AA play against limp-reraise

[Nate tha' Great]

This is a 6-max table at Party, $5/$10, and prototypically loose aggressive. UTG in this hand is particularly loose aggressive, although a pretty reasonable player nevertheless.

I'm dealt AA in UTG+1. Aggressive UTG limps in (oxymoron? hold on a 'sec) and I raise. To my surprise, I get three callers. UTG then limp-reraises. I cap. Two of the callers come along for the ride. Four to the flop, which is:

K94 rainbow. UTG bets, I raise, the two cold callers cold call, UTG then 3-bets, I call, callers call.

Turn is a 7, completing the rainbow. UTG bets, everyone calls.

River is a 6. UTG now checks and I bet.

Comments appreciated as always.

[lil']

I think I would raise the turn or cap the flop.

[Nottom]

I agree with the flop cap. Even if you might be behind UTG, you are almost certainly ahead of the other 2 ... make them pay to hang around. Also you then can get a better read on UTG's hand if he still bets out on the turn.

[Bob S.]

I'm gonna give what may seem to be the most bizarre advice to some people but I think the play here is to just smooth call the flop and wait until the turn to raise. The reason I say this is because even with your raise the players behind you aren't playing far from incorrectly to call with even just a gutshot. I can't determine exactly how many bets are in the pot on the flop but after your raise it is roughly 21 sb's giving the first cold caller immediate odds of 10.5-1 to cold call your raise. If you wait until the turn to raise assuming both players would just call a flop bet they would only be getting 7-1 to call a turn raise from you with now only one card to come. I think another benifit to this play is should the turn come down bad you may be saving yourself some money.

Bob S.

[Your Mom]

The thing is, if this guy keeps betting and raising, are you really going to fold your aces? I don't think so, so is getting a better read on his hand really worth it? I'd go ahead and cap the flop and probably raise the turn to try to get the other 2 out. If you are 3-bet on the turn, then just call and I still think you have to call the river.

[Nate tha' Great]

Everyone called my river bet and my aces held up.

I, stupidly, didn't save the hand history and so don't know what everyone else was playing.

Assorted thoughts:

- I think I might have been too quick to give UTG credit for a set of kings when he 3-bet the flop. AK was perhaps a more likely holding. And it's possible that he had a weaker hand than that, such as QQ or high suited cards. I tend to raise preflop with a significant percentage of the hands that I play in these games, and so sometimes induce players to reraise with things that they probably shouldn't.

- Having said that, I thought there was a chance that capping the flop would have caused at least one of the limpers to fold, which I didn't want.

- What are people's thoughts about calling the 3-bet on the flop and then raising UTG on the turn?

[lil']

I think I might have been too quick to give UTG credit for a set of kings when he 3-bet the flop.
From your description of this guy, I would think he might do this with any king or, as you said, even less.

Having said that, I thought there was a chance that capping the flop would have caused at least one of the limpers to fold, which I didn't want.
I don't think you should be stringing guys along here. The pot has become quite robust, and you need to do what it takes to win it. An overpair is a good hand, but it can be beaten.

[Nate tha' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I might have been too quick to give UTG credit for a set of kings when he 3-bet the flop.
From your description of this guy, I would think he might do this with any king or, as you said, even less.

[/ QUOTE ]

Veering off topic now, but what is the rationale for limp-reraising with marginal hands* against multiple callers**?

I have seen it happen, I have seen it discussed here, but I've never understood why. In this particular case, he's out of position and has three cold callers as well as the preflop raiser (me) to worry about. It seems unlikely that he's going to run everyone else out of the pot on later streets.

___
* I can see an exception of sorts for high suited connectors.

** I can also see an exception for a semibluff limp r/r against a loose preflop raiser if the action is heads-up.

[bdk3clash]

Generally, in my experience limp-raising pre-flop can indicate many different things, including:

-A monster hand like AA or KK, where the limp-raise was planned. (See Abdul Jalib's PosEV.com for lots of thoughts on preflop strategy, including a healthy dose of limp-raising)

In my experience, if a solid-aggressive player limp-raises from early position, most of the time they have AA or KK.

-A hand that limped in for whatever reason, got raised, and figured "what the hell, let's raise it up." Generally I see this kind of activity when someone limped in for a bet and it's three back to them. I guess they decide it's better to cap than to just call, since "it'll probably get capped anyway."

Interestingly, I tend to have more respect for a three-bet than a cap for this very reason. Except when I'm capping, of course. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[J.R.]

For the same reason people call pre-flop raises with 83o and stay on after an AK3 flop to bust your AK with a rivered 3. People play poorly.