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One of the things that separate good players from average players is the ability to fold strong hands when they know that they are beat. One great example is a player’s ability to fold pocket Queens preflop.

I have discussed this situation with many people. The players who I respect as decent players all say that they have never folded QQ preflop, but COULD if the situation warranted. Some people are on the other side of the fence - they I think I am nuts for even thinking about folding QQ preflop. If the situation dictates, I think it is an easy fold. Here is one example where I folded pocket Queens preflop.

Location: Harrah’s - Atlantic City

Game: 5/10 NL Cash Game

Buy-in: Min $500, Max $1000

My stack: $1800

General Observations: I was at Harrah’s to play in the WSOP Circuit Event. As people busted out of the tournament, they came to the poker room to play cash games. The level of play at the table was pretty good - to the tune where I only felt average, but not really outclassed. The play was fairly aggressive. There were preflop raises more times than not. Usually 2-4 people saw each flop.

On this particular hand, UTG makes a raise to $50, which has been the standard for this table. It was folded to me in the cutoff position. I look down at:

There are a few problems here. First, the raise came from the player who was UTG. Theoretically, he should have a pretty strong hand. I would hate to raise, only to isolate myself against a better hand. He could have AA, KK, AK, AQ, or JJ. I am really only happy against one of these four hands. Second, if I reraise, I still have three players behind me to act - namely the button and the two blinds. The button has been playing pretty tight, so I think he will fold unless he has a hand. If the button did pick up a hand, then I will have to play the rest of the hand out of position against him (and the button was a pretty strong player). All in all, I decide that I should see a flop and try to outmaneuver UTG post-flop. Unless an Ace or King hits, my plan is to raise whatever his bet is. I make the $50 call.

The button makes the call as well. This REALLY throws a monkey wrench into my plans. A very tight-solid player calling on the button. A positional call here is very well within his bag of tricks, but for $50, I have not seen him play a drawing hand - even in position. I have to give him credit for a fairly strong hand.

The Small Blind folds. I totally expect the Big Blind to call here because he does have 3:1 pot odds. Playing QQ against 4 players is not exactly my idea of fun. To my surprise, the Big Blinds makes it $340 to go.

Now, I am REALLY puzzled. Why would he not just simply make the call? If he does, then he is up against four players. I cannot imagine that he would make that play with something like TT or AK. I really think he is trying to either win the pot right here or protect a larger pair. The question is which is he trying to do?

UTG folds.

I sat there pondering my options. Calling here is pointless. If a rag flop comes, the Big Blind will lead out for all his chips, thus prolonging the decision.  Would I put my whole stack in the center with one pair after the flop?  Very doubtful. Should I push or fold? Usually, a second raise means Aces or Kings. In this case, the first raise was from UTG and then a second raise from a blind (which was strong, but not entirely an overbet). Also, I have to worry about the tight-solid player behind me. After much debating, I figure I must be against AA, KK, or AK. I really am not thrilled about any of them.

I show the pocket Queens to the player to my right and say, “I cannot see how I have the best hand here”, and I muck the Queens. He audibly gasped and asked how I could fold. He said that if he had that hand, all his chips would have been in the center. I replied that there are Aces or Kings out there. Best case scenario, I am against AK and would be a coinflip - but I did not want to wager $1800 on a coinflip right now.

The button thinks for a minute, then pushes all-in for $1000. The BB pauses, thinks, and says, “This is a terrible call, but there is too much money in the pot, so I call”.

The flop comes:

and I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. I did not get any comfort from the turn when I saw:

The river was:

The Button shows:

The BB says, “I am sorry, I got really lucky” and turns over:

for a set.

In this hand, I had the correct analysis - I was right about the Kings being out there. I never put the BB on pocket 88 though. After the hand, the BB said that he thought he could get pocket QQ to fold- to which I said, “You did - I had them”.

As the cruel poker gods usually demonstrate, I would have won a $4200 pot ($1000 from the Button, $1600 from my stack, and another $1600 from the BB) - however, it would have been a major suck-out. Looking at the overall hand, I had two outs against the pocket KK. This is NOT a bet I want to take on. I am good with my preflop fold of QQ here - and it was the right play.