How to not call when you are beat

slimbob · #1 05-22-2005, 07:13 AM

Hello guys!

I have a ridiculous but serious psychological problem. I played a year Limit and one table tournaments and played only ocasionally Nolimit. Since a week I play 0,5$/1$ Nolimit and have this problem:
I had the following situation 3 times now:
I have the nuts for example the nut straight. I throw in huge bets and one player calls me. This player gets his outs at the river and puts me all-in or make a huge bet with an obviously better hand the flush for example. My notes tell me that this player never bluffs and plays extremely tight so everything is against a call. But I call. He shows exactly the hand I thought he has. After this I swear to myself that I never ever will do this again. The next day the same situation shows up and make the same mistake. After this happened I swear to myself .... and so on and on.
The only explanation I have is that I played the whole time Limit and here you have to call the most time if a player bets at the river even you think that you are beat if the pot is big enough.

So I ask you guys what can I do to never do this again?

Quittung poker is not an option! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

May be you made this mistake also and have a solution for me to stop this.
Thank you very much!

Best regards

slimbob

bkholdem · #2 05-22-2005, 01:09 PM

Go look in the small stakes no limit forum for a thread titled something like 'best ways to improve' or words to that effect.

Then go to the mid-high stakes forum and look at a thread titled 'Help me lay down cards!' or something close to that.

FiReSiStAnT · #3 05-22-2005, 01:23 PM

or just fold....

gasgod · #4 05-22-2005, 01:55 PM

The first thing you have to do is to recognize these situations when they come up. If you thought you had a clear winner, and you face a big bet, the first thing you have to do is to -- do nothing.

Take all the time available to you. Your worst action is a quick, angry call. I know, I've been there. Go to the trouble of actually putting him on various hands and estimating as best you can the probability of each. Make your default assumption that the probability of a stone bluff is 15%.

Will you occasionally lay down a winner? Absolutely. If he's bluffing, and it's unreadable, he got you. But 85% of the time he's got a hand. Do the math. Is the pot offering you the odds to call, with the above assumption?

Notice that if you do this, you cannot react emotionally. Doing the math takes over your entire brain. It works for me.

GG