Reraise AA or try to trap?

[iceman5]

I posted a hand yesterday where I tried to trap someone with AA. For years, Ive always reraised AA preflop until a conversation with a friend of mine who plays high stakes NL. He likes to trap with AA and KK because he says he doesnt get paid off enough at higher stakes when he reraises preflop and defines his hand.

My personal opinion is that I dont mind defining my hand by reraising because while they may know I have a high pair, I'm less likely to get busted with a one pair hand and I can play the hand KNOWING that he knows I have a high pair.

So heres the hand again analyzed both ways. Tell me what you think.
$2/$4 NL

Villain open raises to $28. This looks like a big pair to me, so I flat call with AA to trap him. Theres another caller behind me which is strange for a raise this large.

The pot is $90. The flop is Q83. Villain bets $32. I call as does the other guy. I really shouldve raised here but I couldnt decide if he had AK, JJ, or QQ. Thats probably all the more reason to raise.

The pot is $190. The turn is a 7. He bets $100 and I push all in to $350 or so. Caller behind me folds and the villian calls with 77 and Im busted.


Rewind

Villian raises to $28, I reraise to $75. Guy behind me probably folds. Villian might call but will definately fold on that Q83 flop.


Now to the question. He hit a 20-1 shot at the turn or I win this hand....but....it couldve easily been avoided if I reraise preflop or raise the flop big. Since he would definately check the turn if any card but a 7 hits (no way hes betting again into 2 callers there), and since I would bet the turn and take it down most likely when he checks a non 7 turn.....do you guys who like to trap with AA believe you make enough extra money trapping with AA as oppossed to reraising AA to compensate for the times you get busted yourself in a hand like this one?

[start_to_finish]

"You might be suprised to hear that I think a pair of Aces is a good hand to slow play in No-limit. I like to call a raise with a pair of aces and see what comes on the flop. That way I can often trap a guy who has A-K or A-Q. I know that I am risking getting beat by two pair or a small set playing them this way, but it is easy for me to get away from them. Let's say a guy raised in EP and I call in MP with a pair of Aces and another guy calls behind me.

Flop - Ks Jd 4c.

Now the flop comes K J 4 and the first guy bets and I raise him. If the guy behind me raises I know I can toss my Aces in the garbage. If not, I'll probably win a big pot."

Page 193 of Johnny Chan's new book, Play Poker Like Johnny Chan.

[youngin20]

G-gggghost Writer?

[gomberg]

my philosophy on AA is that its main job is to get all-in preflop against KK, AK, QQ or any other hand a villain can have. I only slowplay if the situation is perfect. I think you are giving up too much against an early position raiser by slowplaying - especially with the kind of players playing these games right now. Maybe against superstars at a 50-100 game you can start doing this - but against your typical 5-10 online player, there's no way I'm slowplaying unless the stack-sizes, opponent, and position are perfect.

[TM1212]

It really depends on the amount of BB in front of you and your opponent. If its a small buyin 75 bb or less I'd recommend playing your aces fast. Raise, Raise, Raise! Usually you'll just win a small pot, and from time to time a big one, off a number of hands.

If your playing in a 100 BB or more buyin, I'd recommend a slow play with mp or better. Before I expand, this is only if you can fold AA if you think your beat. No reason to slow play if ever time your out flopped your going to lose your stack. This will increase in the number of large pots you win with this very powerful hand. Also, once you think you got an opponent on a hand he’s will to commit to, i.e. top pair good kicker, don’t be afraid to change gears and fire in a reraise. Your play on the hand previously mention was off, on the flop there was a lot in the pot and coming over the top was probably for the best. There’s a lot of scare cards that can hit on the turn, and this time, unfortunately, the worst card in the deck for you, wasn't a scare card. So, you lost your stack when it hit.

[Voltron87]

No, you the more BBs you have the more you raise. The less BBs you have the more you can slowplay AA.

[Loci]

The point of raising is just to limit the field to ensure their strength. If you are playing one or two players already, then the only validity that raising preflop has is to win the blinds or make a small pot. If you're in late position, it's folded to you, it doesn't hurt to take a chance on it, but that's also with the understanding that if the blinds hit, you're going to be in serious pain because you'll probably play them too hard. I guess what I'm saying is that it's not a horrible play if there's no one else in, but you must must must raise against a field. Also keep in mind that being a 4:1 favorite to pocket deuces-kings means that you're going to be losing roughly 1 in 7.5 flops... and if the flop comes 2 5 8, you're bound to lose a lot more to those trip deuces than those lonely ducks will ever lose by limping in every time.
Make them pay to beat your made hand. Just my opinion.
Ez

[iceman5]

Are you referring to limping with AA? Im talking about calling a raise as oppossed to reraising.

Why would I be worried about the blinds in that case? If they call a raise then you have to assume they dont have a random hand like you would if you limped. Or did I misunderstand you?

[Kaz The Original]

The point of raising with AA is NOT to limit the field. It is to charge people more coming in. A side affect of that IS limiting the field, which is BAD, but not as bad as limping in and not charging people.

[Lawrence Ng]

When you post hands, please include stack sizes if you can.

Lawrence