From a lot of recent hand analysis posts, it seems like there's a sickness going on among NL players everywhere. I admit I've suffered from it too. The sickness? Setaphobia -- the fear that you're up against a set about every time you analyze a hand.
Starting this week, I've taken a new, fresh approach -- call it a little self help. I'm going to break out of weak-tight thinking and stop looking for the set lurking under my bed. Sure, there are some occasions where the action is so substantial that the only possible holding could be a set. But when in doubt -- I'm going to rely on probability.
I figure -- how many more pots could I have bet at strongly and gotten paid more on the turn when I had a better hand because I was afraid my opponent had a set? Is that money I'm safeguarding more, less, or equal to the money I'm losing if I just let that set bust me when it happens? How many times is AQ going to raise my KK on a Q-high flop vs. a set raising me?
As of now, sets don't exist. Unless I catch one, of course.