Hypothetical AA on the Button Hand

[brettbrettr]

Let me first say that my 3-betting range in this spot is very, very wide. With an aggressive CO, its pairs to 55, A9+, KJo+, and a good player will know this. Really, if you asked me the hands with which I cold-call in this spot my answer is probably exactly none.

As for the rest...

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1. CO is a good thinking player and will try to put you on a hand the rest of the way regardless of whether you cold-cal or raise.

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Like I said, for me a cold-call would prob indicate a big pair rather than another players typcial cold call holdings like KJo, QJs, 88, etc.

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2. The blinds are mediocre at best.

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3. If you call you have a good chance of having a 4-way pot for 2 bets each and a very good chance of having a three-way pot for two bets each.

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Now I'm back to thinking about the CO. Is he calling me down with top pair no matter what? Is he calling me down with a middling pair on an otherwise ugly board? If he's going to pay me off I'm less incluined to risk inviting the blinds into the pot. If he's the type to straight steal and ditch then I might be more inclined to let them in.



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4. If you raise you have a decent to good chance of being HU for three-bets each and a very good chance of having no more than a 3-way pot for three bets each (i.e., it is very likely that at least one of the blinds will fold if you three-bet).

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If the BB is such that he can find a lot of calls even if I three-bet then this seems like a really easy 3-bet. FWIW, I think you might be overestimating the time a BB will call 2 cold here.

[colgin]

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I see the argument for cold calling but I still don't think it is right, especially at 2/4. Think about how EV changes when you let blinds in cheap vs playing against just the CO. On a very rare occasion I could see doing this play, but the blinds would have to prove to me that not only are the capable of folding, they like to.

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I don't know the answer myself. I posted this because I would have never thought about not three-betting here with AA on the button. Until shown otherwise I wil continue to three-bet in these situations. However, I was hoping to get input to see if others thought cold-calling was better, not in all sitautions, but under the conditions I described above.

I specifically didn't put in a limit as I wanted people to thik situiationally rather than based on a particular limit. One of the reasons I would three-bet is I expect theblinds to often come along with their junk (or at least inferior) hands but pay more to do so. But here I am suggesting that the blinds, while not very good, mayactually make a good pref-flop fold if they have to pay 2 or 2.5 - 2.66 SBs to see a flop. If you raise you may knock out blinds who play bad to mediocre post-flop. Clearly if they will often come along then you should always three-bet.

I am less concerned about deceiving the good CO with the cold-call as he will expect me to three-bet his possible steal with a wide range of hands here.

[colgin]

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4. If you raise you have a decent to good chance of being HU for three-bets each and a very good chance of having no more than a 3-way pot for three bets each (i.e., it is very likely that at least one of the blinds will fold if you three-bet).

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If the BB is such that he can find a lot of calls even if I three-bet then this seems like a really easy 3-bet. FWIW, I think you might be overestimating the time a BB will call 2 cold here.

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Good. My point was that a three-bet will often knock out at least one of the blinds and perhaps both. The question is whether or not that is a good thing.

I thought if I said that is was likely to knock out both blinds that people would object so I tried to say that you are likely to knock out at least one blind and perhaps both. perhaps I didn't make that clear though. In any event, do you want those mediocre blinds in or not?

[brettbrettr]

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In any event, do you want those mediocre blinds in or not?

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I'm torn? Tell me I win the pot either way and I'd like them in.

Basically, I"m dull and my standard is no, I have a big pair and I'd like a narrow field.