Pokerstars 1/2

[JKratzer]

Been at the $1/2 table for a little bit, managed to get to about $260 from $200. I get A7o in the big blind, everyone folds to the SB, who completes. No real read on this player, haven't seen him do anything stupid since I sat, so I assume he's decent.
Flop comes A 8 6, rainbow. SB bets $2, I call with my pair of aces.

Turn A. SB bets $10, I just call. My thoughts are let him keep betting in case he's bluffing, don't scare him off by raising on the turn. If he's valid, he might have a better kicker in which case I can just call him down. Wait and see the river action. Thoughts on just calling the turn?

River 7. Board AA876 giving me aces full of sevens. SB bets $40 at a $25 pot. I think for a little bit and raise to $100 (thoughts?). He thinks for quite a while, then reraises me all-in, about another $140. I call.

Appreciate all the feedback, there are many spots in this hand where I was unsure of the optimal play to make.

Results will follow.

JKratzer

[Yardbird]

[ QUOTE ]

Flop comes A 8 6, rainbow. SB bets $2, I call with my pair of aces.

Turn A. SB bets $10, I just call.

My thoughts are let him keep betting in case he's bluffing, don't scare him off by raising on the turn. If he's valid, he might have a better kicker in which case I can just call him down. Wait and see the river action. Thoughts on just calling the turn?

River 7. Board AA876

[/ QUOTE ]

Begin Playback: "You can't slow-play trips in Hold'em". End Playback.

Your kicker sucks... If he's playing an Ace, he most likely has you beat right now, and your bet might get him and his T/9 kicker out of the pot. In this case, your unwarranted deception payed off when you filled-up on the River. Nice overbet-sucker-play to get him to move in on you---if that's indeed what it was---but, I expect that his minbet on the flop was a feeler to guage whether he was going to get action on his top-two pair (or you wouldn't have posted this /images/graemlins/wink.gif)

[Richie Rich]

My guess is that your opponent either spiked a set on the turn or river (somewhat likely) or was holding AK/AQ/AJ/A10 (much more likely). Since there was no raise before the flop, and you were calling his flop and turn bets, I don't think he was afraid you had a better kicker if he did, in fact, hold the Ace. When you add everything up, I DO think he was beating you until the river (unless he held the unlikely A8)...that last card was your saving grace.

In any case, I think you played the hand fine. Congrats!
ps~ i love the BB special /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[cornell2005]

dont think he has AK or AQ, as he woulda just raised preflop with everyone folding behind him and in the SB.

the plays smell like 88 or A8 to me, although i can see a9-aj also. the limp followed by the pot building mini bet, followed by the pot sized bet on the turn once he knows you hit at least something, then the good sized value bet followed by the reraise all in. if he didnt have 88 a8 a7 or a9-aj hes making a big mistake here. and you only beat half of these hands, so i wouldnt be surprised to see him flip over a better one.

i think you played it fine, as there is enough of a chance he is on just 3 of a kind aces to warrent a raise and call all in on the river. like the turn play too.

[Lucky]

Think you played it well. You don't want to go the felt until your river card. Then you played it fine on the river to get him all-in. Obviously, if he has A8 so be it; don't worry about it. You should be willing to back your boat with whatever you could possibly have in front of you .

Before you filled up though, I think your play was crucial. You absolutely don't want to play a big pot with the 4 board cards on the Turn. If you play a big pot there against a reasonable playerer, you are almost certainly behind. I think situations where two players each have sets with 2 on the board cause a lot of money to flow into the better players hands.

[JKratzer]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Of course the only hand that could beat me was the one he had. He shows A8 to take the $505 pot. The reason I posted is to find out mainly if calling the all-in on the river was incorrect. I sure didn't feel real confident when doing it, but I just couldn't make myself lay it down. Maybe next time....