Playing AA on the flop HU

EasilyFound · #1 10-25-2005, 07:18 AM

Curious to see whether your decision is the same or different than mine. How do you play this hand on the flop?

PokerStars Game #2877853010: Tournament #14158595, Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2005/10/23 - 22:06:09 (ET)
Table '14158595 1' Seat #5 is the button
Seat 5: Villan (3075 in chips)
Seat 7: Hero (2925 in chips)
Villan posts small blind 75
Hero: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ah Ad]
Villan: calls 75
Hero: raises 150 to 300
Villan: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [6s Qs Jc]
Hero: checks
Villan: bets 300
Hero????

Do you agree with the check on the flop? If not, how do you generally play in this spot? Feel free to comment about preflop play as well. Thanks.

bigt439 · #2 10-25-2005, 07:51 AM

Lead flop, check raise turn all-in would be my standard line.

Double Down · #3 10-25-2005, 07:56 AM

It's good to bet that flop because
1. You're the pf raiser, he's expecting you to bet
2. He could have a lot of drawing hands with a qj flop, don't give him a free card.
3. You give away your strength more by check raising than leading out. He'll call or even raise with a ton of hands if you bet, but not versus a check raise.

tigerite · #4 10-25-2005, 08:15 AM

I don't like the min raise preflop. Make it 450 or 600 even. He'll still call anyway, and it might even make it more likely for him to push with a marginal hand. And I would definitely bet that flop.

Double Down · #5 10-25-2005, 08:28 AM

Disagree with raising more preflop. The range of hands that someone will call a minraise with compared to what they'll call a 3-4x BB raise with is very different. Most opponents will call a minraise with almost any 2 (with the blinds where they're at). Not so if a raise to 600 is 1/5 of the opponent's stack. Plus, I think that a minraise will get played back at more than a raise to 600.

tigerite · #6 10-25-2005, 08:34 AM

I also don't like people to even have an inkling of what I am holding. And I would raise here with quite a lot, sometimes even push, so there's no way they could put me on AA by me doing that.

EasilyFound · #7 10-25-2005, 08:45 AM

All good stuff. Thanks. BTW, when leading out with a bet on the flop, what size bet do you prefer? Pot-sized or something less, perhaps 3/4?

Double Down · #8 10-25-2005, 08:48 AM

Yeah, potsized or 3/4 is cool. The truth is, if he didnt hit this flop, he won't payoff a minbet, but the odds are that it did hit him in some way, and he'll either call a pot sized bet or raise with any piece of it. Even J10 will want to figure out where he is. A pot sized bet still does not commit either of you, so it won't scare him off.

bigt439 · #9 10-25-2005, 09:11 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I also don't like people to even have an inkling of what I am holding. And I would raise here with quite a lot, sometimes even push, so there's no way they could put me on AA by me doing that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Apparently I just follow tigerite around and agree with him, but he's been bang on recently. Min raise here is no good IMO. Having said that, I love min raising AA or KK in the sb 3 or 4 handed because it looks sooooo much like a steal and they push back alot (obviously in the proper situation). I've been having tremendous success with this recently. However, this is for completley different reasons than for what double down was saying and can't be applied to the same situations. Like here; HU min raises are usually perceived much differently than with more players.

Just to build on what I said earlier, if you fire at the flop as the pfr and then check the turn, how can your opponent not move into you. It just looks so weak. Dirty.