AA question

[square444]

.50/.50 $25 max buy-in NLHE home game hand:

I have red AA in SB, it's folded to me, I raise to $2.50, BB flat calls. Flop was like this:

K /images/graemlins/spade.gif rag /images/graemlins/spade.gif rag /images/graemlins/club.gif

I bet $5, he flat calls. Turn is another (offsuit) rag. I bet another $5, he raises to $15), I push in (I think $10 more). He calls immediately and shows me KK. No help on the river, I lose a big pot.

I'm almost positive I played it wrong, and I'm pretty sure i could have avoided it somehow. I still have trouble playing AA, it's a big weakness in my game. What should I have done and where should I have done it to avoid one of these disasters?

Thanks in Advance,
Peter M. Engelbert (The Square)

[mullaney]

So on the turn it sounds like the pot was $15, you had $25 left. You have bet once and he smooth called. Would he have smooth called with a flush draw or AK? Would he have smooth called with a king and a weak kicker? Would he smooth call with trips?

On the turn you are either comfortably ahead or way behind. However, the number of times you are going to be way behind is slim (with KK or a different set), especially since he might call a raise here preflop with a weak king. I would say the most likely hand he would have is a weak king, the second most likely hand is a flush draw, a distant third is trips... so:

You should have put in a pot sized bet on the turn and since you were so close to being all-in anyway, you probably could just pushed in on the turn.

An alternative would have been to bet a bit smaller on the flop, say $3.50 and another $10.00 on the turn (into a $12 pot). If he raises the turn, you can get away from your hand a little easier.

[1800GAMBLER]

I'm not folding AA heads up here.

[square444]

I did push in on the turn, after his raise. Anyway, thanks for the help. I'll work on reading him a little more. That's one of the biggest troubles I have with NLHE.

[mauisupaman]

square,
I'm not so sure you could have avoided this. The only thing I'd do differently is push in on the turn. Yout stacks sizes aren't deep so it's not a big deal. If your stacks were deeper you may have been able to get away from the hand. Thats the excitment of NL.
A hui hou,
Adam

[ericsind]

I think that's just a hand where you're going to lose a lot of money. The real problem here is the board has a lot of ways for him to have weaker hands and play the hand the same way. A lot of people with AK, KQ, or a flush draw play that hand the same as your opponent with trips, so it's very hard to get away from AA there.