Possibly my biggest leak...

[Nick D]

Hey Guys.. time for a decent post to try to generate some discussion. It's about what I think my biggest leak is in the game right now...going to showdown with marginal hands in shorthanded pots.

I know, I know, pretty straightforward.

Here is what SSHE has to offer (pg. 146):
"In small pots, going too far with weak hands is expensive. You can bet marginal hands on the flop to try to pick up the pot, but if you are raised, usually release your hand immediately or on fourth street if you do not improve. If an opponent is betting or raising, you need to be fairly confident that you have the best hand or a strong draw to call. This principle is especially true after the bet size doubles on the turn. Many loose players repeatedly make the mistake of calling down with weak hands in small pots. In a small pot if you think you have a close decision between continuing and folding, tend to fold."

I play on FTP every day for a few hours a day. I know that I've been getting better, and this forum has a lot to do with that (thanks guys). But for some reason, I am still a losing player. I wrote the post a few days ago about me being a bad poker player because I just was not winning consistently, and I knew it had some to do with variance, but I also knew it was because I wasn't playing well enough (for christ's sake, I'm still not!).

Today, I won a few pretty large pots in just a few hands, and I was amazed at how many BB I shot up. It made me realize the importance of playing in large pots with strong draws and great starting hands. It also got me to thinking that I played those pots well, and I made what are in my opinion +EV decisions.

But a lot of these decisions are wrong in smaller pots when you are heads up with a draw or multiway with a weak top-pair hand (there are also many other factors and situations..welcome to poker, eh?) I see so many posts on here where the issue is not, "do I raise here.. do I bet here.." Most of the replies are often, "I fold flop." Or, "I fold this PF."

I think a lot of us newbs are still playing a lot of our hands too far in small pots. If you have AQo and 3-bet someones raise PF and they donk into you when there's a K on board, LET IT GO. If you flop a gutshot with BDFD holding 75s in the BB heads up against the SB and they bet into you..just move on. I think this goes double for unknowns. You're going to win your money in the big pots when you've been patient and you finally hit TPTK w/ the nut FD.

I would encourage people (esp. maybe some vets) to post some hands where they went too far in a hand and the pot was too small. I'll do it just as soon as I am done drinking alcohol with my bro, passed out, cured of my hangover and ready to stare at the computer screen again e.g. tomorrow. Until then, please feel free to comment.

Nick