A hold'em skill that should be reviewed

Here is a hand that I lost a ton of money on recently. I was at a very loose/aggressive table.


QQ from MP called pot and raised from EP. I 3-bet it and it is capped with four players who all saw the flop.


In a four-way pot and capped before the flop you are probably correct 100% of the time to fold if an ace or a king flops and you do not flop a queen. I did no such thing. I had seen it capped pre-flop with the worst hands, but you have to know that a SOMEBODY has at least top pair when and ace or king hits anytime in the hand. One player probably already has pocket aces or kings. I made the kind of mistake that many players make: “I have not had a playable hand in an hour, I had to play those queens.” When in all reality, based on the pre-flop play and the king on the flop I still did not have a playable hand.


If you notice that you lose money often with big pocket pairs, you should check out the chapters in Hold’em For Advanced Players and other books outlining the play of pocket pairs. I made a horrible mistake seeing the turn and maybe even the flop, but a very fishy mistake seeing the river. At least I get to reflect and learn from my $50 mistake.


As always, comments welcome.

Depending on the board makeup, and your knowledge of the players, you have to be VERY sure about folding on the river facing only one bet..


Granted, I agree with you that you probably shouldn't have even gotten on the BANK of the river, after the flop.... but having walked up to the river, be damn sure there's a pirahna in there before you refuse to take a dip....


(thus endeth the bad metaphor)

Hey Easy-E, thanks for the comments and you are probably right about folding to one bet. If the action is still heavy and you can count on a raise behind you, I guess you have to decide if another 4 BB are worth seeing what you already know is true (and probably will see anyway for free). I actually folded to a 3-bet on the river when an ace hit and saw a set of kings take it down. The showdown had AKo, pocket queens (NOT the ones in my hand), pocket kings, and AKs. Outstanding hand, wish I would have folded on the flop like I knew I should have.

How can there be a set of kings when there are player holdings of AKo, AKs and KK?

from my original post, note that I state there was a king on the flop.


"One player probably already has pocket aces or kings. I made the kind of mistake that many players make: “I have not had a playable hand in an hour, I had to play those queens.” When in all reality, based on the pre-flop play and the king on the flop I still did not have a playable hand."

You also said,


"The showdown had AKo, pocket queens (NOT the ones in my hand), pocket kings, and AKs"


If there was a king on the flop, that makes 5 kings... I don't know if I'd play with those guys anymore.

ahhhh, now I see my what the hell! Thank you. I think one of the other players slipped me something, as my nose was bleeding after this session. This is clearly why it is not recommended that one plays cards for cash while drunk. Sorry, I am clearly mistaken with the details of this hand.


...or next time I see these guys, somebody has some esplainin' to do!