Slow Playing AA Heads-Up, Good or Bad Idea?

[barrem23]

Here is the situation.
10 person SNG, heads-up.
I have about 4100 chips and my opponent has 3900.
BB = 500, SB = 250

In the SB i recieve AA.
I call.
Opponent checks.
Flop comes K,7,2 rainbow.
He bets 500
I raise to 1000
He goes all-in
I call
turn is 6 river is 10, He has K10.

So here is my question is it OK to slow play AA heads-up? I would never do this with more people in and the real reason I did this here is because he was folding to my raises when I had decent hands and we had gone back and forth quite a bit. Basically I was trying to end it right there.

He was a pretty tight player and I was trying to trap him, I guess it backfired on me.

[Creeper_thp]

The play worked, congratulations. The river sucked, that's a shame. Heads up I'm usually push/fold; I'm usually of the opinion that, assuming you've been playing aggressive, just calling sets off alarm bells in anyone with half a brain. From a passive player it's just a continuation of the weakness, but if you're clever enough to trap someone (I'm not and I play at the lower levels where cleverness is wasted, anyway) and willing to risk situations like this, go for it, I suppose.

[barrem23]

Heads-up I am usually aggressive 2x-3xBB is my standard raise, occaisonlly there's an all-in and sometimes I just call hands pre-flop. I try to randomize my play a bit.

[wuwei]

[ QUOTE ]
He was a pretty tight player and I was trying to trap him, I guess it backfired on me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like this line against a tight player. If they're folding to your raises at a very high rate, I like to try to trap with AA or KK. I'll often set things up by limping once or twice early on in the match with mediocre hands, if I have enough of a stack in relation to the blinds. Even if you don't show it down, it will set a precedent for you limping and folding. This is something you can use later to induce bluffs.

It's very player dependent for me, and often you won't last long enough heads up to even bother with this. But sometimes, it's the right play.

[assron]

I do this 100% of the time I get TT-AA heads up.

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
I do this 100% of the time I get TT-AA heads up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good to know...If I ever play you HU and you raise, I'll know you don't have AA-TT /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[garcia1000]

Hi! I think this play backfired on you because you put him all-in with 5 outs.

[pottie]

In my short poker career i only had AA once in this position. I slowplayed and it induced the all-in bluff when an ace flopped and I won the multi-table. So I think I kind of like slowplaying AA headsup...

[bluesbassman]

[ QUOTE ]
Here is the situation.
10 person SNG, heads-up.
I have about 4100 chips and my opponent has 3900.
BB = 500, SB = 250

In the SB i recieve AA.
I call.
Opponent checks.
Flop comes K,7,2 rainbow.
He bets 500
I raise to 1000
He goes all-in
I call
turn is 6 river is 10, He has K10.

So here is my question is it OK to slow play AA heads-up? I would never do this with more people in and the real reason I did this here is because he was folding to my raises when I had decent hands and we had gone back and forth quite a bit. Basically I was trying to end it right there.

He was a pretty tight player and I was trying to trap him, I guess it backfired on me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heads up from the SB, I never call because I don't ever want my opponent to see the flop for free. Therefore, I always either fold, push all-in, or make a 1-2 BB raise. The purpose of the raise (besides to make my opponent fold or pay to see the flop) is to set a precedent for a future trap if I catch a monster starting hand.

[KenProspero]

I think this is highly situational. What have you been doing in the past with hands that are "ok". Calling, raising, folding.

For me -- If I'm going to play a hand in the small blind, I raise roughly 2/3 of the time and call roughly 1/3. I don't like giving the free cards by calling, but don't want my opp to get a read on me.

So, in my case, if Opp had been folding to all my raises unless he had the goods, I'd call here and let the hand develop.

The downside is, of course that opp may hit an out on the river and take a hand that you'd have won if you'd pushed early, but that's the risk you take.

I did this recently, btw, and it worked like a charm. Flop was something like A78 (rainbow) and previously meek opp pushed all-in against my set of Aces (I love it when a plan comes together). To add insult to injury, the river was the 4th A.

[Mouse1949]

Don't underestimate the potential stupidity of your oppoent at 10/1 (or 50/5!). Some bizzare not-quite-up-to-speed bet like 2xbb (assuming a usual 3xbb) may well provoke an all-in with 88, AK, etc. Why not set the trap here. Your opponent could be tired, delighed with JJ or whatever. The risk of giving a "cheap card" is minimal, and if he "smells a rat" you have only missed one BB.

[slickpoppa]

[ QUOTE ]
He was a pretty tight player and I was trying to trap him, I guess it backfired on me.

[/ QUOTE ]
How the hell did that backfire on you? You got all of your chips in the middle as a big favorite. If you think that is backfiring, you are missing one of the fundamental concepts of poker.

[rohjoh]

You got your opponent to put all his chips in the pot as a 4 to 1 underdog. I think you played that perfectly. Any time you can be an 80% favorite is a good thing. Even if you did not win this one, if he calls that 100 times you win 80 of them. I will take those odds all day long.

[Slim Pickens]

[ QUOTE ]
So here is my question is it OK to slow play AA heads-up?

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless your opponent will call any bet with any two, I'd always trap with AA. It's not that hard to get all of your opponent's chips in at that stage, even if he's tight/passive. Good play, you just got hosed. It happens. The day you start worrying about that 1/5 of the time AA loses there is the day you should quit playing.

Slim