CrAAcked again

NL HE tourney, early on. Am doing quite well, have doubled my original stack of 1500 when I'm moved to a new table. Stacks range between 1000 and 3000. Blinds 10 and 20.


First hand, am dealt AQs utg, raise 40, get 4 callers. Flop comes JJx. Make feeler bet of 40, get reraised, fold.


Next hand am dealt AA in BB. 4 or 5 limpers, I raise 130, get one caller (who also has stack of 3000). Flop comes 10 7 3 rainbow. Bet 300, get reraised 1000. Think the only hand winning he can have here, having called preflop raise, is TT. Also think because on previous hand I raised preflop, bet flop, then folded, that he maybe puts me on two high cards and a bluff again. I reraise all-in, he calls, turns over TT and I'm out.


Was this stupid of me? Should I have just folded (well, as it turns out, obviously I should :0( ) But how do I know what to do in this position? Thanks for any advice.

One will always lose a lot of chips at NL when you have an overpair and someone has flopped a set.


Was he one of the limpers or did he cold call your raise? If he cold called your raise I would tend to expect a big pair TT+ or big cards.


Did he check-raise you on the flop? If he did then I would be worried of a set.


Ken Poklitar

"One will always lose a lot of chips at NL when you have an overpair and someone has flopped a set." - does this mean that it's probably correct to call?


"Was he one of the limpers or did he cold call your raise?" - he limped from early position then called my raise preflop.


"If he cold called your raise I would tend to expect a big pair TT+ or big cards." - I didnt know how he played, and a lot of these guys will call a raise with trash like KQo. But any big pair or big cards apart from TT and I'm ahead.


"Did he check-raise you on the flop? If he did then I would be worried of a set." - no, I bet first (I was BB) and he raised me. You're right, if he had check-raised I most likely would have folded.


Thanks for yr advice, any more comments?

As you noticed I didn't really answer your question in the 1st post. It really depends on your opponent. If your opponent has JJ-KK does he play the hand the same way. Very likely. Is it possible your opponent has ATs and made a similar raise. Some players like to assume the raiser has AK or AQ. If you only have seen the opponent for a few hands then it is a tough hand to lay down. I probably would have raised all-in but who knows /images/smile.gif


Ken Poklitar

With 4-5 limpers in the pot I think a potsized bet (130) is to small.


If your the big stack with $3000 you can raise to 500 or 600 so that the low pairs doesn't get their implied odds. If your "lucky" the TT thinks your massive raise means weak pair and puts you all-in. You loose the pot but you played the hand much better, IMO.


Your position is weak so must play your nuts much stronger. With a small bet preflop your not trappin´ your getting trapped.

from time to time the card gods will give a player KK just so he can find AA....and from time to time they give AA so the set can be found...it was that time!

I disagree. Over-betting the pot as much as that is rarely a good idea. It would certainly be a bad play with anything less than AA or KK and if you only do it with those two hands your more astute opponents will catch on.


Andy.

Thanks Andy, I thought so too but wasnt sure. Also if I bet that much I'll probably only win what's in the pot (remember it was early and the blinds were small) - with AA don't I really want one (or at most 2) opponent(s) to try and get more money out of it? Later in the tourney when the blinds are big I would have bet more, as I would have been happy winning what was already there.


thanks for all the advice

If you "only" raise the pot preflop you must be able to lay your hand down on the flop. Right??


Look at it from the TT's point of view. He limps in for 20 and when you raise the pot 130 he will have implied odds at about 22-25 times the rise (if he has about the same amount of money as you). He must love this situation, I know I would......


""But how do I know what to do in this position?""


In your position you want your opponents to know that you have them beat (with KK or AA). And you want them to know that they don't have the odds to chase. Hiting the trips is about 7 to one so give them less.


If you bet 500 preflop your opponent is making a mistake by calling. But if he calls and you bet 500 on the flop and get raised you can lay it down with confidence that your beat. He "knows" that you have the aces but still he raises. You pay a 1000 to get a sure read on your opponent. You will end up losing one third of your stack but that's better than the whole..IMO

.....Or you take it down preflop and win 130.


If you bet 130 you're set up to make mistakes after the flop. To me this hand is a very good example of the rule that with aces you will win a small pot or lose big one.

I have no problem betting a bit more then 130. I might go to 175 or even 200 from the blinds with several limpers. I would do this not only with AA but also with JJ+ maybe even AK. The object is to get things headsup which in this case was done by raising to 130.


I don't agree that you are asking to win a small pot and lose a big one. If the flop is 9xx, the TT is going to lose a lot of money. Even a flop of Jxx may keep TT in the pot. It seems to me that if you raise to 500 more times then not you will not get any callers so you will only winning small pots. There is no way in the world I will call a raise of 500 with TT when I have limped in for 20. There are players that would.


"He "knows" that you have the aces but still he raises"


Well if he knows that you have aces since you raised to 500, then any sane player will fold to the huge raise preflop with TT or any other pair.


Certainly there are players out there that are quite successful overbetting the pot. I think the key is doing it with a wide variety of cards in many different situations.


Ken Poklitar

As long as we're whining about cracked Aces. B&M medium size tourney ($Approx. $9,000 in payouts, 120 entrant), tourney, at Garden City.


Blinds 200/400, limits, 400/800. I had T1500, mid position. All fold to

me.


I look down to see Pocket AA!!! But not too thrilled because everytime I

get a premium hand "just out" of the final table, I get knocked out of

tourneys. But what are you gonna do, muck AA's?? If it gets to that I

might as well not play.


I raise to make it $800 to go. All fold to button, (a loose wild player

who has been getting lucky and playing badly). He re raises, to $1200,

blinds fold,


I feel good because he has protected my hand and I know I am by far the

favorite against whatever he is likely to have, based on his previous

similar raises there with hands like J,K.


I reraise all in my last T300, to T1500. Flop comes rags, 2,4,J rainbow.

I flip over my AA. He flips over... J, 8 OFF!!!! Made it three bets

against my raise, knowing I would surely reraise him, with Jack Eight

OFF, knowing I hadn't been in any hand where I didn't have power!


Of course after the turn rag, the river came an Eight to give him 2 pair

and knock me out, 3 places out from the money.


I have repeated scenarios like this 4 times in the past 4 B&M, mid size

tourneys, at Garden City and Bay 101. Good solid tough play (with very

little "luck" thrown in), down to 2 short tables, then knocked out with

a big favorite hand against a "suck out" rag artist, "GAMBO!!!" player,

just out of the money!!


Luckily for me, internet tourneys have been going much better. Won the

Planet $60 buy in Saturday for $1,000 payoff, and have won and second

several Paradise 1 tables, but those damn B&M suckouts the past few

weeks have been driving me mad! 4 hours of great play, and then a zero

payday is enough to almost make me go back to embracing Malmuth's

aversion to tourneys. You can consistently out play the field for hours

on end, stocking up a big pile, then see one bad beat final hand and go

home with.....nothing.


I now call that J,8 off hand, JACKOFF!