Folding Top Pair
I’ve done it, you’ve done it and so has every other poker player in the world, we’ve all pushed all our chips into the middle with top pair when it was pretty obvious that we were beat. Why the obsession with holding on to top pair for dear life? For some reason, most poker players like to believe that even in a un-raised pot, flopping top pair with a good kicker automatically means that you’re unbeatable. While you will be the favorite more often than not, you do need to be able to ID some of the signs that may tip you off to your hand being beat.
The easiest warnings can be discerned from the cards themselves on the flop. If you hold AK and raised it pre-flop and got one caller and the flop comes A-9-5 unsuited, you can rest assured that you almost definitely have the best hand. However, a flop of A-Q-10 with two spades should raise an eyebrow or two. There are now a number of flush/straight draw possibilities, plus it’s very possible that you were also called with hands like A-Q or A-10. If you’re first to act in this position and you bet and get a hefty raise, you might have a very tough decision to make, as there aren’t many ways your hand can improve on fourth street or the river, but there probably are a lot of ways for your opponents hand to improve, that is if they don’t have you beat already.
Another telltale sign of when top pair probably is no good is when a player you’ve identified as weak/tight all of a sudden starts pushing a lot of chips around into a pot. Someone like this wouldn’t be making big plays with just top pair, so again you might find yourself in a less than stellar situation if you decide to call their raise.
The old saying is “when you’re beat, you’re beat”, and the lesson to be learned from that motto is that even very strong hands are useless to you when the chances are very good that your opponent holds a superior combination. Pocket kings don’t look great on a flop that brings at least once ace, but that doesn’t stop people from going broke with their kings time and time again. Pick your spots wisely with your chips and always try to position yourself in optimal scenarios where you don’t have to make tough bets/calls in order to take down a pot.
