Making a Big Poker Laydown
As you play more and more hands of poker, you will see all the tough beats and weird happenings at the table. As this happens, you should be more aware that sometimes your monster hand is not the best, and that it might be time to make that hero fold. Whether it be pre or post flop, you will at some point have an opportunity to make a nice fold that will save you your stack. Do not be over anxious to make these kinds of folds, but when the situation is correct, you can feel good that you made a fold that no one else could make in your situation.
Making a big fold should be strongly based on the poker player who you are playing against. Big folds are typically made against unusually tight players, where you can be without a doubt sure that they hold something close to the nuts, if not the total nuts when they make a bet or a raise. This is a general observation at the poker table, and good players will know that a tight image will get a fold to a raise, so be careful for someone trying to outplay you. However, if your opponent is truly a rock, pocket queens or even kings could find their way to the muck to an all in shove pre flop.
Online play makes finding these players easier, and they are usually losers overall because of their ultra tight, very readable play. Players with stat trackers have a very easy time identifying and exploiting nitty players like these online. Online rocks are much more prevalent, as it is more profitable to sit at 24 tables and only play top 10 hands in position, than it is to sit for 12 hours at a live table and only play a few hands. These players both live and online are going to be where the majority of your big folds are made.
Occasionally, you will have to make a good laydown against a strong aggressive player, where he plays a line in a hand in such a way that he could only have you beat. These players are often experts at “telling stories,” so if you have made a big lay down in the past, the pot is large and he makes a strange play on the river, that could be a telltale sign that he doesn’t have you beat. However, be weary of a monster hand that he may make on the river, in which case you are best to muck.
Nosing out spots to make big laydowns will save you money, and always having the option of folding in your playbook will make you a much more profitable player. There is no reason you need to be paying off every time you are in a hand and things don’t go your way by the time the river card is dealt. Save your money for another day, and pitch the cards into the muck.
