Hero Folds

 The other night I realized that I might be on the verge of beginning to play poker at a higher level than before because I found myself getting rid of some big hands, and I mean some BIIIIIIIIIG HANDS, that in times past I don't believe I would have been good enough to lay down. One such hand while playing 2/2 NL I picked up Kings on the button. There was a straddle on for $4 and it's limped to the cutoff who min raises to $8. I re-raise to $36. Everyone folds back to the cutoff who thinks about it and then finally calls. At this point I put my opponent on AK down to Jacks at the absolute worst. If an ace or any broadway card hits the flop, I'm not putting one penny in the pot.

So the flop is perhaps the most disgusting flop I could ever see with A Q x rainbow. I didn't want an Ace. I didn't want another card above a 10, and I got both! My opponent makes a pot sized bet of $80. I thought I was going to puke.  I got up from the table, disgusted and just vented for a split second. I think it was safe to say that everyone at the table realized the hand that I was holding. I folded. A year previously, I don't know if I was good enough to lay that hand down, even on that type of flop. But the long term decision for the session as a whole was easy: be stubborn, go all in, and go broke in that spot, or save the $160 you have and keep playing. That fold kept me from having to re-buy and put me in a position to win a pot later that evening for over $400 and eventually go on to win just over $500 that night. In short, that earlier fold was worth approximately $500.

Trying to prove that you can’t be outplayed is not the mark of a good poker player. In fact, not folding hands where you are fairly certain that you are beat is a huge leak in your game that will cause you to hemorrhage off money. There are times when you have to pay a player off with a big hand. There are other times that when you are in the middle of the wrong battle it's better to just run away and come back to fight on another day. It's never fun to look at a big pile of chips while you are being put to a decision and envisioning those chips potentially being pushed in your opponent's direction. Letting go of what you may suspect is the second best hand though can be worth a lot of money during the long term of your poker career.