Please Evaluate this hand.

[Sorak]

Hello all. I had this hand in a .05/.10 blind $10 buy in home game of texas holdem last night. Now I know it is very small stakes but that is what we play. I was hoping I could get some opinions on this hand.

First of all some background. The table is fairly loose and passive. I have a very aggressive person to my immediate right. This person went up in the first fifteen minutes of the game, by putting someone else all in, and has been throwing his weight around all night. The second player in the hand is a passive player who calls nearly anything if he has even a mediocre hand.

The very aggressive (VA) person is in the SB and I am in the BB. I am dealt A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif 4 /images/graemlins/heart.gif . The entire table limps in and I check my option.

The flop comes A /images/graemlins/club.gif Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif 4 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif . The VA bets a dollar. Now I flopped two pair so I raise it to two dollars. My logic here is two fold. First I want some information and I think one of them will raise if they have AQ in the pocket. Secondly I have a pretty good hand and want to bet for value. There are folds to the passive caller who calls and then folds to the SB who calls. Three of us see the turn.

The turn comes 5 /images/graemlins/spade.gif . The VA bets one dollar and again I raise it to two dollars. At this point I am pretty sure he doesn't have AQ. I still have Top pair Bottom pair on the board and so I am waiting for the reraise. The two dollars is called around. Three of us see the river.

The river is 7 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif . The VA checks. I bet five dollars. The passive caller folds. VA thinks for about ten seconds and raises it to ten dollars. Now I have fifteen dollars in front of me, not including my original five. Now VA could have A7. He is known for buying pots. He generally doesn't try to buy them on crap. However I am almost positive he was trying to buy the pot at this point. I, being the weak tight person that I am in my soul, just call.

VA turns over AKo for a pair of As with the King kicker. I of course take it down with As and 4s.

Where could I have played this better? Should I have gone all in at the river? I have had one really bad loss going all in before, I was outplayed not a bad beat, and am still wary of going all in.

Thanks in advance for any opinions.

Sorak

[nicky g]

Bigger raises would have served you better, especially gien you have a calling station in the game - you need to either drive him out or charge him a lot to call. I'd raise to 5 (a bit more than the pot) on the flop. If for some reason I decided I needed to get away from the hand (eg a solid player reraised all-in), I could still get away with most of my stack intact should I so wish. If none of those things happened, and the VA called, I'd go all-in on the turn. In that version of events, you likely would have doubled through.

[tewall]

You did a good job in general of describing the hand, but it would be helpful if you would say how much each person has at the start of the play and how much is in the pot at each stage. (so the reader doesn't have to do mental math to keep up)

Here's some general ideas I hope might be helpful. Against a VA player there are a couple of strategies you can try. One is to play possum. That is, with a good hand, just call him down like the passive guy does. Let him bet your hand for you.

Another strategy is to play straight-forwardly and raise with a good hand. He might re-raise you trying to get you off your hand, which is just what you want. Sometimes you'll lose to a better hand, but if he bluffs more than once every three times or so you'll come out ahead. (From the way you described him, it sounds like maybe he likes to bluff)

Against the passive guy you want to value bet. Obvsiouly don't try to bluff him. Ever. Just bet when you have an edge against him. Make him make bad calls.

All of you guys are being too passive with you bets, even the guy you label as VA. One dollar is way too small a bet on the turn. As a starting strategy, why not try betting or raising the pot? If a pot sized bet or raise will not leave you very much, go ahead and go all-in. By always betting the pot, you don't have to worry about giving your hand away by the size of your bet, and it's a large enough bet to protect your hand.

[Ignatius]

The VA bets a dollar. Now I flopped two pair so I raise it to two dollars.
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A minimum raise with the field to act behind you only makes sense if you want to keep players in and build a big pot. However, your hand is not big enough to make this play as it can be easily overtaken by better aces if they hit their kicker or catch a running pair. Make it $5 and move in on turn. You don't want to play guessing games if someone suddenly wakes up on a later street.

[1800GAMBLER]

I'd raise the pot (flop), then 2/3 his stack (dependant), rest of his stack on the river.

You could keep the others in and build a pot but they are probably calling with Queens and have more outs, not that i'm fearing but you have an easy chance to take an average players whole stack, as long as he is loose as well.

Your errors were not raising enough.

[Graham]

The river is not where you want to be putting in lots of $$ with big/little 2 pair. But before that, yes. Bigger raise on the flop and all-in on the turn would be my vote. You want to get rid of other A's, in case they hit their kicker. Hard for you to escape from 2 pair, so you'd probably like to eliminate. If you know they'll refuse to lay down any A then, once you got there, I think the call on the river is fine.

jmho
G