Major importance going from being a newbie to amateur poker player

Fold the second best hand on the felt, how many times can you say that and actually do it ?

Your hand can be a great one but it's still pretty obviously the second one, are you still strong enough to fold it ?

This is a very important step to becoming a better poker player.

Coming to this insight will boost your poker game more than anything else.

Please discuss

Just made a fishy error, pkt tens over pair to the board big stack makes huge raise, i call he has a set, typical of my inability to fold:crying

So true.. a great player is the one that know`s when to fold a monster if he knows he will be dominated.. like last night in my home game.. a guy folded his full house on the river when i had made quads 😄 great move by him especially when he calls me with anything knowing that i bluff a lot 😋.

This is the one thing, I believe, that will make or break you in a lot of tourneys as well as cash games. The ol', "know when to fold 'em" problem. It seems like the tournaments I play in, when I fold with the second best hand, are the ones I usually will go deepest in. I usually avoid these confrontations, being a tight player, but sometimes it comes down to the showdown when you've been bluffed by a player earlier in the game, and you just feel or pretty well know your hand is second best. Folding in this situation can be the make or break for you. You need to tell yourself, is this the spot I want, or is this just another another second best hand. Being able to make the right decision here is a difference maker. You have to really be able to access, is this pot truely worth it.... then go with your best instincts and proceed.

When you make a big majority of these decisions correctly, that is when you are graduating up the ladder of skill in poker. Good luck in your play and may the flops be with you!😁

Yes that's the hard part. Sometimes i just want to know if it is a bluff or not. I guess in certain situations you got the face that you'll never know if you want to continue to play in the tournament. Still the hardest is layin' down an overpair...

Being able to fold a good hand, is difficult to do, but patience is the name of the game.

I totally concur!

This often comes down to patience though, at least in my experience. Am I patient enough to wait for the RIGHT hand or am I going to take chances with mediocre hands that are likely to get beat?

I, myself, noticed a huge improvement in my play when I began to make tough lay-downs. But practice makes perfect and it DOES get EASIER! LOL There was a FTP commercial about that with Jennifer Harman in which I think she laid down pocket Kings or Queens. 6 months ago I NEVER could have done that, but today I can, and have... it sucks and I cannot do it every time I should, but the more I learn about poker and the more I play I understand this better and better.

Just my own 2 pennies... is that enough for the buy-in😟? LOL

I remember that commercial, but she only folds after the A hits on the flop.... I allways laughed at this one as that is an easy fold. the tough one is makeing the fold of kk preflop... I can do queens ok but folding cowboys preflop is tough....

Yes, I remind myself I had to lose the wad of cash, so it is better to fold. What I have learned is when I have the nuts do not be afraid to push it high because someone with 2 pair or 3 of a kind really will go in even tho they are dominated.

So it makes sense to back down if your hand just isn't strong.

I've noticed in the micro stakes cash games that players will on occasion fold a good hand like pocket Queens to a raise when the flop is , say A,K, 2. Never used to see that a few years ago...I guess a lot of players are learning to become better players from forums like IX games....Nevertheless, it's still hard to lay down a good hand, especially in the mico stakes! :dirol

Courtsey Fulltilt poker:

Starting with nothing but a Full Tilt Poker account, Chris played in Freerolls until he earned enough to graduate to games with real-money buy-ins. From that point on, he adhered to a strict set of guidelines to build up his bankroll.

In September of 2007 Chris finally achieved his $0 to $10,000 goal. Always true to his word, he donated his winnings to the Save the Children Foundation upon reaching the $10K mark.

If these two are not in the top two, then who else? Joe cada...