board starts to look dangerous. You know that feeling — the mind says, “He probably has this hand,” and the heart says, “No way, I can't throw it off” . 💔

On the other hand, there are times when you have a borderline hand, like a middle pair or just a bluff catcher, and you keep asking yourself: Should I call or discard my cards here? 🤔

It feels like poker is a constant battle between:

Trust in instincts versus trust in math 📊

I let go of my strong-looking arms 🥲

Or have the courage to invoke light 💪


So my question is, what is more difficult for you personally, to throw off your strong arms or make those subtle calls?

I think everyone's answer will be different depending on their style of play, bankroll and experience, but it would be really cool to hear how you guys deal with situations like this.

 

[Mag_P1e]

As practice shows, the hardest thing for me is to fold bluff catchers. And although I already know by heart the nicknames of those couple of players on the forum who are able to bluff and can do something on the river, but all the other players are nits and their river bet can be called with at least 2-3 nuts - I continue to "invent" hands for them and pay them off time after time.

 

[dannystanks]

I think as you get more and more experience and have a really good feel and handle on the game, you can easily fold big hands. You are really going to level up your game if you can do this. Calling with a marginal hand or any type of bluff catcher is a little more tricky because you hopefully have been paying attention to how your opponents table image is, how big the bet is, stack sizes, etc.

 

[Mazembe]

It's difficult to lay down big hands for sure
Sometimes it be like that for real, you know that you have top pair okay, but just because you were the one that 3bet/4bet,led on the flop and turn, now you don't want to fold to your opponent jam even though you know that now the board is very connected and you're probably beat.

I believe that sometimes it's because we overplay the strength of our hands, we pick up a premium e.g AK, KK and we become too attached, we've already decided in our mind that we must double up on this hand whether by for or by agreement, and thats when we humbled

 

[Natox]

Hey Pit,
i wanted and needed to learn these two topics first. I'm grateful that I learned this at the lowest limits and now benefit from it. It gets easier with experience, no matter what folds you have to make. You'll be able to assess situations better and better, which makes it easier. But it's definitely a process and requires a lot of discipline! And even than, mistakes could and can happen. We all human.

Good luck,
Natox

 

[odonob]

Folding big hands is difficult to do psychologically. It’s that temptation to cash big. Bit one has to attempt to think logically at all times. Easier said than done.

 

[chicbulls2]

folding big hands for me

 

[shamanalix]

I have to agree that folding the big hands is the most difficult for me. That said, sometimes you just have to. I'm a very instinctual player, trusting heavily in my feelings of the moment and indications of what Villain is playing, or pretending to play. With Sham Luck, though, it seems I get drawn out on 70% of the time lol. But that's OK ... I play for love of the game, the challenge, the camaraderie, and because I do end up winning more than I lose in the long run.

 

[veszmo]

I think it's hard for anyone to fold a pair of aces.

 

[akmost]

I learned the hard way that top pair or over pair AA, KK is not always the best hand when the opponent represents thata super strong combination. In the micro limits ,almost always, when they represent a super strong hand usually they have it. I mean if I don't have a note for my opponent then is an easy lay down for my strong 1 pair.
If I have notes and stats then I make those calls.

For me the best feeling is when i catch my opponent bluff. If his play line doesn't make any sense then I cross my fingers and I call.