Trapping a LAG with AA, 50NL deep stacks

ludo72 · #1 09-18-2005, 07:43 AM

Villain is 50/24/3 after 140 hands and has been playing very aggressive. He opens for 6xBB with a wide variety of hands, including K-rags and all pairs, and usually bets the pot on the flop. He won't enter pots where someone else has raised pre-flop but after the flop his calling standards are very loose. For example he called a raise and an all-in on a Qxx flop with 99, and was actually right in doing so. Other than some of the loose calls he has made post-flop he seems like a good player.

I have been playing mostly TAG and have just been waiting for a good hand to exploit his loose post-flop play when this hand comes up:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em (NL$50) (5 handed) link

CO ($45.45)
Button ($49.25)
SB ($169.62)
Hero ($105.60)
UTG ($25.25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
3 folds, SB raises to $2.75, Hero calls $2.50.

Flop: ($6.00) 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets $5.00, Hero raises to $15.00, SB calls $10.00.

Turn: ($36.00) J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $20.00, SB calls $20.00.

River: ($76.00) 4[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, Hero ???

First of all, is trapping with AA like this a good idea with stacks this deep? How does my play look overall? After he calls my flop bet I'm not particulary worried that he has me beat since he could have anything from 99-KK or any Kx. Also a spade-draw is possible but I think Kx is his most likely holding. In the light of all this, should I value-bet the river or check behind and be happy with a pot of almost 80$?

#2 09-18-2005, 08:43 AM

I probably just check behind. Any bet you would make on the river would probably committ the rest of your stack to the hand as well, since I think you'd have to bet at least $30 on the river to not look weak. If you bet $30 and he raised you, you'd probably have to call. You only have aces, and I could easily see him having K-J, or Kh-Qh or Kh-10h. I like just checking. After all, you'll probably be taking down a 1 1/2 buy-in pot. That's not bad.

#3 09-18-2005, 08:45 AM

Oh, and I don't hate just calling with A-A. I personally like to make things easy on myself and always put more money in when I know I'm ahead, so I'd reraise preflop. But I don't hate trying to trap in this particular situation.

Allinlife · #4 09-18-2005, 10:15 AM

you should be reraising with wider range of hands against people with higher than 15% PFR...and against lags you have even more reason to raise significant amout preflop because they will of their dicipline lacking nature, they will first try to 'out flop' you, then get married to top pair and give you money.

anyways given how you played, you should bet at least 25 on turn and bet 1/2 the pot on river and fold to check raise. you miss way too much value with overpair against loose player when you check this backdoor flush river. Kx calls you all day..

Morrek · #5 09-18-2005, 10:19 AM

I've done this exact play except I bet a little more on turn and half pot on river, usually works wonders vs those pesky LAGs

ludo72 · #6 09-19-2005, 01:30 AM

I got greedy and bet 30$, he min-raised me to 60$ and I felt like I have to call. He showed K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and took the pot down.

I guess the question I'm trying to ask here is wether I'm being results oriented or did I just play bad? In retrospect I really think I should have bet just a bit more on the turn, maybe 30$, but because at the time I thought his most likely holding was Kx I wanted to keep him in and only bet 20$.

amoeba · #7 09-19-2005, 01:33 AM

I think trapping preflop lags with AA is a huge mistake.

he won't continue postflop without a hand that probably beats top pair but you will have to hope you have him beat.

you're giving him a lot of opportunity to stack you.