Top Pair is Rarely Enough

I have to keep reminding myself of this, especially against a player I've already identified as solid. I guess I'll keep on going out of tournaments because of it, though. When to call? When not to? Is your kicker good? Did they flop a set, always so hard to see? The irritating part is that by not calling you never know but by calling you do know, often to your detriment.

And is that solid player as solid as he looks? These rocks tend to melt as the blinds rise, as we all should. Some of them get tricky too, calling the flop, raising the turn. Did that innocuous deuce hit them? Had they just been reeling you in? More fool them for that in a fast tournament where free cards are worth much more than their weight in chips.

Ah, the uncertainty. That's poker, I guess.