AA in PLHE

[Riverman]

Same game as my previous post, 10-15 blinds, pot limit at the Borgata. A tight-agressive good player open raises for 60. All fold to me in MP. I have AA and just call. One additional caller behind me, then the button raises the pot. He is a very good player, and there is a fair range of hands with which he would make this move, though it will usually be a pair (roughly 88-AA). Anyway, original raiser mucks and it's back to me. My stack is about 1900 and the button has me covered. What's my play?

[tdomeski]

I would put in a substantial re-raise right there. . . Seems the objective of limping in with AA was to get a raise that you could come back over the top of. . .Remember it is okay to win a small pot with AA b/c it usually wins small pots and loses big ones.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

I'd raise to 900, and expect him to either fold, or be holding KK or AA.

An argument can be made here for raising to about 700, however, given your stack size. If you make it 700, he's got to call 400. He can win the 1100+ that's there now, plus up to 1200 more from you postflop, or a bit less than 6:1. Since he's about 7.5:1 against flopping a set, it would be incorrect for him to make this call if he knew your cards.

Of course, if he calls 700, would he call 900 anyway, and thereby be making an even bigger mistake?

There is no perfect answer. In reality, you want to raise as much as he will call, as long as it's more than 600. At 600, he's just about getting even odds assuming he wins your entire stack whenever he flops a set.

On the other hand, if you know he's likely to bet the flop if you check to him, then you could just call here and try to win more that way. Of course, you're increasing your risk of a bad beat dramatically by doing this.

Unless I knew this opponent was highly likely to bet any flop checked to him, I would probably raise now.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[tewall]

There's a guy left to act in between poster and raiser to consider too.

[C M Burns]

I think rr the max, the pot should be about 800 right. I don't think it is likley that if you hit the flop with say and A you would get more $ and the same with no A and you could be in trouble, and it's unlikley the other guy would call that much w/ 2 in, i would think, so basically it seems to me there is more potential for risk than reward in just calling. And also the the 7.5-1 or so of floping a set also aplies to you so assuming the other guy doesn't have AA he has to take into acount that his odds are only given you don't flop a set. doesn't one also need to take this into account?

[Zag]

The other player left to act after our hero is exactly the reason why you want to reraise the max. He has already put $60 into the pot, and you've much rather that be dead money than a live hand drawing at you.

Consider what a reraising hand must be: Probably KK, QQ, or, if you are very lucky, AKs! Almost certainly a hand that AA has dominated at 3 to 1 or better. Therefore, any money that goes into the pot if you are heads up is 75% yours.

The last thing that you want in there is another hand which has more than 2 outs against you. The larger pot (from a third person participating) does not even almost make up for the equity that AA loses to a random hand, because, remember, 75% of that pot is yours with him gone. If you KNEW that the hand was a pair, it would be worth letting him in. But it is probably something like TJs, and it would steal a painful number of pots from you. Push in and get him gone.

[oneeye13]

if you fail to reraise, make your set, and he has KK (which is pretty likely)... you will have missed out on a lot of chips. he's probably got AK or a pair.

[Ignatius]

Pot it back! You do not want to slowplay your aces out of position against two opponents with only 1/7 of your stack in. Also, I disagree with Fossil Man that you should raise less then the pot here to lure a call. If he has kings (and anything else would be an easy fold anyway), his decision whether to play or not will depend only on the perceived risk of you actually having the bullets. A call-begging $750 will look much more dangerous than a straight pot raise which at least gives him a chance to convinve himself that you might hold AK or QQ (and read him for the other hand) just often enough to warrant a call.