Decision Time

[Zoe's Echo]

Pokerstars $0.10/$0.25 PL - I am on button with $46 one player at the table has me covered at $73. UTG limps, big stack limps folded to the Button (hero) with AKo - I raise pot UTG flat calls, Big Stack raises pot. I call.

Flop A 6 5 - UTG checks - Big Stack bets pot.

What's my move? - For some background - I had oberved this player slow play big pairs before at this table.

[Lurker]

What are you so afraid of? You have TPTK, and you're beating any big PP except AA. Raise the pot!

You can't fold your pair of aces, king kicker to one bet on an A-6-5 (two-tone?) flop. Can you give him any hand that beats you? A6, A5, 66, or 55? Not likely with his preflop reraise. My guess is that he's betting his KK or QQ just in case you missed the flop.

He could have AA, so you need to find out. Raise. You'll hear from him again if he has a set, so I might fold if he comes back over the top. But raise the flop, and bet the turn if he calls.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

It sounds like you put in about $4 preflop, and are now facing a bet of about $12-13. You have about $42 in your stack, so there is essentially one action left after this bet. If you reraise, it's going to be all-in or close to it, and if you call, his next bet will set you in.

If you raise, he's likely to fold KK and QQ, the two most likely hands you beat right now. He'll also fold things like JJ, TT, KQs, or other unlikely hands. He'll obviously call with a set, especially the highly feared AA. Of course, there is a pretty reasonable chance he also has AK, but we can ignore that, since it's a push.

I say just call. And hesitate a while before doing so. Let him hope that his KK is beating your JJ or some such. If you're beat, you're going to lose your stack anyway, so you might as well let him bluff with the worst hand when he does hold it. If he checks the turn, check also, so he might bluff the river. If he checks the river or bets you less than all-in, you probably want to go all-in yourself.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[Lurker]

I understand the value of calling in case the opponent does have KK...the probability of him being on a draw is fairly low and he's getting poor implied odds anyway by betting.

So when our hero calls on the flop, he leaves himself room on the turn. So what's his turn play then if his opponent does bet out again? Fold? Call? He'll have about $30 left after calling the flop bet so it just seems like he's setting himself up for a fold on the turn when his opponent rolls it all in. Tough call there, I probably fold.

[Greg (FossilMan)]

Certainly that is the toughest part of playing the hand this way. The question you have to ask and correctly answer is what is this guy capable of doing, and how often will he do it? Would he bet again with KK or QQ, maybe because you only called? Could he have AQ and think he's value betting? Or same question about AK, where our hero at least gets his money back? Must he have AA (or the unexpected 55 or 66) to bet the turn? If he's a stranger to you, it becomes largely a guessing game.

But, I just don't see raising the flop as a viable alternative, given the size of the stacks. Any raise you make, to be believable, is all-in or close enough to it that you're potstuck if he raises you back. There would still be enough chance of his holding AK or AQ that you would have to call for your last bit of money.

If the stacks were even at $74 (he had some amount like that I think), then you're deep enough to raise the flop and fold to a reraise.

Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

[Matt Flynn]

If the guy's going to pop the pot preflop in that way he's surely going to bet the flop. You still don't know what he has but a big pocket pair is most likely. The preflop raise makes the hand much easier to play because there's less room for maneuvering and it makes 55 and 66 unlikely. I'd have to know the player very well before thinking even twice about going all in.

As Greg points out, calling gets you more of his chips on average, so why not just call? On the turn if he bets you move all in. If he checks you bet and call the check-raise all-in.

[sizeup]

My first reaction was - you're likely ahead - so raise. You're only behind AA (among most likely limp-reraising hands), and there's only 1 way he could have that. After reading Greg & Matt's posts, I agree that calling will make you more on average. You have position, so you can call if he bets, and bet the river if he doesn't bet either the turn or the river. In that case, I would think you will have a decent chance of getting paid off if you're ahead since the turn was checked through and you've shown no aggression post-flop.

Question: Does anyone fold to the pre-flop pot sized limp-reraise? I realize we have position here, but I have to think against most opponents the limp-reraise here means a big pocket pair. If that's the case, some of our Aces and Kings may be dead, and we won't know if we're good if we do hit something on the flop. An Ace gives us some confidence (only 1 AA beats us), but a K is different (3 AA and 1 KK beats us). Am new to big bet so if this is ridiculous I apologize in advance.

[Zoe's Echo]

Thanks for all the feedback I wished I had posted this hand before living it.

I came over the top on the flop and was put all in by the Big Stack with AA for top set and me with no outs except runner runner quad 5's or 6's.

I think that calling on the flop is a strong suggestion but I think that when the case A hit my big bet inexperience combined with the fact that the flop was about as good as AKo can hope for against someone playing a big pair - unless of course it were AA - tied me to this pot with all my marbles. My thinking was that 55 or 66 were not probable holdings and that therefor I was behind only one possible holding. My own obervations of this player should have led me to believe that AA was the most likely holding.

The question of folding preflop to the reraise if I was sure this player needed QQ or better to make this move is a solid one. Something to think about as how much of my stack should I be willing to wager with 6 outs not including a straight redraw?

Nonetheless, with my pot limit/no limit experience up to this point - this is not a hand I would have been able to let go of until I lived it once.

We'll see if I learn next time.

Thanks Again

Good Luck