Trusting your instincts in marginal situations

[TheAlmightyKhan]

I've found in the last few weeks my hand reading skills have come on a fair bit. I'm putting opponents on a narrower range of hands and reading betting patterns etc far better.

My problem is I'm still paying off value bets on the river when I hold strong hands, even when I'm reading the opponent for a monster.

I find there is a certain solace to be taken even when you loose a bet on the end when the opponent flips over the exact hand you put him on, especially when it was tough read, but this doesnt do much good for the ol' bankroll.

On the other hand when I'm laying down a good hand, other than the rare occasions the villain shows, I'm still left wondering whether I've made a good decision or not.

I figure that this is a period a lot of people would have gone through in their poker development, and that after x amount of times calling big bets on the river only to see the hand you placed your opponent on you start to learn to fold hands and feel content within yourself that you made the correct decision.

At the moment I feel that my poker theory has progressed a level, but I'm not transferring it into the actual game.

I'd like to know how people progressed to this stage, and how you deal with that niggling feeling that perhaps you just folded the strongest hand.

[Piemaster]

Are we talking about limit or no-limit here? In limit hold'em there is definitely no shame in paying off a monster on the river, even if you are pretty sure you are beat. In a 10BB pot, you only have to be wrong 10% of the time for your call to be successful and usually you will be wrong far more than that.

In no-limit it is a bit of a different story. Knowing when to lay down a good hand on the river is one of the hall marks of play. It helps if you can distance yourself from the idea of 'right' and 'wrong' when putting somebody on a hand. Try to think of every hand that they might play in that way, rather than just putting them on one hand. If there is a 60% chance you are beat, then there is no shame in folding to a pot sized bet on the river. Even if you were 'wrong' on this particular occasion because you were ahead, then your decision was in fact right. The same goes for making tough calls when you have the odds. As your hand reading skills improve, you will become more apt at putting your opponents on a range of hands and then making the correct decisions accordingly.