My game has greatly improved over the past few weeks and I now find myself making profit after almost a year of playing. I still however have one more hurdle to get over before really starting to learn the game.

A typical session for me will be playing and watching my stack grow, only to find I will wipe out my entire winnings and sometimes the entire stack in one hand due to the Big Beat. I know everyone gets the big beat from time to time, but in my case, I really struggle to set down a strong hand even when I know I am probably beat.

One hand recently I had a full House with Eights over Queens. All logic was telling the Villain had Queens over something, but on the basis, he would still be betting that strong with 3 queens, I called his all in

In short, anything from a set or higher, I turn into the fish again and just cannot set it down.

Has anyone any suggestions as to what criteria you look for, that makes you fold a strong hand.

I still expect the occasional bad beat. I'm just trying to avoid getting one every session.

Sometimes it's really difficult to tell weather your hand is beat or not with the example you gave on the Full House. It would be hard for me to lay it down too but if my gut was telling me to, I would. It really depends on the situation without any context. If I was in your position, I would start labelling players and making notes based on previous run ins with these players (Not saying that you don't already do this, but it's a good tip).

Your mind gets in the way (overthinking), and maybe your emotions get involved because your talking about your situation as 1 sessions winnings. It's nice to see your winnings on a day to day basis, but if your really serious about getting good at this game, it's really about the long haul. Each sessions outcomes are going to be different. Sometimes you'll have 3-5 "winning" sessions in row but you can also have the same amount of losing sessions in a row too.

To get yourself out of Overthinking and removing your emotions from the game, start thinking about your "winnings" as weekly or monthly that way, your not so focused and heartbroken over losing on a day to day basis and looking more towards your overall Gain/Loss.

I know that's a lot more than you thought you would get, but I've been in your shoes, and I know the feeling all to well. This mindset "switch" is what got me out of it, so I'm only trying to give you the information that was successful for me. It isn't easy to do, but it makes all the difference.

As for what to look for:

If I really don't have much information on a player, usually I consider calling as well. If they have me beat, I make a note right away. All to often, new players are trying to play poker like on TV with crazy bluffs. I always think about a player I've never run into before as "Bad" until they prove me otherwise. If I run into a situation where they beat me Set Over Set, or like the Full House scenario you gave, I would immediately make a note of that.

If this is a "Reg", someone that I see or play with a lot, I would still have notes. I chalk it up to the first "mistake" being on me, but you learn valuable information, and to me that far outweighs the "loss".

Sorry bro, I had a lot to say lol.

If you have more info or a specific example of a hand I'm all ears.

Good Luck!

Well, if you are putting your stack in then we can't really suggest that you are playing with 'scared money' as your stack grows .. or that you change the way you play when you are playing with profit.

But we can suggest that playing deep stack poker is much different than when short stacked. The deeper you are the tighter your decisions need to become.

Yes, the ideas do conflict a bit. Scared money or playing smart, which is it?

I have a saying that I try to keep in my mind during a session .. "Win the war, not every battle". If you are at a table where you are having success taking down lot of smaller pots OTF or even at Showdown, then it's OK to make 'big folds' in lieu of the bigger picture.

Are these big pots against the same Players that you were already beating? We never want to fall prey to a bluff from a Player we think is just playing back at us. But the reality is that it's OK to get bluffed .. it's OK to let them have one.

We don't know the whole spot with your 8x full house .. just start to realize that you need to change your range of 'playable' holdings when you are faced with 40-60BB decisions and 150-200BB decisions. GL

Kind of adding to Answer20's post, while, from the brief amount of info on the hand, it sounds like the queens full versus 8's full was a standard cooler, if you find yourself losing a lot of these hands, you need to start looking at the reverse implied odds of the hands you are playing. In other words, are you stacking off a lot with hands like TPGK, bottom set, low flushes, or the low end of a straight, you either need to strengthen your starting range, or learn to manage the pot size when you have hands like that against good, tight, players (against laggish or newish players, those hands can be played aggressively for value).

Thank you for your answer. The above quote is new to me though. Could you explain this a little more

Thank you for the informative answer. Over the longer term the trend is upward, so yes, maybe I am just paying too much attention to the big beats, as even when I encounter them, I generally manage to pull it back, before the session ends, or of not within a few days again. Longer term it is then.

Thank you for your help. Reverse implied odds is not something I have managed to get my head around yet. I will work on it over the next few weeks.

In short it means that the more BB that are entering the pot the more likely that there are 'really' nutted hands involved. Thus you need to be aware of pot control with holdings that may improve, but won't be the nuts on this particular Board.

This can also be correlated to 'thin value' spots. You will find a lot less Players betting for value with holdings they will have to fold if raised afterwards .. and thus they just take getting to Showdown .. when they are very deep behind in relation to the pot.

This means you will check-call (rather than bet when out of position) or just check to Showdown in spots where you will 'probably' only be up against better holdings should there be any more action. Just because you are pretty sure you have the the best hand, or just a strong hand in general, doesn't mean you need to bet. Protect your chips, get to Showdown. GL

Another way to think about RIO: consider implied odds. If you’re not familiar this is the idea that you risk a relatively small amount by calling a bet when you have a draw. You will not risk any more if you miss, but you will call/raise any bets your opponent makes when you hit. IOW you get paid when you hit, fold if you don’t.

Reverse implied odds is the opposite of this — you pay off your opponent when you make your hand and fold if you don’t. Obviously this happens when you make a hand you think is good, but really is not. Like everything in poker, it’s situational, but there are starting hands that tend to result in implied odds situations and ones that tend to give RIO situations. Hands like small pocket pairs and suited connectors are ones that lead to implied odds. Usually you hit a set, straight or flush, and there’s a pretty good chance your hand is best. Hands like weak unsuited aces are RIO-type hands. The real danger with such hands is not that you’ll miss the flop (that’s no big deal, you fold and lose little), but that you’ll hit the flop for a top pair weak kicker hand and be beaten by a better ace. That can be quite costly.

Thanks for that. Yes, I have already learned the hard way that 2nd place doesn't pay well in poker.

Thank you