(OP is a live game player with some online experience)

Hello everyone,

Long time lurker, avid poker player for about 2-3 years. I would like to think I'm better than a complete fish and have studied a few books and played quite a great amount of games. I am in the long run still a losing player sadly, and I want that to change.

One reason I find myself losing a large portion of my bankroll on would be making the wrong calls against people who have me beat. I need direction on how to learn when the other person has you beat. I find myself losing with trips / two pair / smaller flushes / lower kickers with my pair etc . I want this to stop but I have a horrible time reading others at times.

For instance my last game I was under the gun with pocket 6's and called, the flop came 6TA and somebody bets, I call. Turn = 7 , I bet he calls and river comes a 9. I check, he bets the pot and I raise all in to him calling with trip Ts.

How do you overcome the belief that you are always the strongest?
How do you make the correct folds when you have a strong hand?
How do you better read the person?

Well, there's situations where you should know you are beat, and situations where you get coolered, and situations where you take a bad beat. I'd imagine most people would play this hand exactly as you did. I suppose people might say that they'd just call the river bet here as opposed to raising as you did, but either way, you are losing a lot of money in this situation no matter what.

The things I try to consider when I get into hands would be the board texture and the relative strength of my hand, as I'm sure you do. Sometimes it makes sense to play two pair aggressively, and sometimes it doesn't.

I also really try to pay attention to my opponents and how they play. QQ starts looking pretty small when a complete nit opens UTG, you 3bet, and he raises. AK starts looking pretty huge against a complete maniac taking the same line from BTN with you in the blinds 3betting him. What do you typically do while playing live? I'm far from super-experienced with live play but I'm shocked by the number of people who don't pay attention to hands they aren't involved in. It's like they're just throwing information away.

Anyway, I hope you find something useful in there. I've accepted that sometimes, you're just going to lose a stack. It happens - just this weekend I got stacked with the nut flush, only to lose to a two-card straight flush.