Related to a post in the mid stakes thread, I have a V I have played with maybe 10-15 times or so, he loves to LRR his AA hands. Older white guy, 50s, not very good, he is the usual LP and gets mad when he racks off chips playing 50%+ of hands and is very self- satisfied when he is hitting and stacking.

He has done it to me 3 times that I recall, I may recall a KK hand he did but am not sure. If he did it with KK the one time he did not bet dark.

The 3rd time he LRR'd me the hand was the following-I planned to fold the flop if I missed.

Exact details of other players are fuzzy but close enough.

I am in MP with TT. UTG V limps, 1 call, I raise, BTN calls, maybe BB calls, V 3 bets, fold, I call, BTN calls, BB folds or had already.

3 ways to the flop, about 5 BB or so. V bets dark.

Flop is TXXr. I call, BTN calls. V bets dark again. 6.5BB

Turn is an A. I puke in my mouth and call, hoping he has KK and won't bet dark. BTN folds, V bets dark. 8.5 BB

River is not the case T , I just call, he proudly shows his AA, I table my TT( I should have mucked)and he looks incredulous, "what no turn raise?"

I look at him and say loudly, "like I didn't know what you had"

Then why didn't you fold, dumbass? (said to myself)

I guess despite my soul read, are you guys playing it any different? other than keeping my big yap shut and mucking and saying 'nice hand' like I should have?

raise flop. don’t tell the fish you have a read on him.

There are about 13 small bets in the pot on the flop when the action gets to you. There will be about 15 big bets when BTN is forced to make a decision to call for two. There are many hands worse than top set that will call 2 bets there. Bloat the pot while you can.

When the action gets to you on the turn, you're getting 9 to 1 on a call which means he has to have AA here what, 88% of the time for you to even consider folding. You cannot be 88% sure he has AA.

Then on the river you're about 11 to 1 which means what, you need to be 91% sure he has AA? You CANNOT be 91% sure he has exactly AA.

Paying off is not a sucker play. It's the correct strategy. Calling with the worst hand costs you a bet. Folding the best hand costs you a whole pot.

I've folded the best hand for 1 bet in a huge pot several times. That tilts me much more than calling a raise with the second nuts and being shown the nuts.

You should start by raising the flop. If villain 3bets, I would generally call the 3bet and raise the turn.

As played, even if you think you have a sick soul read on this guy, you cannot fold a set in limit hold em to one bet. You just cannot do it. Call down, see his AA, muck your hand, and take a walk. If you're still so tilted you can't play right, go home and come back another time. The game will still be there the next day.

Are you all still raising the flop if there are more than 1+v to act behind?(there may have been, this hand was a couple of month ago so I may not have the details correct)

I do recall a paper-dry flop so I was going for overcalls. But with 1 behind plus V a raise is proper.

I was tilted for about a couple of minutes then got back to it.

I have gotten much better about tilt then I was even then. So many drawouts in big pots learns ya or you need to find another game.

I would not even consider flat-calling the flop. People will find all sorts of excuses to call 2 bets cold, and they are going to be much more willing to call down to the river if you make the pot too big to fold. You are never going to stack someone in LHE (which is the main reason you might slow-play a very strong hand in NL), and waiting until the turn is just going to make your hand look super strong and elicit folds you don't want.

Thanks for this, I will have to consider changing my ways on super dry boards.

Just think of it this way. On a T high board when the pot is pretty decent (7.5 BB after you just call), the next person to act is actually getting almost direct odds to call for a backdoor straight/flush draw (eg QJcc and there is one club on the board). Does that mean we mind if they call? No. But if we raise they would then be making a mistake by going for their backdoors.

Also they might call with a hand that’s drawing dead like 99 and second/bottom pair thinking they are drawing, and will certainly continue with top pair and overpairs they slowplayed/played weakly.

Folding the second best set in LHE on a dry board for one bet is a losing play. Even though you’re confident with your read villains can and will do all sorts of stupid things from overplaying their hand , misreading their cards, and spazzing out.

Keep an eye out for whether you ever see villain l/rr with other hands. In my experience, it is pretty rare for someone to do it with just monsters. They usually like to balance hands like AA with big volume hands like suited connectors so they can build a big multiway pot with them. Based on a small sample, I'd never feel confident I can put villain on precisely AA.

As other posters have noted, your opponents won't ever call two bets cold or even three bet you if you don't give them the chance to do so!