[bigt439]

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What were your thoughts for the hand pf and on the flop, and what were you planning to do on a blank turn?

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The key to this hand is that it is a Step 4, where 5th place is OK (re-ride in Step 4), 1-4th are the same (Movin' on up) and anything else sucks, so there is a fair amount of tightness still at this point.

My plan was to defend my blind and move him off his hand or hit a homerun if the cards fell right. I did not want to see an ace, I wanted to see clubs or low cards. When the first ace hit, I felt behind. When the second hit I felt confused. I, too often, cite the rule of exclusion in these situations and get outkicked.

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Oh, okay, some important stuff in there. Well if you were confused on the flop I don't see why you don't lead for 2/3 and make the hand much easier to play. This is not just in the case of taking the easiest line, but I believe in this spot the line with least confusion also has the highest EV. When you check call and make trips there is too much in the pot relative to your holding to try and get away IMO. So then I would do what I said in my first post and try and get the money in. I know sometimes you get duped by a better A and then that third A was the worst card you could've seen, but you've bloated the pot too much to fold now given that his range could be huge. He could've made that flop bet with the exact same range he raised you with, and that second A is only going to further his belief that you don't have one.

I think folding pf is fine, but calling is too. Since you did that I lead this particular flop and don't put much more in. Since you didn't do that, I get it all-in however I can on this particular turn.