Why is it so hard to fold strong hands like JJ, QQ, KK,AKs or AA?

I’ve noticed that it’s often very hard to fold big pocket pairs like JJ, QQ, KK,AK or even AA — even when the opponent clearly shows strength.

Psychologically, we get attached to these hands. We want to believe our opponent is bluffing or has a weaker hand, and we keep calling big bets, hoping to hit a set or see a safe board. But many times, this ends with losing the whole stack.

I’ve managed to make some good folds in these spots — sometimes I was right, sometimes wrong — but it’s clear that emotional attachment to strong-looking hands makes us lose more often.

So my question is: why is it so hard to fold these hands, and how can we train ourselves to let them go more easily?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

It is very hard to give up on something with so much potential. When I do fold them, I literally congratulate myself by silently saying "Good work. You made the right play."

It's just greed.Many people fall in love with AK preflop in no-limit hold'em because they know they'll rarely be worse than 50/50 when going all-in heads-up. And while that's true, it's also true that you'll rarely have better than 50/50 at showdown when all-in.

It’s hard to fold those hands because they look too strong to be beaten, our ego and hope get involved. The best way to improve is to focus on ranges and board texture instead of hand strength. Logic over emotion.

You should not hold on to any one card indefinitely, you need to be aware of this attitude. These starting hands are strong hands, but the cards that come to the table can quickly rewrite the events.

I still can't fold with KK and AA. I always think they're unbeatable hands🙂☕

The longer you play, the more often these hands get cracked. And it has it's authorization. It's just math and 2nd: you get more familiar with possible hand ranges over time, because of losing or overplaying them. It takes some time to learn that. But still, this should not lead to anxiety or loss of trust. They will bring the most value, but we have to play them correctly and be very patient.

Preflop really hard to let go, especially QQ+ & AK. Postflop you must make the laydown sometimes.

Why is it hard for me, cause they either have big potential or won me big pots in the past. The expected value is through the roof!

How to make the fold when needed? I try to put opponents on ranges, like a full ring UTG raise has way more premium holdings usually then the cutoff doing it. Or when a tight player raises you or a loose agressive player.

Emily Trott said:

It is very hard to give up on something with so much potential. When I do fold them, I literally congratulate myself by silently saying "Good work. You made the right play."

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It is very hard to give up on something with so much potential. When I do fold them, I literally congratulate myself by silently saying "Good work. You made the right play."

Yeah, I also understand that pocket pairs come very rarely and have huge potential, which is why we often associate them with winning and lose our objective point of view.

Sometimes the board texture is a complete trap for you — straight boards, flush boards, paired boards, or all of them at once 😂

Sometimes folding is the real victory, and it’s important to truly understand that.

In poker, the final boss is your own mind. Those who play only based on subconscious emotional decisions will always lose in the long run.

Hiro fold can do only hiro )

I've always fallen into this trap, that's when we think we're on the loose end.

dreamer13 said:

It's just greed.Many people fall in love with AK preflop in no-limit hold'em because they know they'll rarely be worse than 50/50 when going all-in heads-up. And while that's true, it's also true that you'll rarely have better than 50/50 at showdown when all-in.

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Yeah, AK actually loses all-ins quite often against weaker hands like A10, AJ, KJ, KQ, AQ, or small pocket pairs. We clearly tend to overvalue it preflop.

The thing is, AK looks beautiful, but it’s still just a drawing hand — not a made one. It has amazing potential, yet until it connects with the board, it’s basically just ace-high.

Preflop, it’s strong enough to 3-bet or even shove in many spots, but postflop, you need to stay flexible, especially when you miss.

Many players lose big with AK because they treat it like AA or KK. Real skill is knowing when to slow down, when to apply pressure, and when to let it go.

In the end, AK tests not just your technical game, but your discipline — it separates players who can think clearly from those ruled by emotion.

Mantinhoo said:

It’s hard to fold those hands because they look too strong to be beaten, our ego and hope get involved. The best way to improve is to focus on ranges and board texture instead of hand strength. Logic over emotion.

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Absolutely perfect answer 👏👏👏
Yeah, in poker we’re not really fighting against others — we’re fighting against our own subconscious.

Greed, hope, and the desire to win a big pot and get that dopamine rush often become the true reasons behind our biggest losses.

Garik777 said:

I still can't fold with KK and AA. I always think they're unbeatable hands🙂☕

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I’ve started folding those hands, and for me, that’s real progress.
You need to have freedom of choice — both in life and in poker — otherwise, those strong preflop hands can turn into unforgettable scars on the postflop streets. 🕷️🕸️🦟

It's difficult because we immediately get attached to this hand when we see them, immediately we draw this conclusion of okay I have pocket AA, I'm going to double up here, and when that board comes, it's disgusting but still we don't want to let go

Fallenglory said:

Preflop really hard to let go, especially QQ+ & AK. Postflop you must make the laydown sometimes.

Why is it hard for me, cause they either have big potential or won me big pots in the past. The expected value is through the roof!

How to make the fold when needed? I try to put opponents on ranges, like a full ring UTG raise has way more premium holdings usually then the cutoff doing it. Or when a tight player raises you or a loose agressive player.

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Exactly. The type of opponent and the postflop texture really help me find the right decision.

When you play long enough you know this is just another hand in poker and any hand becomes easy to fold given certain situations. I think it’s hard for people to fold because they look so strong, and they are in the beginning of the hand but they can loose strength later in the hand. Plus we don’t get these hands very often so people tend to over play them.

it´s hard because u basically get junk hands 80%+ of time

Sos1l said:

Я заметил, что часто бывает очень сложно сбросить крупные карманные пары, такие как JJ, QQ, KK, AK или даже AA — даже когда оппонент явно демонстрирует силу.

Психологически мы привязываемся к этим рукам. Нам хочется верить, что оппонент блефует или у него слабая рука, и мы продолжаем коллировать большие ставки, надеясь собрать сет или увидеть безопасную доску. Но зачастую это заканчивается потерей всего стека.

Мне удалось сделать несколько хороших фолдов в таких ситуациях — иногда я был прав, иногда нет — но ясно, что эмоциональная привязанность к сильным на вид рукам заставляет нас проигрывать чаще.

Итак, мой вопрос: почему так трудно складывать эти руки, и как мы можем научиться отпускать их легче?

Мне бы хотелось услышать ваши мысли и опыт.

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I scrolled through half a page and not a single commentator about the stack size.

Flying in with AK or QQ is just disgusting when you have 250 BB.

It's normal not to fly in with your hands at 30 BB.

This is a STACK SIZE problem, not just a problem of hand strength in a vacuum.

For every stack size, there are a different number of people who know well/are bad in their betting/all-in structure. Depending on the stack size you choose, this could lead to the conclusion that 100% of your hands only reach AA.

Nandabio81 said:

I've always fallen into this trap, that's when we think we're on the loose end.

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Yeah, I understand you. Poker is a path from mistakes to the right decisions — from naivety to flexibility, from impulsiveness to reason.

We are bound to make mistakes and learn, to get attached and disappointed, and then to understand the game more deeply and improve ourselves.

Because the most difficult decisions change your attitude to the game

I think those preflop hands generate expectations

Aleksandr1991 said:

I scrolled through half a page and not a single commentator about the stack size.

Flying in with AK or QQ is just disgusting when you have 250 BB.

It's normal not to fly in with your hands at 30 BB.

This is a STACK SIZE problem, not just a problem of hand strength in a vacuum.

For every stack size, there are a different number of people who know well/are bad in their betting/all-in structure. Depending on the stack size you choose, this could lead to the conclusion that 100% of your hands only reach AA.

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Yes, you're absolutely right. The size of your stack and your opponent's play a big role in deciding whether to risk or not. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't, and sometimes you have no choice but to play even if you have JJ or AKo

It can be hard to fold these hands pre sometimes, but often when board hits your opponents range and is very rarely showing aggression, it can make it easy to fold. You have to practice ranges and take notes on certain players and their tendencies

Just remind yourself AA is just a pair

EvertonGirl said:

It can be hard to fold these hands pre sometimes, but often when board hits your opponents range and is very rarely showing aggression, it can make it easy to fold. You have to practice ranges and take notes on certain players and their tendencies

Just remind yourself AA is just a pair

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Very useful advice. Thank you.

There is an element of entitlement tilt, which mean, it can be difficult to accept, that a hand, that was very strong on an earlier street, has been degraded by the board runout. An obvious example is holding on , where we had the second nuts preflop, but now we lose to any Ax. But it can also happen with other hands. Maybe we hold , and flop comes giving us the nuts. But then the board runs out meaning, that now we lose to any hand with a club in it. In situations like these we need to accept, what happened, and fold to significant pressure.

But its also a common misconception, that because we lost a big pot, we did something wrong, and we should have folded. And that is absolutely not the case either. If we hold on a board of with an effective stack of 35BB, then there are plenty of worse hands, our opponent can have, that they are willing to stack off. So just because they happened to have or this time, or maybe they had , and the river was giving them the winning hand, does not mean, we did anything wrong. If we are 100BB deep, as in most cash games, thats the time, where maybe we should consider folding an overpair, if for instance we face a raise on the turn and a jam on the river. But in tournaments its often completely fine getting it in, and if we lose, it is, what it is.
Which of course mean, we are more likely to bust from a tournament with than . But we are also far more likely to win some big pots with , so its not like, the hand is causing us problems or is difficult to play. Its just higher variance, because with our most common play is to fold preflop and only lose the blinds and ante. So the hand does not get us busted from the tournament, but it cause us to slowly bleed chips.