This is when slumps develop. Once I was in a slump where I was calling everybody's big bets while playing online because I thought they were all trying to run me over. The way I got over it was to repeat a simple phrase to myself anytime I had a tough decision to make: "Fold if you are beat!" It's tempting to play hands even when we know we're behind. Folding isn't fun, but to be the best player at the table, you have to be the best folder at the table. The greatest players in the game learned how to fold well before they learned how to be aggressive. You have to learn how to throw before you learn how to pitch.

Speaking of pitching, what do you think baseball coaches tell pitchers when they go through a slump where they have no control? They say don't worry about pitching the ball, just play catch with the catcher. A pitcher has to forget all the fancy grips and spins he imparts on the ball and go back to fundamentals if he wants to get his accuracy back.

If a poker player is in a slump, he too should go back to fundamentals. Forget about putting your opponent on very specific hands, forget about making fancy bluffs and definitely forget about trying to call him down with a weak hand because you put him on a bluff. You should play ABC poker. Get your money in when you think you have the best hand. Fold when your opponent represents a good hand and you have a mediocre one. Let him get away with a few bluffs. If he does it a lot, of course you'll have to play back at him, but the chances that he wants you to call are higher than the chances he doesn't want you to call. Most bets are bets made for value, not to bluff you out of a pot.

Say the last five times you raised before the flop you had to fold after the flop because your opponent paired up and you didn’t. It's easy to get frustrated, look down at pocket tens and say "I'm playing this hand to the river, no matter what." So you raise, get four callers and watch the flop come down A-Q-9 with two spades. The first player to act bets and the second player raises. You're so tired of laying down hands that you might think to yourself that the first guy might have a flush draw and the second guy might have put the first guy on a flush draw and raised with just a nine in his hand. Worse yet, you might think to yourself "they've seen me fold the last five times I raised, so they probably think I'm a weak player. Well, I'm gonna show them. I can't be pushed around!" You fling your chips into the pot. The turn is a 9 for a board of A-Q-9-9 and you revise your thinking. "Maybe they both have jack-ten. A lot of players play jack-ten right?" So you fling your chips in.

Do you see how easy it is to convince yourself your hand is good? If you find yourself straining to think of hands your opponents can have that you still have beat, it's best to just fold your hand and wait for the next one. That's all there is to it. It's not a complicated solution. Just throw your cards into the muck if you think you're hand isn't the best. New players will often ask themselves "do I have a good hand?" when they should be asking "do I have the best hand?" So do yourself a favor and ask yourself "Do I have the best hand?" on every street. If you make it a habit to do that, you will go through fewer sl umps. You’ll be dealt another hand in less than a minute, so fold if you are beat.