AA Woes (P* 1/2)

[VarlosZ]

PokerStars $1/$2 NLHE ($200 max buy-in), 9-handed. I've got $200, villain has $195. I'm multi-tabling, so no good reads, but I've seen the villain around a fair amount and vaguely recall his being at least ok.

I've got A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] in MP. UTG calls $2, 3 folds, I raise to $8, the player on my left calls, everyone else folds.

Flop (pot=$21): 6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

I bet $15, villain raises to $30, I call.

Turn (pot=$81): 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

I check, villain bets $32, I call. I'm now thinking I should perhaps have check-raised all-in, but if he's not a poor player he's going to know exactly what I have and I'll only get called if I'm beat (or maybe if he has KK).

River (pot=$145): Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

Crap! About all I can beat now that he might have is KK. I put out a $30 freeze bet to stop him from representing the Q if he doesn't have it, he goes all-in for $95 more. There's about $240 in the pot -- do you call? Which streets, if any, do you think I misplayed? Thanks.

[tbach24]

Re-raise on the flop. Raise on the turn if not.

[Smoove]

You need to decide whether you're playing this for your stack before the river. I think the minraise on the flop means one of two things: you are very behind to a set or he's testing your autobet after raising preflop with something like AQ. I actually don't mind calling here and checking the turn but at the turn you have to make a decision and raise or fold after you see his action. To me he seems pretty weak (32 into a 76 pot?) so I'd checkraise all in here. Once you call and you see that river I think you have to check/fold

[Daithi]

This is a great hand for discussion. We all have hands that are hard to figure out after play is over, and it is ten times worse when you're in the thick of things. I feel for you VarlosZ.

In any event, here is how I would think through this hand.

Pre-flop looked pretty standard.

The flop bet looked good as well. I suppose you had a choice of calling the raise or re-raising. I'd figure he either has a Queen, two big clubs, or is just trying to see if he can take the pot from you (I doubt he has a set, but possible). I would have just called. I don't want to scare him out and I want to see if the turn is club before betting again.

Nice brick on the turn. If he has two clubs and you check then he might just take a free card. Or he might take a discounted card by betting less than 1/2 the pot (which was the bet he made). So here is where I disagree with your play. By just calling you might be letting him suckout pretty cheap. I would have set him all-in on the turn. Even if he folds you made a lot of money on that hand.

On the river it is going to cost you $95 to win $240. So he has to be bluffing about 40% of the time for you're call to be correct. In the game my instinks would have probably told me to lay it down, but as I think about it I believe a call is in order. His turn bet would be perfect for a flush draw, because you may lay your hand down, and if you just call he is still getting good pot odds. His turn bet would have stunk if he had a Queen or a pair of kings. This is because he is giving you proper odds to call if you were the one on the flush draw.