the three of a kind where the opponent has a pocket pair and makes 3of a kind on the board makes me very difficult to read and has also got me played out of many tournament because of it. Can you suggest some techniques or hints that would indicate this or some points I should remember to avoid mistakes
I think it is difficult to read or guess when a person has a trio, because evidently if you have a pair with the larger card you will be sure of what you have and therefore the times that person bets you (with your trio) you You are going to continue betting it trusting in your hand. I can recommend that you always play calmly, calmly and always listening to your intuition that in most cases is always right.
pato60 said:
English only m8.
Sniffing out a set can be tough. you have to know when you are reasonably beat and make the tptk laydown sometimes. study the line the villain took throughout the hand and make an educated guess on his holdings based on his range and betting pattern.
It's very difficult to see it , especially if you have top pair top kicker or better (let's say 2 pair , the second card on the river !! as I remember a cash hand ) and the board is not wet to be afraid of other things , it's difficult to abandon your hand and save some chips .
I watch nowadays many replays and videos with the cards up to learn more about difficult situations like this . I think , for now , the key is to read the flop and the opponent via his previous preflop moves , and try pot control , especially in position , not to bet all streets if you think he's slow plays etc
I watch nowadays many replays and videos with the cards up to learn more about difficult situations like this . I think , for now , the key is to read the flop and the opponent via his previous preflop moves , and try pot control , especially in position , not to bet all streets if you think he's slow plays etc
Well i can't say you how to "read" opponent's card. But with some experience comes abilitiy to assume that he hit set or some hand which is better than yours. Sometimes you can "read" it by bet size or way he is playing, if you have some clue what kind of player your opponent is. Many way to get it. But nothing is 100% sure that you are right.
It's poker after all.
Cheers! 🙂
It's poker after all.
Cheers! 🙂
Raise/Re-raise pre-flop to get the small pocket pairs out. Then you have to know the other player's game. If he's a standard player, he would probably 4-bet/shove with QQ+ and call with TT/JJ. Something like that. In theory you won't need to worry about 22 to 99 sets anymore (again, if you're playing against a standard player. you need to know your opponent).
Usually, if a player check/calls a bet on a dry flop and then check/raises a brick turn, it's usually a good indication of 2 pair or better.
If you aren't folding on the turn, I'd approach the river cautiously with just a single pair or a weak 2 pair.
If you aren't folding on the turn, I'd approach the river cautiously with just a single pair or a weak 2 pair.
Hand reading is very difficult in general and actually it is even more difficult to put someone on certain hand, even poker high stakes pros don't get it right often.
Here is the quote from "Easy Game" book:
Like the author says, the board texture is critical here. If the board is wet and villain has a set, they will want to play this hand aggressively to not give drawing hands free cards. Any big bet on dry board will be very polarizing, villain is saying: I have strong hand (set, two pair, top pair, high kicker) or pure air. Especially in single raise pots, it will always hard to guess if this is strong hand or bluff. Then, it is good to have any information about the player style, for example: is he bluffing too much from what you see? Also, if you are not sure which one is it, of course control the pot.
Bottom line is that if on heads up pots you are constantly afraid of sets or two pairs on boards that shouldn't have hit villain range that often when you have hand like top pair with good kicker, then you will loose value. You have to prepare to loose some pots, especially with slow played sets, that's inevitable 😉
As a bonus video of poker reads, there is a reason why those reads are amazing, it is not that easy to do it:
Here is the quote from "Easy Game" book:
Like the author says, the board texture is critical here. If the board is wet and villain has a set, they will want to play this hand aggressively to not give drawing hands free cards. Any big bet on dry board will be very polarizing, villain is saying: I have strong hand (set, two pair, top pair, high kicker) or pure air. Especially in single raise pots, it will always hard to guess if this is strong hand or bluff. Then, it is good to have any information about the player style, for example: is he bluffing too much from what you see? Also, if you are not sure which one is it, of course control the pot.
Bottom line is that if on heads up pots you are constantly afraid of sets or two pairs on boards that shouldn't have hit villain range that often when you have hand like top pair with good kicker, then you will loose value. You have to prepare to loose some pots, especially with slow played sets, that's inevitable 😉
As a bonus video of poker reads, there is a reason why those reads are amazing, it is not that easy to do it:
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BriceNice said:
Come on, what a nonsense. What if the board is 9TJ with a flush draw? There are so many hands that would raise / re raise - 9T, 9J, JQ, QK, 78, AQ, all flush draws etc. depending on the players and preflop situation. Especially if this is single raise 3-way pot, then it is unlikely for them to have 99/TT/JJ...