AA,tough opponent, tough board

Here is a hand I played in a 15-30 game the other

day. Your insights are appreciated.

I'm in the cutoff posistion, when utg, a very tight solid aggressive player raises.

I almost throw away without looking with this guy.Its a big pair, or AK,AQs only. One player(fool) calls in front of me. I decide to look at my cards to humor myself and see two red aces.

I call only.I'm calling to disquise, but also to

hopefully trap the caller between us for a few

bets if things go well. Hah!!


The small blind called this raise as well, so 4 of us took the flop.


FLOP- K Q J rainbow. That sinking feeling hit me as only it can when you have aces in this type of situation. I'm hoping UTG has AK, but my gut is screaming set . Okay the action.

The small blind (loose player) bets and UTG raises. caller folds and its to me, what do I do.

I called, thinking that a reraise wouldnt get the

small blind out, and quite frankly I was still formulating when it got to me.

The turn was a 7. Sm Blnd checks, UTG bets and

what do I do?, I raised. I felt that I needed to

get sm blnd out, and I was commited to the pot, I

was barely getting the right price with 6 outs

but I would check behind on the river if I didnt

improve. It worked , I didnt improve, we checked

the river and UTG showd me his set.

*** Should I have let this hand go, given this player, or how would I play it differnt. Thanks for your input.

Just a small add on. With me holding Aces it drastically reduced the odds of UTG holding

AK, or AQ. Should this haqve been enough for me

to make a decision to fold as I was barely getting odds to call with not much implied.

Thanks

You've got to trust your reads. Your knowledge of this player is worthless if you don't use it.


What good is it to put somebody on a hand (range of hands) if you aren't willing to fold when you conclude that you're beaten?


The flop raise should have told you that you were beaten and were drawing very slim in a pot that wasn't very big. It's possible that only a Ten can save you since an Ace may give somebody else a straight. And even if you catch your 4-outer to a straight, UTG has outs to a full-house or better.


Folding on the flop should have been easy. Don't become a calling station just because you've got AA. You just tossed away 3 big bets here.

I think you played it fine, although I would have three bet preflop. Unless the guy with the set is snug that a raise from him in that position can't mean anything other than AK, AQ, AA, KK, QQ, or JJ, you can't really get away from your hand. That is, if he could have KQ, QJs, KTs, TT, AQ, AJ, all of which he might have played the same way on the flop and turn (TT might be a stretch, but shouldn't be if he plays well and knows you are capable of making big laydowns like AA).

You wanna trap the player in the middle for a few bets? Okay, you trapped him....preflop. Reraise. I am not one to damn unconventional plays, but not reraising here is an egregious error. more than you know I think. Heads up the cold call is much much better.