[cero_z]

Hi mike,

cwl's post makes good sense here. I'm coming to this thread late, but I want to add some stuff:

Pre-flop, you should reraise pot, or somewhat more, if you think one of the callers will be willing to call a bit more. You raised exactly the pot (your call put $50 in there, you raised $50 more), so that was good. You got 2 callers whose hand ranges are wide given what they think of you, so that's mildly scary, but you do have AA and not too deep of a stack, so you're fine.

The flop was a pretty good one for you, since most players' calling ranges of your pre-flop raise are skewed toward pocket pairs; obviously, pairs have 2 outs if they're behind. However, given that their ranges are a bit wider, we have to concede that one of them could've called with a suited Broadway T (or maybe T9s); presumably, this is all you were worried about. Still, you said that you were willing to get it all-in against these guys. Once you've made up your mind about that, this hand is very easy to play, I think. You just make bets that draws are wrong to call, and get it all in at the next opportunity if anyone raises or calls. Meaning, you 3/4 pot the flop, which leaves you with 300 more and about 500 in the pot if anyone comes along--easy push.

The fear thing is noted, but must be dropped, of course. One thing that separates good NL players from weaker ones is that they're not afraid to let a card slide off with a "vulnerable" hand, when their reads tell them that their opponents are probably drawing very slim (as with a pocket pair on this board), despite the drawing possiblilities on the flop. I'm not talking about slowplaying, exactly: I'm talking about not overbetting your strong hands in a manner that ensures you don't get the loose action you want. This is exactly what your all-in on the flop accomplished, IMO: you will only get called by hands that beat you, and by a few good pocket pairs that would've played anyway for smaller bets. But most importantly, you miss out on action from small pairs, or other hands that would move in on you as a bluff or semi-bluff, if you only gave them the chance. Remember, you were willing to get it all in; let them think they can put you to a decision.