Background: I had been playing exclusively limit Holdem for the past 8-10 years. Started at 10/20, moved up to 20/40 and took occasional shots at 40/80. Approximately 6 months ago I transitioned to NL, mostly because the limit games at my local casino now only run on Friday-Saturday and aren't nearly what they were years ago. My win rate over the past 6 months at 1/2 is roughly $17/hr.

Typical loose weekend game. UTG is older (60's) and appears to be a straight forward player.

Hero has AA UTG+1

Stack sizes:
UTG: $400
Hero: $750
MP player: $200


Preflop:
UTG raises to $12
Hero raises to $30 with AA
Player in middle position calls
Everyone else folds
Pot: $90

Flop:
KJ5
UTG bets $40
I call, planning to raise the turn
Player in middle position folds
Pot: $170

Turn:
2 completing the rainbow board
UTG bets $40
I raise to $100
UTG tanks for a while, then calls
Pot: $370

River:
10
UTG shoves for his remaining $230

What do we do here?
Should I have raised the flop? Is delaying until the turn a bad idea?

Strange spot. I'm usually against calling all ins with one pair, but in this circumstance I think we might have to. Calling 230 in a 600 pot means 2.75~:1 which means we have to be pretty certain that he doesnt have 2 pair. AQ is unlikely but possible. This is a loose table, but how many hands can we beat here?

I'm thinking sigh call, and get ready to reload as played. I don't think floating was a bad idea here, but I think you just got unlucky.

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I'd often just call this one down. His $40 turn bet looks week and might change that. However, you said your plan on the flop was to go for a turn raise, so I'll address that plan.

You really don't want to put in 200 BBs with 1 pair here because 1) it is 3bet pre 2) V is utg 3) V is an older, straightforward player.

He isn't an idiot, so he isn't looking to stack off with QQ. He might have AK, but he will be apprehensive then because he'll wonder what YOU are 3betting then stacking off with. KQ?

Plus, you block AK.

He is going to have KK, JJ here more than AK if he is eager to get it in. Like, say, if he jams over your turn raise.


You also don't want him to fold AK or the occasional KQ, which is another reason not to play your hand too hard.

When you are at 200bbs in NLH protecting your stack becomes a big consideration. This applies not only to you, but to your opponent, particularly a solid 60 year old. i.e. he is probably concerned about protecting his stack if he has 1 pair. So factor that into your play.

If I were to raise, I'd probably be looking to do so on the river after some kind of evidence convinced me he did not have me beat. At that point he would be more committed to the pot. And if he does have AK, there aren't a lot of cards that will scare him, if he somehow isn't scared already. So basically, you have more info, have gotten 3 streets in the bank, and have a better chance of a crying call if you decide that's what to shoot for.

As played, fold. This player is probably now hoping you have AA or AK. A player of this profile will typically be aware of the fact that AK now loses to AA, KK, JJ, TT and AQ and won't get called by worse.

Played hand just like this with similar stacks against identical villain last week he showed up with a set against my AA.

I'm somewhat curious as to where there were still 10/20, 20/40, and 40/80 limit games. By the time I was ready to start taking shots at 10/20 it was dead. And that was in 2005.

As for the hand, I'm not thrilled with raising at any point. Pot control is a concept unique to no-limit. Small hands, small pots, big hands, big pots. Pre-flop AA is a big hand, so build a pot however necessary, but if it doesn't improve on the flop, it's now a middlingish hand and against all but the worst stations I'm not thrilled about having a big bet called. I'm calling down here. If he suddenly wakes up with a huge bet on the river, I can find the fold. AQ/KK/JJ/TT all get there. What else is in his UTG raise/call range? I don't want to spend 200bb finding out.

$40 pre. Your turn raise does nothing except let V fold an unimproved Kx on river. Sizing is way too small. You’d make more calling, seeing what V does on river, and then deciding to raise or just call. Then he can’t really fold his Kx and you can bet like $160ish on most rivers. If he leads big on river you can’t really fold but then you don’t get stacked at least. Prob fold to a shove.

3bet more preflop. Make it 40.

On the flop, when they lead into you like this its typically a middling hand (KQ,QJ,QT) trying to set its own price or the nuts KJ, JJ. Its unlikely he has AK (we have blockers) and he's probably not stacking off with KQ. Your plan should be to call him down flop and turn and by the river you can decide whether to go for more value. If he keeps barreling, you could be faced with a tricky decision on the river but you'll have 3 streets of info to draw on.

With this kind of stack-to-pot-ratio you shouldn't be raising at any point unless you want all the chips to go in and you shouldn't be overly delighted about getting stacks in with one pair unless its an obvious overpair vs overpair cooler situation. 665 would be a much better flop on which to raise and get it in.

As played, his river jam is just the same as a turn 4bet. The T didn't help him. If you were planning to stack off on the turn then I guess you should call on the river.

I'm not in love with the situation. If he had KQ, then a tank on the turn doesn't make too much sense. They usually call pretty quick and check the river.

Yeah, when there is $170 in the pot, not sure what a weak raise from 40 to 100 was intended to achieve. It's the kind of play that will cause us to end up levelling ourselves i.e. did we accidentally induce villain to spaz with our weak raise?

3 bet bigger pre

turn raise needs to be bigger as well deny his equity

I'm folding river you beat KQ and I highly doubt he makes this move

I'd make a bigger pf raise, at least $35 probably a little more. I would not raise the turn, I'd just call. River play would be villain dependent.

He's supposedly a sf player that raised UTG, is he also tight? What can he be raising with pf and what can we beat right now? His bet sizing on the turn is odd, he could be scared or it could be a trap. KK/JJ, maybe AK, AQ but we have two As in our hand. If this were the type of game I play, I'd be leaning towards a fold even though the pot odds are enticing. A lot of the older type sf villains would not shove the river with a hand I can beat here.