This is more a question for Daniel than anything, but anyway here it is. Yesterday I was talking bout being the underdog in online cash games because of the MT players who wait for strong hands before they make a move, usually trapping you in a bad flop situation when you think your top pair or top set may be good. They are looking for that all in re-raise or push situation to capitalize. Well with strongs hands such as AK suited, AA, KK, and even tho small ball de-values QQ preflop, im gonna say queens too, I can seem to find ways of getting out of monster bad beats with these hands as i can see the suckout that just occured or I can put my opponents on a range of hands that probably crushed one of these hands. Laying them down is not my trouble. But the trouble is lets say your opponent raises preflop and you in turn are trying to trap him. You put him on a variety of these hands, He makes a AA, KK size raise and now you are going to sacrifice the the call preflop to outflop your opponent. And as you suspected it hits beautifully, 5,2,9 rainbow as you called his big bet with pocket 5's. Now because i already know what my opponent had, ill let you know, he had pocket 9's. How in the world do you get away from that. How can you differentiate his on the flop reraise from having over pair of top set?? if he has AA hes going to reraise you pretty big as he may put you on top pair, and with a big over pair, he doesnt want to get sucked out. Over all its gonna be an all in hand. Problem is now Ive trapped myself. Is there any poker player in the world that would get away from this hand without losing a huge pot???
In brunsons book he says hes not going to play the guessing game. If he has AA, or KK and he gets out flopped, hes not going to guess that his opponent hit a set or 2pair, he says youll just have to pay him off. In this situation trip fives preflop is huge. Especially since youve set in your mind that your opponent is playing overpair, and a BIG one. You dont see the over set. So is paying him off the best advice. Take the beat and move on?? Strategically i would like to hear something insightful to help me get away from a hand like this. But i dont think there is one.

DN went out of the Main Event on a set vs set hand AIR

I can't read that, please use paragraphs when you write long posts.

DN will not be checking the NL strat forums.

Don't get away from set in that spot, you just pay him off. You think of how many times villains will pay you off with an overpair in this position and it is a lot. You have to play a set like the nuts here. If you don't, you may end up looking like Jennifer Tilly.

Yeah, if you're thinking of how to fold sets because you're scared of higher sets, you're playing way too scared. Set over set is pretty darn rare in hold em.

true,, but i dont play them scared that the thing. I push them pretty hard. but if you're already on an 8 hour session and up like a couple hundred or 1G, then thats your bankroll buster hand. you're gonna have to start from scratch. Just looking for a way to minimize damage.

BUT HE HAD QUAD KINGS!!!!11!!!one!!!

If you are playing with your bankroll at the table, you deserve to go bust. There is a reason for bankroll management. So when you get coolered, you reload and get back at it.

post less lurk more

Oh thank you enlightened one!! i now realize. Maybe you should write something about poker since this is a poker forum. Or just continue to be petty, your choice

It's not petty. There are a billion threads out there that say we don't fold sets on the flop, because, we don't. I don't have to go past the title and seeing a giant brick of words to know there's very little content here.

So I ask you to lurk more, because you'll understand how things go by reading, instead of just blindly posting.

If you want good advice, listen. If you want sweet words that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, you probably shouldn't read my posts.


As an aside, if this is a joke account, I've been totally leveled.

You lost me at this part.

No one is ever folding middle set on that board ever. It's called a cooler.

Don't play with your bankroll at one table. It's all one big session, don't worry about whether it's at the end of your session or at the beginning.

Trip 5s preflop sucks in Omaha and Pineapple. A set of 5s on the flop in Hold'em is pretty damn good.


I'd dare say that if you don't go broke with set over set (baring a crazy board) you're playing it wrong.

Don't feel bad about the trips. I played 16 tournaments and cashed in 11. 2 of the losses were trips against trips. How many trips do you think I folded on the flop in the 11 times I cashed? You don't!

You can't fold trips. If you get beat, there's always the next game. I even went out at the WSOP on trip sevens on the flop against trip Q's. If you got beat holding 8d-9d on a Qd-Jd-10d flop and they guy had Ad-Kd should you fold the lower end of a strait flush from now on? It wasn't the nuts. Would you fold it?

If you become good enough that you know when to fold trips on the flop, contact me and I'll see if we can't get you a video on pokervt. The only time I have ever folded trips on the flop was on a full diamond flop and the guy went all in for my tournament life. He showed the A-K suited and I was extremely grateful the idiot showed me. It game me the lift I needed to knock him out later.

This is wrong, what he should do is post specific hands for discussion, rather than vague, badly written, situations.

OP post a hand where you think it may have been correct to fold middle set. You'll most probably get don't fold sets as your reply though, because there a re very, very few situations where its correct to fold a set on the flop.

Also search bankroll management, there is a faq stickied at the top of the forum with some good info

Is there actually a spot where you fold a set on the flop?

TT on a TJQ monotone I don't fold.

22 on a 2AK vs a super nitty PFR I don't fold.

On the turn maybe. I think about the only time I folded a "set" was something like 33 on a AAQQ3 board.

meh. don't discourage posting. we need more posts in strat. it's boring the *&^% outa me.



I don't fold sets. You will never win at poker if you find ways to fold sets. Nate saw me dust off a buy in last night with a set of 7s on the river. There is no way I am folding any set before the river. Ever. And I think you have to be inside someone's soul to fold a set on the river, to be honest.

So, anyway, OP. Everyone is going to yell at you for trying to find a way to fold a flopped set. We just don't do that here.