I'm running pretty cold lately and big pairs are resulting in big losses. I play $50 NL, 6 max.

Example. Last hand w/AA I reraise a $2 preflop bet to $6.50 preflop. I'm called and am OOP. The flop is J high with two low cards, rainbow flop. I lead for about $9 and get reraised to $27. I push, villian calls with a set of jacks.

Just now I hold KK and raise to $2 PF in the SB. BB calls and so does the button who limped. Flop comes KJT rainbow. I lead out with top set for $5, villian BB raises to $10. I push, he calls with AQ for broadway.

I know, BBFIDTS.

My question is, am I playing these hands wrong? It seems like playing big pots with an overpair HU is killing me and they just don't seem to play big pots well if all I have is an overpair unimproved.

Do you guys have any basic advice for playing big pairs because anymore they seem to either win a small pot or lose a big one unimproved.

Flopping a set of kings against Broadway is pretty tough. I don't ever see all the money not getting in on that flop. Play the big pairs, but not too hard... although you can't really complain with getting it in in both of those situations.

you said it yourself...BBFIDTS sirrrrr

the two hands you described there is just no getting out of

Assuming they are playing 100BB or less anyway.

yes

Money,

I know u have been following my Run to 10k, I have had many similar situations as these you describe.

be thankfull that you're only losing 100BB's give or take. Its what happens. If these hands are happening in deep stack games, than you should start to retool.

as for these hands and situations, there is nothing you can do. if the flop in hand 1 was 10,7,2. you probably get lots of his money, sometimes all.

if the flop was A,J,3. you get all his money. just unfortunate that he flopped a set.

You can only fold overpairs on the flop with a good read. A few days ago I was holding KK when the board rolled out 579r. My opponent check-raised me a massive amount. Now in a vacuum this would be a terrible laydown, but I knew this guy - he only raised that big with monsters. He may have led TT or called with, it but there's no way he'd shovel a ton of money in there with one pair. Even though he mucked, I'm confident he had me crushed. This is why reads are huge. Watch how your opponents play their hands. All it takes is one or two hands to get a general read on them. See how they play top pair or overpairs. If they're just calling down then strongly consider folding when they fight back at you. Take notes, because you never know who's going to put you to the tough decision.

Sometimes it won't matter, and you'll see them raise with top pair so you're confidently ahead of their range, and you'll still run into their sets. But those are what we call coolers. I'm talking about hand 1 in particular, here. Hand 2, there's no amount of familiarity with a player where you can fold. None. At some point in the raising fest you're compelled to call even if he flips his cards over to reveal broadway - because you're getting the odds to call and fill up.

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess I'm just on a downswing and questioning hands that I shouldn't be. If many of you have followed some of my posts in the NL Hold'em forum you've seen that sometimes I'm trying to make big laydowns when I shouldn't. So now I'm trying to make the calls you guys suggest and I'm doing it when I'm beat. So it's making me a little skeptical. I'll keep at it and wait for the variance to even out.

It sounds like you're losing confidence and that's a huge bankroll killer. You always have to be confident with how you play a hand. I'm not saying to lie to yourself and tell yourslef you played a hand well when you actually didn't. But you know deep inside (at least i assume you do) that that's how you should play big pairs. Everyone has these downswings, even though it's hard to believe anyone is as unlucky as you when you're going through a cold streak, it's not true.

remember this quote, it always puts things into persepctive for me, it goes something like this (paraphrased) and i think it has helped me cope with downswings "Everyone eventually is dealt the exact same cards the same # of times, the thing that seperates the winners from the losers is how they handle the rough streaks". If you play well when you're running well and you play well when you're not running well (and i KNOW, it can be VERY hard), imagine how much a higher ROI or bb/100 you'll achieve.

Gabe

Thanks Gabe.

I'm not certain my confidence is shaken. I know downswings are part of the game. I'm just trying to take this time to look over a few areas and see if I can spot leaks and plug holes if need be.

you have pokertracker? if you don't, GET IT! it's huge in helping plug leaks. When i made a transition from sngs to cash, it immensely helped me to crush the games i play in, in combination with cardrunners.