AJs vs AA and 10-10

I open-raised on the button with AJ. The small blind had AA and the BB had 10-10. The SB flat called my raise and the BB reraised. I called, and the SB smoothly called again.


Flop came Q-Q-J, rainbow. SB checked. BB bet. I raised. SB called two cold. BB called.


When the SB called on the flop, I was done with the hand. Just too much to overcome here. Plus, not that it matters much, but ever since I started chopping blinds, I also started folded my button more often against the blinds, and against these two opponents, courtesies are pretty much in play, meaning I won't flagrantly rob them from the button, and they will then accordingly not go crazy with, say Q-8 preflop, like they used to when I was crazier, and, well, on with the hand ...


The turn paired the Jack so now I had the low full house. They checked to me and I checked behind, willfully employing the one-bet-swing wussout play. By checking the turn, the most I could lose with the worst hand was one bet, and the most I would win with the best hand is one bet. This seems like a good choice, though a little odd looking, when the option is all to often to win at most one bet with the best hand and lose more with the worst.


The river was a blank. AA in the SB bet out, the BB folded, I called and won.


Gotta admit I was surprised to see the AA. I mean, he slowplayed his hand, what, at least five times by my reckoning. Not saying he played it bad though. Turns out if he had jacked it up preflop I'd likely see a showdown with him, whereas by slowplaying so many times, he could have now represented a queen by breathing on the turn and I'da very likely mucked.


Tommy

So, uh, how do you figure he didn't play the hand badly? He clearly gave you the pot by slowplaying.


That seems like, uh, bad play.

Tommy hit a 2 outer. Keeping yourself from a clock-cleaning to give someone 2 outs is not bad play, esp. a pot that's not huge.


However, He should read that Tommy has no queen, and the BB is the player to fear. He is also out of position and he wants to see what the BB does on the turn. I think betting the turn is preferred since Tommy could be raising a draw and there are 2 opponents, not 1. But The SB did not play terribly by slowplaying the whole way, though I think betting the turn is a better way to play it.


If he knew that neither Tommy nor the BB would bet or raise a draw on this flop, then his play makes total sense.


Dan Z.

"So, uh, how do you figure he didn't play the hand badly? He clearly gave you the pot by slowplaying."


I don't think so. If he plays the hand straight up and reraises preflop, I'll still likely got to the turn for no more than one bet, and then, facing a possible AA or KK, I might call the turn to see how the river goes, and ...


Naw, if we're looking for a way for him to win with AA, it requires slowplaying several times, up to just the perfect spot, then playing strong, and then it still requires that I much a full house, which is by no means a certainty.


That said, I do think it's a bad play for most players to slowplay aces, but not because of what happened on this particular hand.


Tommy