AA, 1/2 live at the Trop. Feeling lost.

[mason55]

Playing 1/2NL at the Tropicana in AC this weekend. I've been at the table for ~2 hours and I'm sitting with around $225. The guy to my left has been there awhile and has $750. He's not in this hand but has made a few comments about how tight I'm playing, which really isn't that tight, but obviously much tighter than a typical 1/2NL live player. Anyways, the table has obviously heard him talking about how tight I am, even if they haven't noticed on their own. I could tell he felt that he was pushing me around, although I'm not sure if anyone noticed that he thought this.

Anyways, I'm in CO and get A/images/graemlins/club.gifA/images/graemlins/heart.gif. 3 callers around to me and I make it $12. MP3 calls my raise. He was slightly loose preflop in terms of calling raises, although I hadn't seen him show down a hand yet. He took down a couple pots when he bet out on the flop and everyone folded. He currently has me covered.

So here's the deal. I felt slightly lost playing this hand. I don't know if it was because it was live (only 2nd time I've played NL live) or the fact that I was on my 30th hour of poker in the past 42 hours. Thinking about the hand I'm not sure any way I could have played it comfortably, so I'm looking for some help here. I want to post 3 lines and I'm not going to say which one I took or whether I won or lost the hand, but I'd like opinions on the 3 lines and some suggestions of other thoughts.

#1:
($30) Flop comes 3/images/graemlins/club.gif2/images/graemlins/heart.gif8/images/graemlins/spade.gif
MP3 leads for $25. I make it $75. MP3 calls.

($180) Turn is 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
MP3 leads for $50. I call.

($280) River is K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
Villain pushes.


#2:
($30) Flop comes 3/images/graemlins/club.gif2/images/graemlins/heart.gif8/images/graemlins/spade.gif
MP3 leads for $25. I make it $75. MP3 calls.

($180) Turn is 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
MP3 leads for $50. I push.


#3:
($30) Flop comes 3/images/graemlins/club.gif2/images/graemlins/heart.gif8/images/graemlins/spade.gif
MP3 leads for $25. I call.

($80) Turn is 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
MP3 leads for $50. I call.

($180) River is K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif
Villain pushes.


Thanks guys. I don't know why I felt so uncomfortable playing this hand. I feel like I should really have stuff like this down by now.

[mason55]

raise it up.

[xorbie]

#2 is probably the line I take.

[boondockst]

Definitely line #2. You definitely need to take the lead and have him make the tough decision for all his chips. You could possibly fold him off a better hand (not likely...23s???) and also won't have such a tough river decision.

[mason55]

Him leading out after a raise on the flop doesn't scare you? I agree that the all-in on the river is a bad decision for me to have to make. But if I raise that flop and he decides to lead out again, I'm not too happy with my hand any more.

Calling the raise on the flop keeps the pot smaller and allows him to bluff at me, as there's no real draws out.

[boondockst]

Because of having to call the later bets (unless you catch one of your 2 nice outs), it's more important to find out where you're at than to keep the pot small.

[mason55]

How did I find out where I was in line #2? I raised then blindly put all my money in.

[TheWorstPlayer]

Turn is push or fold. Honestly, in a live game which I have never played but I have heard is often quite passive, I am leaning towards folding. His line is exactly the line I would take with a set most likely. Maybe check/raise the turn, maybe stop and go to make sure money keeps going in. Most likely his line of the stop and go. You don't want to risk the turn getting checked through. If he had a set here, he played it perfectly, IMO.

[boondockst]

[ QUOTE ]
How did I find out where I was in line #2? I raised then blindly put all my money in.

[/ QUOTE ]

B/c hopefully he'd reraise you if he had a set, fearing a draw...Against a "slowplayer" who just smoothcalls it does become more difficult.

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
Turn is push or fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok. I just didn't want to be accused of overplaying my aces because line #2 is the line I took. I felt dirty pushing into that pot with unimproved aces on a non-threatening board.

Anyways, I pushed on the turn, villain called. I said "show me your set" and he looked at me kind of funny then flipped over his K8 offsuit. River was obviously the king, but I'm not worried about that. Like I said I just felt like I was overplaying the aces while the hand was happening (before I saw his cards obviously), but after a bunch of thought I couldn't come up with a better way to play them that made me feel more comfortable.

I guess I just need to realize that while I would play a set like that, not everyone will.

[joewatch]

I think this is very much read dependent, but my guess is you were beat by 88.

Something that is important for any live game (where players hang around longer than in online games and can get reads on you, even the bad players) is what is your table image to other players? Specifically, what sorts of hands have you raised with preflop that you have showed down? If you have only raised AA-TT and AK, I think you have a definite fold on the turn. You clearly defined your hand as an overpair on the flop (I think your raise here is correct), and just got smooth-called by a decent player on a RAGGED board. That should raise all sorts of alarms in your head. The underbet on the turn is an even bigger alarm.

One of the problems with "tight" players is that they play very tight preflop, but way too loose postflop. Make every effort NOT to be one of those players.

[mason55]

Truthfully, I was playing my normal game which is around 20% VP$IP. Many at the table were playing 35%+ of their hands so I looked like a tight player to them, plus i had a little slow streak of cards.

And yes, I felt like I was behind a set of 8's. I was just looking for a way to get away from it as that is generally what I am losing to here. I just couldn't find a good way to get rid of my aces, which is what I was asking about.

[joewatch]

[ QUOTE ]
I just couldn't find a good way to get rid of my aces, which is what I was asking about.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, there is only 1 way to win consistently with aces - always go all-in preflop! /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I just couldn't find a good way to get rid of my aces, which is what I was asking about.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, there is only 1 way to win consistently with aces - always go all-in preflop! /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

No doubt