How to play AA

Rickfish · #1 06-30-2003, 04:12 PM

Pokerstars, PLHE, blinds 50/100
I start this hand with 2940 which is above average (1500 to start)
LP with AA, one EP limper, I raise to 400
the limper calls
At this stage I have 2540 chips left and the limper has 2995
Flop 8h 9h Jd
limper checks, I bet 600 (pot was 1100)
limper raises 2150 which sets me in if I want to call.
I know nothing about the opponent.

Do I run away with my 1940 chips or call?

Kurn, son of Mogh · #2 06-30-2003, 04:27 PM

Do you have the A [img]/forums/images/icons/heart.gif[/img] ?

SeanM · #3 06-30-2003, 04:38 PM

tough one. I lay them done.

John W · #4 06-30-2003, 04:41 PM

I would have to fold. You have to put him on a hand to call your origianal raise with. And pocket Ten's or Jack's is what I would give him credit for and fold. You still have plenty of chip's left to wait for a better situation. The board is just to scary to commit all my chips.

Hope it worked out for ya.

DJA · #5 06-30-2003, 05:25 PM

How often do you figure you are ahead right now. If I don't know the opponent I would say about 60% of the time. There are too many drawing hands that the person could bluff, especially after you only bet 1/2 the pot into him. BTW I don't disagree with the 1/2 pot bet, but I am saying the person may think you were showing weakness...

Now if you are ahead, and he is on a draw how often will he draw out on you... I would say 1/3 of the time on most draws. So 60% * 2/3 = 40% of the time I figure to win this if I don't know the opponent.

You are getting about 3700:2000 on a call, so mathematically you should call if my 40% guess is correct. I would most likely make the call, putting the person on a big J, or a draw... or a hand better then mine, but I am not sure enough to lay this down.

Just My Thoughts,

gunbuster · #6 06-30-2003, 05:27 PM

I might grit my teeth and jam them all in there. EP limper probably doesn't have the straight yet. A set is possible, but the limper checks on a dangerous flop. If he put you on a draw, there's no reason why he'd want to give up a free card --- unless he knew you would bet for him.

I think he might be holding ATs or AJo and he's pushing in on a semi-bluff with a whole lot of outs.

Rickfish · #7 06-30-2003, 05:46 PM

My hand was Ah Ad.

Rickfish · #8 07-01-2003, 05:16 AM

I decided to call. He had Tc Qs. What do you think of his play?

IMO, the pre-flop call was bad. Flopping a straight is about 100-1 but even less in this case because I have blockers for the top straight. There are loads of flops that could cost him a lot of chips, e.g. KJ2, T32, ATT, AQT. I think that his trouble flops are a lot more likely than his good flops. OK, I don't have to have AA but against a weaker hand like AQ there are very few flops that help him.

I don't think the check-raise on the flop is best either. I could have folded AA and some of you have said you would have. What if I have AK? I think he should check and call and hope that I hit my overcard on the turn or river, or, if I have the overpair that I go all-in on the turn.

Kurn, son of Mogh · #9 07-01-2003, 08:59 AM

One hand that jumped out at me that might be played like he did was Ah Th. So now I know he doesn't have that. After reflection, I'd have to say you can fold the way he played this. I think he flopped a set.

gunbuster · #10 07-01-2003, 12:22 PM

Don't beat yourself up on this one. He made a few poor decisions pre-flop: first he called with QTo from EP, then he calls a raise with a crap hand. Even if he's calling 300 for 650, what kind of hand could he hope to hit w/ QT that wouldn't be dominated.

Well, he got lucky. Still, it might be possible to get away from your hand if you figured him for a set. It's hard to put someone on QT, as it quite loose pre-flop play (almost 1/6 of his chips!!!). I would more rationally put him on Ah Th where he flopped a huge draw and is trying to make u lay down. To me, a set makes less likely, as one would not want to give a free card with a board like that.

You want players to make those sort of lousy calls pre-flop, you just don't want them to get lucky. I used to beat myself up on how I could have gotten away from situations like this, and the more I dwelled on it, the more passive my game started to get -- subsequently, my results got worse. I survived, but seldom had enough firepower towards the end to make a real push for the top spots.