Bellagio 15/30 AA UTG

[felson]

i raise utg w/AA. a couple of folds, then i get 3bet by a 35ish muscular guy who plays like a typical player at the table -- too loose and too inclined to call down, and not unusually aggressive. i have been playing tight but i doubt that he has noticed. folded back to me. i just call. (i decided to get fancy here because it was headsup and because a 2+2er was sweating me.)

flop: KT5 rainbow. i checkraise, he calls.

turn: offsuit jack. i bet, he raises, i call.

river: king, pairing the board. i check, he bets, i call.

comments on all streets appreciated.

[amerksmann22]

play is fine, just expect to loss to three Ks or a set of JJ that fill up

[highlife]

i dont understand not capping it, and then checkraising the flop. you still got the same number of bets in.

if he is too inclined to call down, you aren't losing bets by capping the flop.

[Nate tha' Great]

I think you can fold the river.

[mab_nyc69]

cap pre flop....bet flop. dont get fancy with pocket aces. you need to call it down but looks like you are a loser here. If you are going to check raise....do it on the turn, not the flop.

[PennDisc]

4 bets is not a cap at the bellagio. Pop it again preflop and hope he then caps it. You said he probably hasn't noticed you playing tight, so would he really put you on a monster if you 4-bet? Against someone that isn't that observant go ahead get the bets in now.

[Masquerade]

Since the simplest explanation for your play is AK he can beat AK from the turn onwards - and sadly that means he can beat AA too.

[jstewsmole]

have any idea on this guys 3 betting standards? They way u described him it sounds like he has a monster preflop.would he make it 3 with AQ.

Either way its kinda bizzare how this guy played his hand unless he had AQ or Jacks.

I dont think a set of KIngs bets on the flop here if hes typical. I think 3 betting with AQ is a little excessive unless uve been raising alot or he doesnt respect urs.

U gotta make this 4 bets preflop. Especially if capping doesnt occur at four there. Not only do u get more value for ur hand, u can see how he responds to it. Maybe even narrowing his range down even more.

[elysium]

hi felson

you're beaten here but must call. you appear to be in the lead until the river though. what you may have considered, rather than check-raising the flop, would have been instead to check-call the flop and value check-raise the turn. this is a better strategy against the 5 out calling station. check-raising the flop.....yuck. no good here. you need to know that fast eddy.

yeah people, when you have a value hand like this one, and the strength of that value hand is concealed, you must exact upon a strategy that will maximize the number of bets that you get into the pot. felson has hooked a calling station who believes he's in the lead on the flop, while felson believes that he himself is leading. check-raising into a possible reraise which would change the complexion of the belief status as such, and make felson think something other than what he is currently thinking; that he is in the lead against an opponent who thinks that he (the opponent himself) is leading, is only asking for information that can only be harmful to felson.

at the point of the flop, felson simply doesn't want to know that his opponent is capable of making a frightening reraise of his check-raise. it would badly effect felson's read to be provided with such info. in fact, there is no reason whatsoever to check-raise the flop here. this is so because if felson called pre-flop to keep the strength of his hand hidden, then why expose that strength on the inexpensive round? why not collect the extra big bet instead of just a n extra flop bet? however, if felson raises pre-flop, then he must betout on the flop because he cannot expect this type opponent to betout on the flop when checked to. furthermore, felson is making a value check-raise on the flop; he doesn't want the fold. what's wrong with this picture? well, his opponent is a calling station. a flop check-raise may be just the ticket to change this opponent into a thinking player on the turn. and here is where we see the ignominity of the flop check-raise in all it's inglorious detail. we usually reserve flop check-raises only for hands that want to get the fold on the turn. clearly this is not the case here. this hand is horribly misplayed.

a little too fast eddy. too fast indeed.

[Michael Emery]

I like a 4-betting preflop and folding the river. I dont see how you can really be good enough here given your description and how the hand was played. Tough laydown but I might make it.

Mike Emery