AJ Suited - Preflop Raise Question

[NegranuFan]

what is your position?
What is "he bet small on the flop"?
What is your stack size?
His stack size?
Do you have any read on him?
Does he on you?
Also, when you raise big like that, I'd say from his/her perspective that he put you on a big hand, but likely not a big pair. With a big raise you are saying that you want 1 caller, but not THAT badly. He is 100% certain that his 2 cards are live. Depending on his read on you he might figure that a low flop that hits him huge, like 2 pair or trips, you will be hard pressed to put him on either a 7 or 3 so he essentially has the opportunity to take you whole stack, if he thinks he can outplay you after the flop.

And then again he might have sneezed and called accidentally...

Although this isn't your question, I much prefer a substantial, maybe pot sized raise on the flop because it disguses (and protects) your hand. Your raise tells him you are not afraid of the Ace (so no KK, QQ), so he can only really call with a flush draw. If he has some strange 2 pair or trips I'd expect him to reraise all in to protect it. With the pot so big already, it is unlikely that this reraise could/would be a bluff, and he would want to get the money in while he is sure he is ahead. Granted everyone sees teh all-in semi bluff on big draws, but to do so would be a mistake because he has to figure you will call more than 90% of the time, thus making it not profitable.

Any comments are welcome.

[jvphish]

[ QUOTE ]
what is your position?
What is "he bet small on the flop"?
What is your stack size?
His stack size?
Do you have any read on him?
Does he on you?

[/ QUOTE ]

i was in the dealer position
our chip stacks were pretty much even
"he bet small on the flop" - double the minimum bet
we both sat down to the table with the max. just 5 or so minutes prior to this hand.
ive played this guy a bunch before...and i agree with what youre saying about my preflop bet exposing what i may have...but 7-3?? ouch. that hurt.

[NegranuFan]

what were your stacks like relative to the blinds?

call out of boredom, maybe to switch things up? Where you went wrong was not raising the flop. It is irrelevent what he calls before the flop because he figures to win your whole stack if he hits and lose nothign more if he misses.

double the BB bet by him is almost appologetic, but again he might have thought that it might be small enough to give him odds( again I counted 9-1), and big enough to act as a blocking bet, causing you to slowplay your hand, represent KK, or QQ perhaps (I figure he felt that any heart was good, in which case, his bet worked perfectly). Either way he is conceding that he is weak and you should bloop him back hard.

What would you have done if he bet the pot into you on the flop?
1/2 pot?
All-In?

[jvphish]

tough to say what id do in retrospect...but with top pair (aces) with a jack kicker, and the nut flush draw with two cards to go...i would have most likely called an all-in bet by him.

like i said before, we each sat down with the maximum buy in for the table within 5 minutes of this hand, so our stacks were fairly even, and around the max. buy in still.

as for your thoughts that "he figures to win your whole stack if he hits and lose nothign more if he misses."...i dont agree. any heart other then the 4 drops, and i still see him playing his flush fairly strong. in which case, he would have lost.

thanks for your thoughts tho, i appreciate it.