Dealing with making great hands after you've folded

[ispiked]

This seems to happen a lot for me. It's either one of two situations: I fold pre-flop and end up flopping a straight or a fullhouse or maybe a set, or I fold on the flop or the turn and end up having the best hand in the end.

It's really tough to see yourself flop a straight and think, "Man, I should've made that call!", or get that card that completes your draw on the river or the turn. I sometimes find myself wanting to play more loosely because of this.

What are good ways of dealing with this? I usually just say to myself that the odds of this happening with the hand I had were very low, and that calling wouldn't pay off in the longrun, or sometimes I just try to forget what I had once I lay down.

Thoughts?

[Unknown Soldier]

realise that what cards comes out are completely irrelevent.

[paperjam]

realize that if you play your 63o OOP you will lose in the long run - and it's all about the long haul

[Poker Plan]

I've got an answer to your problem:-

Bump your VPIP up to 100%.
Then call all bets to the river
You will never have this problem ever again.

Obviously the above was typed tongue in cheek.
Seriously: You have to get your mind set correct. It's all about the long term probability of events happening. ANY event CAN happen, but what's the probability of it happening? THAT's what you're betting on.

Rack up a few thousand hands and you'll find you won't give a second thought to what cards fell after you mucked.

Ian

[dashman]

Don't play "results poker" This is like the true sign of a Donk IMO. When someone at the table goes "oh man I knew I shouldn't have folded" I target this person and proceed . If you truly question a hand, post it in one of the forums, thats what they are hear for. Ummm.....playing lots will get you over this. I guess it just comes with experience and with that comes the whole knowing when you have the best hand or not. It's probably better that you are folding rather than calling too much. At least you aren't spewing chips......

[justkevin]

You need to pay attention to all the other hands. So you might think "I missed flopping a full house!" every few hundred hands, but on most hands you will be thinking "Yep, that flop missed me. I just saved my self a SB." Or "I would have stayed to the river with that mediocre top pair and lost a lot."

[Sciolist]

Play more. You'll forget what hand you just folded. If you play several tables, this happens faster.

It's also indicative of a results-oriented mindset, which is bad. As you get better and become more experienced, you start to lose the results oriented mindset.

[SplawnDarts]

I remember when I first started playing holdem that that bothered me (it never did with draw or stud). Then I started putting a lot more effort into observing my table when I wasn't in a hand, and a lot less effort worrying about what my results would have been. A weird thing happened - I found I had no more "space" in my brain dedicated to remembering what it what my hole cards were.

[ScottieK]

LOL this reminds me of something that happened at one of my live sessions. A woman playing was an absolute calling station....she would call just about everything with just about anything preflop, and sometimes to the river, regardless of what was going on. Well, one hand, she surprised me (and probably the entire table) by folding her hand preflop for a single bet. The flop came down K K 2. She piped up "oh, dealer! I folded King-deuce!" in her peculiar accent, which made it even funnier in my mind. Needless to say, she didn't fold a single hand preflop after missing that miracle full house, even though her folding King-deuce was one of the best plays she had made all day.

So every time I correctly fold a hand that would have nailed the flop, I just say to myself "oh dealer! I folded King-deuce!" in that lady's voice, and move on.

ScottieK

[svelte]

[ QUOTE ]

So every time I correctly fold a hand that would have nailed the flop, I just say to myself "oh dealer! I folded King-deuce!" in that lady's voice, and move on.

ScottieK

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. Too funny, Scottie. /images/graemlins/smile.gif I was playing live MTT and one donk kept a running commentary of what he woulda flopped each time. It's nice when fish announce themselves like that.

[BRDSR]

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[ QUOTE ]

So every time I correctly fold a hand that would have nailed the flop, I just say to myself "oh dealer! I folded King-deuce!" in that lady's voice, and move on.

ScottieK

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LOL. Too funny, Scottie. /images/graemlins/smile.gif I was playing live MTT and one donk kept a running commentary of what he woulda flopped each time. It's nice when fish announce themselves like that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wouldn't both those instances be against the rules as well, or at least against etiquette. I mean, if I held A2 in my hand on that first hand I would feel a lot better about my hand knowing that one of the kings was already in the muck.

[svelte]

This particular person was giving his commentary after the hand was over. Yeah, otherwise, that would have been bad etiquette at the very least.

[ScottieK]

Sure it is, but it happens sometimes....especially in lower limit games where people aren't nearly as serious. I didn't sick the dealer or the floor manager on her, because she was great for the game.

ScottieK

[SmokeyRidesAgain]

[ QUOTE ]
realise that what cards comes out are completely irrelevent.

[/ QUOTE ]
Amen, you made your decision - you have to respect that it was correct in the first place.

[CarlSpackler]

This is why I never rabbit hunt when playing live.

[TomBrooks]

[ QUOTE ]
What are good ways of dealing with this?

[/ QUOTE ]
Learning how money is made and lost at poker. i.e. by making correct decisions and incorrect decisions respectively.

[Quanah Parker]

Good ahead and loosen up and start making more calls.

Unless you're freakishly tight, this should reslult in you losing way more than winning. If consistenetly losing isn't what you're after, then just get it over it and keep folding when you know should.
When your out of a hand the only reason you should be paying attention to the board is to observe your opponents and how they play the hand. If your still playing your folded hand, your obviously living in a past that's not coming back.

[ph0yce]

In a CardRunners video by Green Plastic or Muddywater (can't remember which) they touch on this topic.

He folded a garbage hand preflop. The flop came out and he made a fullhouse. He laughed and then reiterated basically what everyone is telling you here.

However, he went on to say that UltimateBet's algorithm for determining what cards come on the flop is partly based on how many players see the flop. So, had he stayed in the hand and played his garbage the flop would have been entirely different.

I always keep this in mind since I play on UB as well. I'm not sure if any other sites operate in a similar manner but it may comfort you if you play on UB.

[wiper]

i could see a situation where i have a tough decision whether or not to fold a pocket pair to a small raise and several callers, decide to fold, and the third card comes on the flop...i've played thousands of hands, and there still could be times where i'm kicking myself...

i realize the flop doesn't matter, but still, it sucks..

[melechchloe]

Several things will help:

1. Realize that sooner or later you will get a chance to see free flops with garbage hands from the BB. Let your turn in the unraised BB be your chance to have that kind of fun.

2. Recognize that a freakish run of monster flops on folded hands can and does put players on tilt. The same is happening to other players at the table and you can capitalize on them.

3. Get it out of your system...but do it cheaply and wisely. In many games moments will arise when it isn't improper to make a move with any two cards...usually limping into a large unraised pot or occasionaly raising a weak entry ahead of you for a steal. Devoting a very small portion of your stack to thoughtful "gamble" will save you from tempting but foolish gambles later. Just pick your spots carefully where the pot odds and/or folding equity gives you a chance. Ignore the above if you aren't confident in your post flop abilities relative to the other players in the pot. Lots of players use A-small suited or small gapped suited connectors for these purposes.

[HOWMANY]

I deal with it by not being retarded.

I'm not going to think that I should have folded AA preflop if I end up losing a pot with it, so why would I give any thought every time some horrible hand would have wound up winning?

[demon102]

If I play 1 table I go on tilt so much quicker in a million ways this being one of them. If I play 8-12 tables I have so much to consider that crap like this is completely irrelavent, however u spell that word lol. Point is get ur mind off of that bull [censored] and keep it on the parts of ur game that matters.

[blankoblanco]

All you have to do is think of Scott Lazar. Remember Scott Lazar? He was in the final 6 of the 2005 Main Event with a pretty good sized chip stack. On some hand he folded an A-rag, I think to a raise, but I'm not sure. It was pretty marginal. I don't remember the situation, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people (maybe most) would have folded it too. Well, lo and behold, the flop comes 2 aces. Then another ace comes. The other players involved actually had medium pocket pairs, so they made full houses, while Scott would have made quads. It tilted him so much that he played like a donk, completely different from the style that got him there, for the next 3 or 4 hands until he was out.

Scott was a moron. He most likely costed himself millions of dollars because he was a moron. Of all the reasons to tilt, to tilt because you would have made a good hand if you'd played it, that's just so stupid. If you fold 27 are you going to flip out when the flop comes 227? That's retarded. Don't be a retard /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[rokstedy]

[ QUOTE ]
In a CardRunners video by Green Plastic or Muddywater (can't remember which) they touch on this topic.

He folded a garbage hand preflop. The flop came out and he made a fullhouse. He laughed and then reiterated basically what everyone is telling you here.

However, he went on to say that UltimateBet's algorithm for determining what cards come on the flop is partly based on how many players see the flop. So, had he stayed in the hand and played his garbage the flop would have been entirely different.

I always keep this in mind since I play on UB as well. I'm not sure if any other sites operate in a similar manner but it may comfort you if you play on UB.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was actually going to suggest this as my method for avoiding fold anxiety. I simply tell myself that the RNG would not have produced xyz cards had I played the hand.