AA

[RiverMaynard]

I have started using Poker Tracker and am curious about one of the things I have found. When playing AA how often dose it get cracked if slow played and is it a bad thing to be winning with this pair without showing.

[astroglide]

in the long run it's pretty hard to win less than 75% of the time with aces regardless of how you play them as long as you see a showdown regularly

[Recliner]

I thought you didn't want to slowplay aces because your chances of loosing the hand increases when you let lots of limpers in.

[astroglide]

your chance of losing increases, but so does the pot size

[Songwind]

Don't get sidetracked. The object of poker is not to have better cards than the other guy. The object of poker is to take home the other guy's money.

Which is better? $5 pot 90% of the time, or $20 pot 75% of the time?

[ QUOTE ]
I thought you didn't want to slowplay aces because your chances of loosing the hand increases when you let lots of limpers in.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Nanook]

Last night I had AA twice, and I did not get a chance to bet them either slow or aggresive. Both times I was BB and everyone folded to me. Aaaarrrrggggghhhhh!

'nook

[Michael Davis]

Bad game selection.

-Michael

[Spyder]

Your chances of losing go up when you slow play them. However, if you've picked the correct spots to do this, the potential winnings go up more than your potential losings.

I never slow play AA in a loose game.
I never slow play AA when I'm new at the table.
I never slow play AA, first in, in late position.
I never slow play AA if I'm losing, or my image is otherwise poor.

I like to slow play AA when my image is intact, and:

The table has tightend up.
From early position about 1 out of 3 times.
From middle position about 1 out of 6 times.
From anywhere about every other time when I have a loose raisor, or hyper-aggressive player on my left.

Sometimes I'll re-raise, sometimes I'll just call the raise. Depends upon how many folks have called the raise and the liklihood they'll call another, and, the number who have yet to call the first raise and the liklihood they'll call two.

At any rate, that's the way I do it most often...now, let the experts speak /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Spyder

[bdk3clash]

If you never stopped raising with AA preflop you'd probably be playing pretty close to optimally.

You'd probably be better off posting some specific hands that troubled you, since the answer is almost always, "It depends..."

Also, astroglide, I would think you'd win less than 75% of your AA hands if you always played AA passively preflop.

[astroglide]

Also, astroglide, I would think you'd win less than 75% of your AA hands if you always played AA passively preflop

i play aces quite passively preflop and win 78%, over 3bb/hand

[RoyalSampler]

What is passively? I'm very interested. Do you mean low raises or limping? I am inclined play them outright, take the small pot if that is all it is to be, but avoid the huge variance of slow play, there are enough swing in fish ring games as is. I am of the belief that long term agressive play is a superior strategy, to reveal my bias, but I am very interested in any numbers. Thanks

[csuf_gambler]

you never ever slow play aces preflop, gotta raise and reraise. on the flop, it is rarely correct to slowplay them either.


today i had this hand. and this is an example of when you can slow play aces on the flop.


Texas Hold'em $1-$2 (real money), hand #209,460,817
Table Paderborn, 2 Jul 2004 2:24 PM ET

View <previous | next> hand for this table

Seat 1: mirko_crocop ($100 in chips)
Seat 2: Smackdown42 ($46.25 in chips)
Seat 3: GlenKerr ($84.75 in chips)
Seat 4: Axortagos ($33.50 in chips)
Seat 5: PokerLadie66 ($11.50 in chips)
Seat 6: JoeDude ($95 in chips)
Seat 7: guruhq ($56.75 in chips)
Seat 8: hc8601 ($16 in chips)
Seat 9: Modi76 ($148.75 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
mirko_crocop posts blind ($1).

PRE-FLOP, i have A /images/graemlins/spade.gif,A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif
Smackdown42 folds, GlenKerr folds, Axortagos folds, PokerLadie66 calls $1, JoeDude folds, guruhq calls $1, hc8601 folds, Modi76 folds, mirko_crocop bets $1, PokerLadie66 bets $2, guruhq calls $2, mirko_crocop bets $2, PokerLadie66 calls $1, guruhq calls $1.

FLOP [board cards 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif,A /images/graemlins/club.gif,10 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif ]
mirko_crocop checks, PokerLadie66 bets $1, guruhq calls $1, mirko_crocop calls $1.

TURN [board cards 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif,A /images/graemlins/club.gif,10 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif,8 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif ]
mirko_crocop checks, PokerLadie66 bets $2, bets $4, mirko_crocop bets $6, PokerLadie66 calls $4, guruhq calls $2.

RIVER [board cards 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif,A /images/graemlins/club.gif,10 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif,8 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif,10 /images/graemlins/club.gif ]
mirko_crocop bets $2, PokerLadie66 calls $0.50 and is all-in, guruhq bets $4, mirko_crocop bets $4, guruhq calls $2.

SHOWDOWN
mirko_crocop shows [ A /images/graemlins/spade.gif,A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif ]
PokerLadie66 mucks cards [ K /images/graemlins/diamond.gif,K /images/graemlins/club.gif ]
guruhq mucks cards [ 9 /images/graemlins/heart.gif,8 /images/graemlins/club.gif ]
mirko_crocop wins $11, mirko_crocop wins $33.

SUMMARY
Dealer: Modi76
Pot: $45.50 | Rake: $1.50
mirko_crocop bets $17, collects $44, net $27
Smackdown42 loses $0
GlenKerr loses $0
Axortagos loses $0
PokerLadie66 loses $11.50
JoeDude loses $0
guruhq loses $17
hc8601 loses $0
Modi76 loses $0



flop trips on a rainbow flop. you know the next guy is gonna bet fur shure. i planed to checkraise on the turn, but even better the retard guruhq raised for me.

[csuf_gambler]

once again, never ever slowplay aces preflop. check out this thread

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=782322&Forum= ,All_Forums,&Words=&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=782 264&Search=true&where=&Name=6803&daterange=&newerv al=&newertype=&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post 782322



better to win a small pot then lose a big one

[astroglide]

open-limping with them and reraising only if it's not heads up, cold-calling with them if nobody else has cold-called the raiser, etc.

[astroglide]

you really have a penchant for making definitive statements that are easily disproven, don't you? you consistently offer TERRIBLE, ILLEGAL advice regarding taxes and now you're releasing such gems as "never ever slowplay aces preflop".

[Saborion]

Regarding that cold-calling. A good example might be when UTG+1 open-raises, you're first to join the pot after the pre-flop raiser either because you're next to act or because everyone else have folded to you. Right?

If so, say you anticipate at least one more player if you 3-bet. The BB for instance. 3*3+1 = 10 SB pre-flop
You need to get the BB + SB + one more to get the same amount of money in pre-flop, which might often be the case. But if there's any chance at all you'll get the BB + one more by 3-betting pre-flop, then it would be very hard to get the same amount of money in pre-flop by only cold-calling.

But, even if you stand to lose a SB or two pre-flop by not 3-betting, and at the same time letting others in, you still might stand to gain more since
1: the more players in the pot, the more you make, even if you lose more often
2: you've gained deception about the real strength of your hand

The combination of those two far makes up for the potential loss of a SB or two pre-flop, while lowering your win % a bit. Right?

[stoxtrader]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, astroglide, I would think you'd win less than 75% of your AA hands if you always played AA passively preflop

i play aces quite passively preflop and win 78%, over 3bb/hand

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, just saw this. I'm sure I play them more aggressively than you, and I win 70% of the time with AA, can anyone think of a strategic reason why this may be the case?

[Michael Davis]

It is better to get involved in a bunch of large pots and lose a few of them with AA than win a few more small pots.

-Michael

[astroglide]

going to showdown too much?