[lstream]

If I had to name one situation that costs me a huge amount of money consistently, this is it. I start with pocket aces, queens, or kings, all overcards to anything on the board. I raise pretty much every time on third. This situation seems straight forward to me, but it's costing me so much money, that I thought I would see what everyone else thinks. Stakes are 2/4 to 5/10.

Case 1 - one or two callers chase me to the river, and their boards do not pair up. I bet all the way to the river with no improvement, and usually check call if it is HU or fold if there are two guys seeing the river. I consistently lose to hands like 8's and 2's or some other two pair. When the circumstances present themselves, I will try to isolate with check raises and try to knock at least one villain out by making him call two cold.

Case 2: Same as above but one or both villains pair up, so I know I am behind. They start betting into me. I am pretty sure that if hit aces, kings, or queens up that I will win the hand, so I usually see the river. If I put one or more of them on a made straight or flush, I will usually fold. I end up not improving to the river - everyone checks and I lose the hand. No one folds two pair in these situations, so betting is typically pointless. Once in a while I will call a bet with unimproved aces HU, depending on villain, how dead his cards are etc. I win these often enough to make selective calling profitable.

Any suggestions on how to play these situations more profitably? I estimate that I am losing 70-80% of these starting hands over the last several months with great damage to the BR.