Hi guys. im new into poker and i think ive got pretty good natural talent.

Ive been winning most of the poker in a 9 man field with my mates. But alot of them are not that great. So i moved to online to improve my skills.


I start off playing well. But i keep losing with hitting trips.

So my post is, when i have pockets pairs how shouldi play them. i always thought from 6's downards you get in as keep as possible then got agressive on the flop if you hit. BUt lately ive gone all in with trips/or betted the pot, people call which goes against all pot odds. and ive lost all my money(it was only smallstakes.

AM I being to agressive???what happens if someone is agressive against me. basically how do you play pockets, mid to low please help, as im suffering what i think are bad beats.....but it could/most likely be im playing poorly.

help as i want to get as good as i possibly can at this game...



Please help me, i cant work out if im being unlucky or playing poory.

Various thoughts:

You are probably not as talented as you think you are. When people start poker they tend to think they are good. After a lot of studying and hard work, they start getting good and they realise that they don't know anything about the game.

A pocket pair that makes 3 of a kind is not "trips" it's a "set". "Trips" is where the board is paired and you hold the third card. So you have 88, the board is QT8, you have a set. You have T8, the board is Q88, you have trips. The distinction is important because a set is better than trips by a good margin, the hand value is the same but with trips you have to worry that someone else made a full house and also kickers play - in the above example where you have T8, your opponent who has J8 beats you.

You should play sets aggressively as a rule.

If you have a good hand which you believe to be ahead of your opponent's range and get all your money in and the villain calls "against all odds" and gets the miracle card they need to win, you played correctly, end of story. Get used to it because it happens a lot in poker. So I said "end of story" and carried right on talking because this is important: you can only ever focus on making correct decisions in poker. You can't eliminate the random element and make the cards fall the way you would like them to. Get your money in good, make correct decisions and the rest will follow.

Originally Posted by mr beer

Various thoughts:

You are probably not as talented as you think you are. When people start poker they tend to think they are good. After a lot of studying and hard work, they start getting good and they realise that they don't know anything about the game.

A pocket pair that makes 3 of a kind is not "trips" it's a "set". "Trips" is where the board is paired and you hold the third card. So you have 88, the board is QT8, you have a set. You have T8, the board is Q88, you have trips. The distinction is important because a set is better than trips by a good margin, the hand value is the same but with trips you have to worry that someone else made a full house and also kickers play - in the above example where you have T8, your opponent who has J8 beats you.

You should play sets aggressively as a rule.

If you have a good hand which you believe to be ahead of your opponent's range and get all your money in and the villain calls "against all odds" and gets the miracle card they need to win, you played correctly, end of story. Get used to it because it happens a lot in poker. So I said "end of story" and carried right on talking because this is important: you can only ever focus on making correct decisions in poker. You can't eliminate the random element and make the cards fall the way you would like them to. Get your money in good, make correct decisions and the rest will follow.

i didnt say/mean to come across that im good, perhaps i meant to say i feel have have great potential.

The fact i am admitting my bad beats is stage 1 of trying to improve. Also the fact that im calling my bad beats not necessirily down to bad luck is also a sign im willing to improve my game.


What tips can you guys give me to avoid these horrific bad beats. especially when hitting sets. no word of a lie, i must of lost about 70/80 percent of my 3 or a kinds(froma pocket pair) this week.

Originally Posted by meadowskillas

What tips can you guys give me to avoid these horrific bad beats. especially when hitting sets. no word of a lie, i must of lost about 70/80 percent of my 3 or a kinds(froma pocket pair) this week.

You can't avoid them and you should not try to avoid them. What you are talking about is getting your money in good and then they suck out on you. You played correctly. Continue to play correctly.

This is seriously something that everyone who plays poker has to deal with, you have to learn to change your expectations because it will happen time and time again. Look at this way, pretend you could see your opponents' hole cards and had the math skills to always play correctly, every hand, every decision, every time. You only ever get your money in good. In this scenario, you are continually getting bad beats. You can't avoid them. You will only ever lose a hand by a bad beat, because you always decide correctly. You will never put a bad beat on someone else, because you never make a bad decision.

Originally Posted by mr beer

You can't avoid them and you should not try to avoid them. What you are talking about is getting your money in good and then they suck out on you. You played correctly. Continue to play correctly.

This is seriously something that everyone who plays poker has to deal with, you have to learn to change your expectations because it will happen time and time again. Look at this way, pretend you could see your opponents' hole cards and had the math skills to always play correctly, every hand, every decision, every time. You only ever get your money in good. In this scenario, you are continually getting bad beats. You can't avoid them. You will only ever lose a hand by a bad beat, because you always decide correctly. You will never put a bad beat on someone else, because you never make a bad decision.

mate its happened to me again.

3 times.

i had ace king . Raised 50 pecne(on the 5 p ten pence tables). The guy reraised to 1.10, so i just called(as if he 3 betted he could be kings, jacks etc). But i had him on a ace jack, ace king or pocket s.

Hit the ace on the flop, but noticed there was a 8 and 9 of hearts to worried about the flush and straight, went all in with my 5 quid, he called, and he had 6 7 off suit???wtf. H ehit the 5 and got the straight.

I also had pocket 4's, raised 20 pence and this guy called. the flop was 9 queen 4, so i hit the set. Bet ten pence, he reraised to 80 pence, so i called him all in in the hope he had the ace queen and hit top pair. AHe had pocket 9's and hit a bottom set.

Its actually freaky how often ive lost with sets this week. These cant be bad beat, i must be playing poorly.Its very frustrating...


On a brighter note i came 4 in a 60 plus tourney.....

Originally Posted by meadowskillas

mate its happened to me again.

LOL, what part of "you have to learn to change your expectations because it will happen time and time again" didn't you understand?

Poast some hand histories and we can evaluate your play. Pocket pairs vs. weak opponents in general should be played as you've said, get in cheap and be aggressive when you hit... but there are exceptions where bet/bet/bet lines won't get you the most value, and certain boards where you need to be careful.

Bad beats happen. Sometimes at alarming rates, we are slaves to probability. Once you play 500K hands + you'll have a better feel for it.

tbh ive been playing out of postion. Playing to many marginal hands in the small, big blind and next one along positions.

I really have understood postion and therefore my pokers inproved. Im not frittering away so much money. Im playing alot more agressive in the dealer chip spots.

I think this will reduce my bad beats.

Question, how do you guys play queens and jacks against players. Do youcheck fold as soon as theres an over card? Do you reraise any rasies but if they reraise again just call just incase they are pocket kings or aces???

I feel poker is slowly clicking but i have alot more learning to do....

I'd like to add my opinion here. The first problem you have is that you're playing online. Didn't you say you were winning when you were playing live? They might have been weaker opponents, but that's one of the most important keys to poker. If you want to win consistently, then you must play against weaker competition. If you play against skilled players and you're skilled, then it's mostly luck. Most professional players seek out weak tables in order to make a living. Don't let pride get in the way. A really good book about winning in the long run is Sustainable Wins in 1/2 No Limit. It goes against the common thoughts and focuses more on grinding out wins on a consistent basis. It's an eBook, so you could be reading it by tonight.

As far as online goes, STOP playing! Online poker rooms are set up so it's very difficult to retrieve your money. In most cases, there is a processing fee when you request your winnings. You also have to worry about poker bots, collusion, and cheat programs. You're MUCH better off playing live, where you don't have to worry about these things.

As far as pocket pairs go, the key is mixing up your pre-flop raises. If you always raise to $14 with QQ in a 1/2 game, then people will pick up on that. You need to be a chameleon. Keep your opponents off-guard. DO NOT overvalue pocket pairs! Too many people make this mistake, and it costs them a lot of money. The big money in No Limit is made with nut flushes and full houses. Ironically, the most money is made on low to mid-pocket pairs that turn into full houses. This is because you likely played more conservative pre-flop, which means other players would be less likely to know what you have. When you have a big pair, you raise big pew-flop and everyone knows what's going on.

As far as playing sets on the flop, who is your opponent? Are they likely to call an all-in? Will they fall for a trap? Poker isn't black and white. A lot has to do with the situation and your position. btw, if you're playing out of position, you have no chance. Stop doing that immediately!

You can learn a lot more with that book I mentioned earlier. Good luck.

Originally Posted by DanM

I'd like to add my opinion here. The first problem you have is that you're playing online. Didn't you say you were winning when you were playing live? They might have been weaker opponents, but that's one of the most important keys to poker. If you want to win consistently, then you must play against weaker competition. If you play against skilled players and you're skilled, then it's mostly luck. Most professional players seek out weak tables in order to make a living. Don't let pride get in the way. A really good book about winning in the long run is Sustainable Wins in 1/2 No Limit. It goes against the common thoughts and focuses more on grinding out wins on a consistent basis. It's an eBook, so you could be reading it by tonight.

As far as online goes, STOP playing! Online poker rooms are set up so it's very difficult to retrieve your money. In most cases, there is a processing fee when you request your winnings. You also have to worry about poker bots, collusion, and cheat programs. You're MUCH better off playing live, where you don't have to worry about these things.

As far as pocket pairs go, the key is mixing up your pre-flop raises. If you always raise to $14 with QQ in a 1/2 game, then people will pick up on that. You need to be a chameleon. Keep your opponents off-guard. DO NOT overvalue pocket pairs! Too many people make this mistake, and it costs them a lot of money. The big money in No Limit is made with nut flushes and full houses. Ironically, the most money is made on low to mid-pocket pairs that turn into full houses. This is because you likely played more conservative pre-flop, which means other players would be less likely to know what you have. When you have a big pair, you raise big pew-flop and everyone knows what's going on.

As far as playing sets on the flop, who is your opponent? Are they likely to call an all-in? Will they fall for a trap? Poker isn't black and white. A lot has to do with the situation and your position. btw, if you're playing out of position, you have no chance. Stop doing that immediately!

You can learn a lot more with that book I mentioned earlier. Good luck.

thankyou very much. i play online to improve. And ive won the most out live games. Ive imrpoved greatly playing online.

I was doing to key things wrong. Over betting top pair, which made me win cheap pots, and get blitzed by two pair and sets.


Ive been winning my sets lately so thats evening out again.

But the big thing is power of postion, ive finally understood it. It so simpe but makes sense to me now. i came tenth in a bounty hunter tournament again out of over 100 people. So thats 5 tournies and ive had two top tens. I only started poker a year ago.

Plus against my friends ive won 2 and come second the last 5 times. So im definately improving.

thankyou ill get that book mate.