AA in shorthanded Party 3/6

[mr giles]

I've been hunting out shorthanded games at 3/6 and 2/4 recently to play against those (hopefully) not used to it in my attempt to get from 1/2 short to 5/10.

Button sat an orbit ago and has been aggressive but has not flipped a winner. How is my line?

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (4 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Button 3-bets</font>, <font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, Hero calls.

Flop: (7.33 SB) 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">Button bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Button 3-bets</font>, Hero calls.

Turn: (6.66 BB) J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">Button bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, Button calls.

River: (10.66 BB) 2/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, Button calls.

Final Pot: 12.66 BB

[Nick C]

I think there are a lot of reasonable ways you could have played the hand, and against your aggressive opponent, the one you chose worked out well.

One thing to consider is that checkraises (especially turn checkraises) are very scary to a lot of players and can in fact slow an opponent down who might have put in more bets. (Sometimes if you lead with a very strong hand you'll get raised and you can then 3-bet, for instance.) Also, there is some chance your opponent will take the free card and check behind. But since your opponent is aggressive and 3-bet your flop checkraise, it doesn't seem very likely he'll check behind on the turn.

I can't say for certain what lines would have gotten more or fewer bets in, but you did get some action, and it looks to me like you won a decent-sized heads-up pot.

[JoshuaD]

I think you were too close to a trifecta to bet that river.

[mr giles]

I know! Anything bigger than a 2 and I would have had to go for it.