Aces big pot.

(grunching)

First off, glad to see you capped it preflop.

I'd pop in a 3-bet on the flop, call a cap, and probably raise on the turn if bet into. The guy who woke up limped, called one raise, and then called two more preflop. I do NOT think you're up against KK here, as nice as that would be. MP1's limp-reraise could mean a lot of things at this level, but given that he initially limped after several other limpers he's either a good player sweetening the pot for a drawing hand, or a donk who likes to be uberagressive and thinks he's tricky (and at this level, which is more likely?).

Therefore, I think there's a good enough chance that your hand is best. Is it possible you're up against a wonky 2 pair or a set? Sure. But on the flop you have a bet, a raise, and a cold-call -- that gives you great odds to hit another A when you're not ahead already, so go ahead and pump this one up. Plus, most of the people at this level like to smooth call with a set and pop the turn (fear UTG+1 until the call on the turn), so I think that makes a set slightly less likely.

I'd pop the turn, too, if it's raised into me, because the pot is so big and there are still 3 other people in. Make them pay to hit their crap draws that they're in there with. Call down if you get 3-bet.

On the river, if I have the lead, I'm betting. If I don't, I'm calling down. While you will be beat here a lot you'll also see a lot of people showing down junk like 9-10 or A9, or a pocket pair lower than JJ. Play it aggressively; you have tons of equity in this pot.

[tyler_cracker]

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flop - I'm raising here, esp with no reads. You have outs if someone made a set.

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Hero has neither odds to draw to his set nor any backdoor draws.

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I'd rather just call the flop with my one pair since no one is folding for one more (and BB isn't folding for two more on the flop). I'm then raising pretty much any turn.

I don't think you're going to win very often, but you'll definitely win 1/24 times.

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This line sounds more like you're trying to protect your hand by scaring them out with the double-sized raise, which shouldn't apply here. Either you have the best hand, in which case get as much money in as you can, or you're behind, in which case you're not pushing anyone out. I don't see what the turn raise accomplishes here that the flop raise doesn't.

[sean c]

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I'd rather just call the flop with my one pair since no one is folding for one more (and BB isn't folding for two more on the flop). I'm then raising pretty much any turn.

I don't think you're going to win very often, but you'll definitely win 1/24 times.

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Meh i see no real reason to wait here the pot is huge his relative position sucks with a players in between him and the flop rasier on both sides. This is a very good flop for aces. I am playing this fast until someone lets me know i shouldn't be.

Raise the flop. Raise the turn. Raise the river.

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flop - I'm raising here, esp with no reads. You have outs if someone made a set.

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Hero has neither odds to draw to his set nor any backdoor draws.

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Agreed - I didn't mean to imply that the 3 bet was for anything other than value. On this flop, AA is best a significant portion of the time, and 2 more cards are coming . . .

[PokerSlut]

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I'd rather just call the flop with my one pair since no one is folding for one more (and BB isn't folding for two more on the flop).

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That's exactly why I'd raise the flop. Any time you are getting people to commit more money to the pot with the worst of it, that is a good thing. Think Fundamental Theorem of Poker here: If they could see your cards, do you think they'd want you to call, or raise?

[Agthorr]

Think about the possible hand ranges of BB, UTG, and UTG+1, given their play. Two pair is very unlikely here, since things like 96 fold pre-flop. BB and UTG like the flop enough to bet/raise, which suggests they've made at least a pair of 9's. Let's conservatively assume they'd only do this with a 9 and an overcard, 99, 66, 33, or an overpair. Also, we'll conservatively assume they'd only call preflop with things like K9 if it's suited (which increases the probability that they actually have an overpair or trips).

UTG+1 is cold-called two bets but didn't reraising, suggesting he either doesn't have complete confidence in his cards (perhaps he made a pair of 9's as well) or he's drawing with 87s. I doubt he has trips.

On the flop, if we plug all of this into Poker Stove, we see that you're the favorite with around 36% equity! That's better than 2:1 and with 3 players very likely to call, re-raise!

The turn and river cards are unhappy cards for you. Since you're not likely to get anyone to fold, I'd just call down from there, but bet if it's checked to you.

[tyler_cracker]

This reply is to jake ox as well.

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I'd rather just call the flop with my one pair since no one is folding for one more (and BB isn't folding for two more on the flop). I'm then raising pretty much any turn.

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Meh i see no real reason to wait here the pot is huge his relative position sucks with a players in between him and the flop rasier on both sides. This is a very good flop for aces. I am playing this fast until someone lets me know i shouldn't be.

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I don't like 3-betting the flop because:

- it isn't going to protect our hand; no one is going to fold.

- 3-betting opens us up to a 4-bet from one of the *two* flop bettors, which bloats the pot even further while we're holding just one pair.

- just calling now lets us use our position to observe BB's reaction to UTG's raise, as well as the action on the turn.

I like raising the turn instead because:

- this is the best chance to protect our hand. Anyone with a pair has 5 outs to beat us (unless their other card is an A). There are a couple lame gutshots that could be hanging out. We can't cut their odds down enough to make it incorrect for them to call, but this is the best we can do. Anything that improves our equity in this huge pot -- like getting someone to fold a draw that would have beaten us -- is rad.

- for any draws that aren't folding (OESD, etc.), we charge them the maximum for the privilege of drawing out on us.

- if UTG doesn't 3-bet, we can take a free showdown if we want. (If UTG *does* 3-bet, we're in deep doodoo.)

Frankly, i don't really like waiting for the turn to raise, but i still like it *more* than 3-betting the flop. While this is a great flop for aces, i get nervous when there is a bet and a raise into me on a relatively uncoordinated board when i capped preflop. Our hand is best a lot, but it definitely needs to be protected as much as we can protect it. Raising the turn is better for that goal than 3-betting the flop.

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Frankly, i don't really like waiting for the turn to raise, but i still like it *more* than 3-betting the flop. While this is a great flop for aces, i get nervous when there is a bet and a raise into me on a relatively uncoordinated board when i capped preflop. Our hand is best a lot, but it definitely needs to be protected as much as we can protect it. Raising the turn is better for that goal than 3-betting the flop.

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All good points. While you may be able to get a raise in on the turn as well as a flop 3-bet, I don't mind waiting for the turn if that's the best way to get the most money in (i.e., if everyone else freezes up after your flop 3-bet).

There are only a couple of non-idiot hands out there that beat us on the flop (making trips), but there are a number of possible hands that could be out there that we do beat (lower PPs that don't make trips, A9s, T9s, suited connectors that flopped a straight draw or pair/bdsd).

I still want to get as much money in as I can, as fast as I can. If a flop call turn raise line gets in more money, then I'm all for it.