[slogger]

I think you have a lot of re-thinking to do.

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1. I folded for a couple reasons. My bet was intended to get the preflop raiser to raise me. When he did that, I assumed he had a large pair or a big ace (probably a big ace). Because of my bet, I assumed that MP3 would guess that one of us had at least a big ace and not reraise unless he though he could beat that. Therefore, his possiblities were either Ax, 77, or 88. I figured Ax to be the least likely since I was also putting UTG on a big ace, leaving only one left in the deck. Plus, it makes (slightly) more sense to cold call a raise preflop with a medium pair than Ax. There fore, I assumed he had a set and I would be drawing almost dead. Furthermore, there was a chance UTG also had AK, so I could be drawing to a split pot.

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You must realize that many online players call with any Ace. The chances that your TPTK is good are very high. Also, if you had 3-bet preflop, you would have a much clearer picture as to where you stood at this point in the hand. As for where you were, getting 7-to-1 with TPTK would be good enough for me to cap, but I suppose you could justify just calling.

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2. I was kicking myself when the turn got checked through.

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No kidding. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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3. My biggest mistake was probably giving MP3 too much credit for being a good player. My arguement for folding entailed that he think his hand through before reraising with top pair medium kicker.

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Actually, I would have 3-bet AJ there myself - of course, I would not have coldcalled like he did, but if I did, I wouldn't then fold an A-high flop like this. UTG could easily be raising KK here, hoping to get a cheaper showdown against what might be a weak ace in front of him. BB (you) could have any number of hands - certainly wouldn't put you on AK because you showed no pre-flop aggression.

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4. Reraising preflop here would have just ended up costing me more money. Even if UTG caps, MP3 would likely call since he called the first raise cold. He might have been more likely to fold the turn, but he clearly wasn't thinking about what we had so he would have reraise, and I would have been forced to fold on the flop for the same reasons as above. Calling down would have cost me 3 BB and my hand isn't strong enough to bet aggressively from this position.

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How do you figure that reraising preflop would have cost you more? You cannot assume the flop action would have looked even remotely similar if you had taken that line. And even if it had, you would have still been wrong to fold before the turn.

And I would say that MP3 was thinking quite a bit about what you had. Like I said above, I would not have put you on a better Ace than AJ. And that leaves UTG, who either has a slightly better Ace, or a large pocket pair. Either way, a 3-bet on the flop sorts all of this out and makes the hand much easier to play from there. The fact that he checked behind on the turn, ostensibly looking for a cheap showdown, shows that he was concerned that his Ace was outkicked.

The fact is that you gave away a pot that should have been yours.