SB defense holding AA

[QuikSand]

Recent hand at 15/30 party... raised two questions for me.

I am in SB with AA. Folded to CO (reasonably TAG stats), who raises. Button folds, it's to me. I call the $30. Big blind also calls.

Question #1... If I'm going to play in a steal defense from the small blind, I almost always reraise, to isolate with the potentially weak raiser/stealer. Here, I liked my chances well enough to let the BB in cheaply, hoping to increase my action. Doing so, I betray the rule to "protect your aces at all costs." Good decision, is is a 3-bet still better here?


Story continues...

Flop is A-rag-rag rainbow... just ideal for me. It's checked to raiser, who bets. I call, BB calls.

Quesiton #2... I decide that there are a lot of fairly weak hands he'd bet here and then release to a checkraise, so I figure to milk this until the turn, hoping he will keep betting. In retrospect, I'm thinking that with it being unlikely he has an ace, can I really count on a turn bet here? The call here did earn a call from the BB (who probably would not have called two bets), but did I miss a chance to get another bet from the PF raiser?



For what it's worth, the story plays out beautifully in real life for me... PF raiser actually had a good hand of JJ, he turned his set, when I checkraised him on the turn he reraised and I capped... we capped the river as well, and he went down hard with the second nuts.

But the hand did get me thinking about whether my slow play was wise in both stages...

[andyfox]

"I betray the rule to 'protect your aces at all costs'."

-I hadn't heard that rule before. Letting the big blind in is not a tragedy because, well, you have aces. Still, I prefer to 3-bet, as the big blind might still come in with some hands and nobody every puts you on pocket aces. On this hand, you would not have made as much on the turn and river had you 3-bet pre-flop, but it doesn't happen very often that you make a set of aces and your opponent also makes a set.

I like the flop slow play, for the reasons you elucidate. The board is ideal for a slow-play and I find that when the board contains an ace and an opponent just check-calls the flop and then checks again on the turn, the opponent behind will usually bet again.

[AceHigh]

preflop and flop are fine...I think you should lead the turn and try and trap BB between you preflop raiser.

[Alex/Mugaaz]

I don't see the point of slowplaying in situations where people won't believe you anyway.

[shant]

Just 3-bet preflop already geez

Pre-flop: I think either play is just fine here. In fact, it's probably 50-50 for me on what I'd do. If you raise, you're probably going to lose the BB ... and you're defining your hand a bit to for the CU. By not raising, you're letting the BB come in for a cheaper price ... and also not charging the CU as much for drawing against you. I think those two options pretty much balance out.

Slow-play: The flop is perfect for slow playing. On the turn, I'd lead out and bet for two reasons. First, like an earlier post said, you might be able to trap the BB between you and the CU. Second, you're not guaranteed the CU will bet for you. I'd rather bet out and hope for the raise behind you. You're looking at 1 or 3 bets vs. 0 or 2. Of course, that decision also depends on your impression of how the CU plays.

[me454555]

I think you played the hand fine on the pf and flop

How loose is bb? If he's loose I'd prolly try to bet/3bet the turn as CO will think you're fos and pop you. W/any luck you can also trap BB in there for an extra bet.