online timer running out.. what do you do !?
 

Whenever I'm in a really tough situation I take some time to think, but the online timer is really short, and it often runs down and I'm still struggling with the hand. Now I have to act quick or my hand will be killed. Do you guys have any tricks for this situation? If in doubt, fold, call, raise? Usually I'll fold in these spots, but I think I'm giving up a lot of value.

Re: online timer running out.. what do you do !?
 

Think about what you're going to do before the card lands. If it's a [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and x bets $y or more I fold, less than $y i call etc

Re: online timer running out.. what do you do !?
 

Generally when it's close like that the EV is nearly neutral so it really doesn't matter in the long run what you do. But this would depend on what you consider a tough decision.

Re: online timer running out.. what do you do !?
 

An example would be something like:

hero has AJ in the BB,
flop comes with a J and two spades on the flop.
Villain limped preflop
you bet pot on the flop and he raised to 3x your bet.

You know he'll do that with a set, and also with a flush draw, and maybe even with KJ and QJ. He's a little bit LAG and the struggle that's taking time is I'm trying to think over past hands just how LAG he is and whether he thinks I'm easy to push off hands, etc...

Re: online timer running out.. what do you do !?
 

After timing out a few situations while considering between options of raising or flat calling, I try to set timer to 15 seconds instead of 20 and it works for me.

Re: online timer running out.. what do you do !?
 

In NL you should always be fighting for the pot until you realize you can't win. You can probably eliminate call from your decision making process in these close situations. Now you only have to decide between folding and re-raising. When I'm out of position my decision to re-raise is largely based on how much money I can get into the pot. If I can't get it all in (to eliminate the positional disadvantage) I strongly consider folding.