AA beginner question

Hi all. I am a fairly new player (~600 hands) and am trying to play fairly tight but aggressive poker. I feel like I am succeeding well but I often have trouble playing the good pre-flop hands (AA-QQ mostly) when the flop doesn't hit me.

My line of thinking here was that after the flop, the only three hands that had me beat were KK, QQ, and KQ. Not a great read on villain - 26% VPIP, 2% PFR, 1.30 AF after 50 hands.

Please, help critique my play - do you think I played this well?

Party Poker 0.15/0.30 Hold'em (10 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx (http://www.zerodivide.cx/converter)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
UTG calls, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+1 raises</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, Hero calls, <font color="#666666">6 folds</font>, UTG calls.

Flop: (7.46 SB) 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif, Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">Villain bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, UTG calls, <font color="#CC3333">Villain 3-bets</font>, Hero calls, UTG calls.

Turn: (8.23 BB) 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
UTG checks, <font color="#CC3333">Villain bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, UTG calls, Villain calls.

River: (14.23 BB) 2/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">UTG bets</font>, Villain calls, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, UTG folds, Villain calls.

Final Pot: 19.23 BB

Results in white below: <font color="#FFFFFF">
Villain has Kd Kh (three of a kind, kings).
Hero has Ac Ad (one pair, aces).
Outcome: Villain wins 19.23 BB. </font>

[imported_leader]

3-bet PF. cap the flop mostly. Though waiting for the turn isn't bad. Call the river. Don't post results

[tiltaholic]

3-bet preflop. start with that...

i'd have just called the river the way you played it.

[Eeegah]

Oh boy do I get to be first to say raise preflop?!?!?

Never ever ever let AA go unraised preflop. Raise/reraise/cap. My AA stats have 98% PFR and the only reason it's not 100% is because sometimes it's capped to me.

Anyway, I'm capping this flop and don't slow down unless someone 3-bets the turn.

edit: damn, not first /images/graemlins/frown.gif

I think you need to cap this flop ... if villian bets into on the turn it's a tough call, but I would probably just call down, esp. since UTG could easily be in there on a flush draw (if you had the Ah, easy turn raise I think).

As far as how you played it ... the vilian donk-bet scared me &amp; makes me think retarded 2-pair or a set of 2s ... or just a slow-play on his flush ... either way I'm thinking it's something that can beat a single pair &amp; i don't mind just making an overcall.

[ QUOTE ]

Never ever ever let AA go unraised preflop. Raise/reraise/cap. My AA stats have 98% PFR and the only reason it's not 100% is because sometimes it's capped to me.


[/ QUOTE ]

IMHO cap flop and call river.
On the flop UTG could be reraising with Kh xh. On the river you seem to beat by either a flush or KQ.

Edit: Of course raise preflop 99% of the time. You can maybe limp UTG on a loose table and then reraise.
Why is it important? You want to let others pay for calling with worse cards than yours. You don't want 9 limpers and a coordinated board.

[shant]

The hand can't be properly analyzed because you didn't 3-bet preflop. If you had 3-bet and he had capped, we would have a lot more information about his hand, and putting in multiple bets on this flop would not have been right.

There really is no reason for anyone to comment any further on the hand aside from "3-bet preflop." It changes the whole hand after that.

69? wtf?

That said, 3-bet preflop. Raise/call flop is okay, cap is fine too. Call the turn, call the river. Turn raise is silly after you didn't cap the flop.

[Nikademus]

*grunch*
[ QUOTE ]
and am trying to play fairly tight but aggressive poker

[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A, A.
UTG calls, UTG+1 raises, 1 fold, Hero calls...

[/ QUOTE ]
Here's your main problem. Raise and cap pre-flop with the best possible hand. Don't be cute and "slow-play" when you are beginning.

Flop: Cap the flop as well. You need to take control of this hand. Also, it might get UTG out of there. He's likely just fishing or is on the flush draw.

Turn: well played. With the UTG just calling, I don't think he's got the flush here.

River: No idea what UTG is doing here by leading out. Villain is obviously worried about the flush.

{looked at results}
Well, there's nothing you could have done to get him out of that hand.

[bozlax]

[ QUOTE ]
...I often have trouble playing the good pre-flop hands (AA-QQ mostly) when the flop doesn't hit me.

[/ QUOTE ]

'Nuff said about the hand, what I want to know is exactly how you expect the flop to hit you when you're holding a Broadway pair? If you can't play AA-QQ unless it hits a set, then you're in serious trouble.

[dgoldsmith]

*grunch*

PF: should 3-bet, and if its capped behind you, then call. 3-betting will give you more info about possible hands held by UTG, UTG+1. Always cap AA PF. With villian's PFR of 2%, I'm thinking AA or KK (maybe QQ or AKs)

Flop: If you had 3-bet PF (and called possible cap), you would have better idea what to do here. As played, I'll go with your raise/call line. Possible worries are sets, two pair and flush draw.

Turn: I would just call behind. Now worrying about flush as well.

Villian's AF is pretty low so KK or QQ need to be a concern since he's raised flop and turn.

River: Uh-oh. UTG woke up. Did he hit a set of 2s? (appearently note since he folded to your raise) But we're still worried about hands from UTG+1 so I'm just calling down here and not raising.

Dave

grunch:

As I'm sure many have already said. Hold your cursor over the raise button preflop and don't let up. If he 3-bets, you cap and you can be pretty sure he's on a small range of hands based on the action and his position. You'll have a better idea of what he has at that point and can put him on AA-QQ, and maybe AKs.

As it is, on the flop he could have trips, two pair, of just one pair. His 3-bet would make me inclined to put him on trips or two pair. UTG seems to be an idiot calling two cold, add a note about him for future. I think I'd fold this here...I've gone on auto pilot with aces too many times.

If a heart hadn't fallen on the turn I think villian would have reraised here.

River. WTF is with UTG donk betting after being so passive? A true idiot unless he has the flush, but no one's getting out with this big a pot.

[ QUOTE ]
Never ever ever let AA go unraised preflop.

[/ QUOTE ]
But daaaaaad, all the other kids do it....!

[crovax4444]

*grunch*

Raise PF!

Cap flop - would have made this come out differently

Good turn

Call down on the river, if the guy donks it, I'm a bit worried

[Eeegah]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Never ever ever let AA go unraised preflop.

[/ QUOTE ]
But daaaaaad, all the other kids do it....!

[/ QUOTE ]

Come to think of it, I have limped AA voluntarily. I was shortstacked in an MTT and needed to double up, and just stealing the blinds wasn't gonna cut it. I don't think that counts though /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[ QUOTE ]
The hand can't be properly analyzed because you didn't 3-bet preflop. If you had 3-bet and he had capped, we would have a lot more information about his hand, and putting in multiple bets on this flop would not have been right.


[/ QUOTE ]

You mean raising this flop wouldn't be right if villain had capped preflop? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

Raising PF is definatly a good thing to do.

I don't understand how you could think that we get a lot more info if villian caps preflop... even with that are you going to fold the flop or just going to call the rest of the way?

grunch: One newbie to another.

My first thought is why not re-reaise preflop? You might have gotten a better read on his starting hand had you put the option of a call or cap back to him. On this big flop, in addition to villian's possible hands you listed, he might have AK or AQ, perhaps a backdoor flush draw with either, or in the case of A/images/graemlins/heart.gif K/images/graemlins/heart.gif a flush draw. That said, the fact that you didn't re-raise preflop probably means he doesn't have you on AA, but a flush draw instead and may account for his weakness on the streets. I'll admit to getting confused on how to play AA with this board, but after the flop I'd probably do the same as you.

[SoftcoreRevolt]

When playing Taxes Hold Them and holding well cards that are matching aces one should three bet preflop, cap this particular flop and well.. from there your opponents action dictates the next step.

[Augster]

Grunching. Oofda

You're new, and you've most likely gotten good advice already above. In a word, painful.

Preflop. RAISE. You have the best hand possible. Someone with a lesser hand already likes his hand enough to raise and he doesn't have you beat. Raise for value. If you aren't going to raise with the nuts, what do you raise with?

Flop. I cap it. There is a flush draw out there so the flush isn't going anywhere, take his money now. The way you played it, with the preflop cold-call, the villian can't put you on anything that beats his AK. (I haven't looked at results) AA should have re-raised, KK, should re-raise, QQ, should re-raise. The only thing that beats him at this point, in his mind, is KQ. If he has KQ himself, we're in trouble.

Turn: The flush card hit, and Villian hasn't slowed down. I just call behind. UTG is in there with something.

When UTG wakes up on the river, I just call a bet, and I overcall if Vilian just calls also. I'd like to know for sure what UTG would donkbet on the river, and what Villian had. AND I still may have the best hand.

Keep posting and reading. It's the best way to get better.

3-bet preflop, and either cap the flop or go into WA/WB calldown mode.

Don't raise the river, a lot of hands are beating you. This is probably a pretty solid fold on the river actually, and I thought that before looking at the results. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

Steve

[no1super2001]

How does it go...?

Not reraising this hand preflop makes kittens die.

That move changes the play of the rest of the hand. With more experience, you may chose another course. In the first eight hours of playing this game, you should play most of your hands in a very straightforward manner.

grunch---BTW I don't use PT so the numbers mean nothing to me

Raise PF with AA....ALWAYS!

Flop looks good. The 3bet tells you you're in trouble though...against two pr, a set, or a possible flush draw(think AJ /images/graemlins/heart.gif)

Turn - fold to the bet...with two opponents you are likely beat.

[marchron]

[ QUOTE ]
Not reraising this hand preflop makes kittens die.

[/ QUOTE ]
Close enough.