Today I did two things I have never ever done before since I started playing poker. And it’s two things I didn’t think I would ever do.

The first thing I did was fold K-K pre-flop. Yep, don’t rub your eyes, I folded K-K pre-flop. Lol

There’s a little bit of reasoning behind this so I’ll try and explain. I’d be interested in others views on this too. To start, I had not had the greatest of days. I was sucked out on the river with a big pot when the other guy hit trips. That stung. Then one guy tilted when he only had about $5 and he pushed with 8-9 off suit. I called with 9-9 but 4 hearts came down and he hit a flush. That only stung a little. Then another guy was on tilt and pushing with anything. I called his $13 all-in with 10-10 and he showed 10-J. But K-Q-9 came tumbling down. That stung a little too.

So I was soon over a buy-in down. Now my luck changed almost immediately. I myself went a little on tilt straight after that 10-10 hand above when I got dealt 7-7. The flop was K-x-x and I just kept calling the other guys bets, convincing myself he didn’t have a K (and I didn’t care, I was sulking – I mean tilting). Anyway I hit a 3rd 7 on the river and the other guy pushed all-in. I naturally happily called and beat his 2 pairs (he did have the King. Lol). I must state that I wouldn’t normally do that much chasing. Tilt made me do it and I got VERY lucky. After that, I hit another couple of full houses and the odd flush and soon I was a whole buy-in up and happy.

Then came K-K. Now I was on the button so I was particularly pleased to see it. I knew if I raised I might pull in the BB who would easily think I was raising in position. Anyway, a couple of players limped then to my surprise I hear “All in”! Now this guy was new to the table so I had no read on him. This was only his second hand I think and now he was shoving $50 into the pot which was a paltry $1.75 built up from 2 limpers and the blinds. lol

Naturally a barrage of folds followed and it came to me. Now in the past I would have called in a shot, even if I thought he had Aces because I would obviously be hoping he didn’t have the big guns. But recently I have tried to be a lot more composed and think about things a lot more before committing cash to the pot. I thought for a little while and quietly folded. So why did I fold? Well, I flat out thought “I don’t need to do this”. I hadn’t put any cash into the pot, so I would lose nothing. If I lost this battle it would also mean zero profit. I’m fully aware that if I won, I would have a nice profit. But I simply didn’t want to gamble. I would rather get my cash in when I know I have a big chance of winning. I didn’t need to get involved in this battle, and that is the beauty of cash games. You can pick your fights. I must add though that if this was a tournament or sit and go, I would have called.

Secondly today, I folded A-A! Yes, that’s right, A-A. But this time it was after the flop. Again, this is something I have never done before. This hand I am UTG, so straight away I have bad position. Naturally I raised it up and in true PKR style, I got 5 callers. So with 6 of us going to the flop, I didn’t like it at all and I decided that I needed to see an ace or a nice boring flop to continue.

Anyway, it was a horrible flop. 10-J-Q, two of them suited. Neither of my aces matched the 2 suited cards so what I basically had top pair with a gut shot draw. I was also very aware that A-K could be out there as well as a few flush draws. Being first to act, I checked and sat back to watch the action. Two more checks, then one player bet the pot. This was met with an all-in raise. It came back to me and I folded. I couldn’t believe I was throwing A-A away but I was convinced I was beat. The others folded too with the exception of the first bettor who called the all-in. Sure enough, one turned over A-K the other showed K-Q suited. The turn was a low card and the river was the final Ace in the deck to throw up a split pot. I would have made trips on the river but of course trips doesn’t beat a straight. I made the right decision.

So there we have it. Two folds that on reflection, I am glad I did. Could this mean my game is evolving? Or am I getting weak and passive? I’d be interested to hear who else would have folded these cards