Hollywood casino in Charles Town, WVa. Typical 1-2 table, everyone playing loose passive. Couple players at the table think they're geniuses bc they figured out how tight everyones post flop ranges are for betting into multiple players. ie face up folding top pair to any aggression. Ive been playing pretty aggro, but have only shown down premium hands. Basically only person to raise pre.

Hand in question: Utg limps Utg+1 limps Mp limps button limps, sb completes, I make it 22 from the BB w AA. Everyone calls, pot 132. Flop Ah Qh x. SB chks whats the best bet sizing?

What are the typical stack sizes?

Mostly everyone is full stacked. Couple players 200BBs deep, I'm about 125BBs deep. 1 player w/ 50BBs to start the hand.

$80-$100. $100 scares people off for some reason at most $1/$2 games. they can't compute pot size and realize it isn't even a PSB. so i'd go $80ish and hope someone has the case A. Maybe AQ. dream flop. You bet enough to have put 40 percent or more of your stack in play and hope someone thinks you are finally FOS.

$90

Board is wet enough someone should find a call. Anyone folding because of the ace hitting is likely folding no matter how small you make the bet, so pump it in there. If your lucky, the blank third card gave someone a set or some ridic AX 2-pair. I go $90 here.

$90 is only 2/3 pot, so we're not pumping it too much.

i bet less than normal though due to stack sizes. $90 sets up a turn shove nicely if we get 1 caller

Yeah, only 2/3 pot, but a big psychological amount without passing the scary $100 barrier. As mentioned, also sets up shove nicely.

I went w $98. Couple guys hemmed and hawed like they had a big decision but ended up folding. Wouldn't be surprised to find out they folded flush draws which is definitely interesting to say the least. I think 86 is a better bet but strictly for psychological reasons.

I probe bet alot, so this might only work for me. I probe bet top sets hoping for a raise. Sorry about posting after the results.. it looks like I cheated. In this case, I match the original bet.. It makes me look fishy. I want it allin and I look at it like I have 3 streets to get there. This bet also allows me to push of flush draws on the turn.

^ You'd bet $22 into $130??? I know you've got a monster, and you don't wanna "scare anyone off," but man, that board is SOAKIN wet. That means the FIRST guy is gonna have to call 22 for 152, the NEXT guy is gonna be callin 22 for 174, and so on. Why let em all in so cheap, cuz if they call with a FD/SD, you certainly can't complain or call em donks when they spike it on the turn.

I like the just under 90 bet, like say 86 or 87, givin em just about 2.5-1 on their money. Bad call for them, but it seems "cheaper," cuz it's below the 90/100 psychological pain threshold. Then hem, haw, and shove it on the turn. Then drag a huge pot and say, "Duh, WINNING."

Agree with all said above, just to take this on a different tangent...
What is your guys play if you bet 80, get called in position, everyone else folds, then like a jack of hearts hits the turn?

You'd have to get it in. There'd be 292 in the pot with 98 behind so you'd be getting around 4:1 if you check and he shoves. Obviously I'd shove myself bc there are hands we're still beating.

You bet however much you think you need to to get the money in by the turn or river. If you believe you have great equity and little chance of being outdrawn then make your bet sizing right to get it in by the river. If you believe your equity is on the lower end for a set of aces you get the money in on the turn.

The stack sizes are small compared to the pot so you don't have to bet all that much to get the job done on the flop.

With three players to act behind me, I'd be tempted to check here and hope for a bet behind, so i can reraise huge. Also, it would be easy to get away from this hand if the flop gets checked and the draws hit on the turn. But more likely a made flush on the turn may well throw out a smallish bet, thinking the field is weak due to the checked flop, and therefore price in my full house draw. Or, if a blank comes on the turn then the strength of my hand is disguised well. F draw is probably calling a pot sized bet on the flop anyhow, why not let them bet it, or see if it hits. You only have $22 committed so far. Ultimately, i find it unlikely that no one takes a stab at this one on the flop.

73

This table was very weak passive. Hoping for your opponents to take stabs at the pot is NOT a good way to exploit this. At 1/2 you typically need to take the bet bet bet line way more often. Obviously opponent specific but there wasn't a player at the table I would expect to bet out into 6 ppl w/ a combo draw or A8.

Also, I don't like check raising here bc you blow out all made hands that aren't sets. Makes it really easy for someone to play perfect if it goes chk chk chk chk, button bets I check raise and everyone else can fold a ton of hands I should be getting value from.

Yeah, this is never a board to go for a c/r with, esp this many ways. If you do get the chance, you prob lose value anyway, and if you don't get the chance, you may want to stab yourself in the eye with a swizzle stick.

yeah im never c/r this either.

id go $80 flop. shove turn

Checking has some merit but I am not getting into that discussion... What I would do is get an exact count on the short stack and bet 1/2 his stack to open up to my bet shove line when he jams (he is the most likely to jam here).

Problem is we have top set and its AAA which means it scares everyone away from this hand. There can be the lone A out there who spazzes but I dont see that happening.

If they have a fd or sd, they have the odds to call any bet OTF, but not OTT, so the way to play against them is to shove OTT, not OTF.

On this hand, I am allin. The question at this point is how large can I get the pot? Several people calling $22 is a pretty good start. I still like the probe bet. Also if I don't probe bet here, then every time I do probe bet everyone will know I have second or third pair.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here. I'm new to the forum and I'm here to learn, and to take advantage of the wealth of information and experience 2+2 members offer. That said, here's my rationale for the c/r, or even (dare I say it) a check/call...
On the flop the Hero has the deck crushed, I think we can all agree that getting all the money in on the flop is monster +EV. And the only drawing hands that we're realistically scared of are any flush draw or broadway draw. The only worse hands calling this bet here are a flopped 2 pair or set, both of which are gonna bet here with the flush draw on board, probably allowing us to get all the money in on flop. If someone DOES have a smaller set here, we'll probably get all the money in on the flop no matter what we do. If a player has 2 pair its likely Qx, as its hard to imagine another player with the case Ace. Ultimately, I think, more often than not we're just up against a flush draw here if anything. So allowing 1 of the 3 players behind a chance to bet that draw, or to take a stab at the pot with nothing, seems like the best way to get any more money in the pot. And @ 1/2 there's always a decent chance that a player will read the Hero's C/R all in as FOS. Worst case scenario is it gets checked around everyone gets one more chance to hit 1 of the 18 scare cards hits (any heart; a K, J, or 10). In which case the Hero DOES feel like idiot and is out the $22 bet pre-flop, but that's a chance I'm will to take in order to get a chance to play for stacks with top set.
I do also like Cap217's suggestion to look at the shortstack's stack and bet half of it, but would be concerned about a couple calls here from the other players, who may well have just got priced in for a flush draw.

You can't expect loose passive players to bet draws for you. By checking, we are losing value against their draws as they typically will not bet them and just take the free card. Nothing scares loose passives more than a PFR who then checks an A high board, as that is exactly how many of them play a flopped set/two pair.

You are unlikely to be playing for stacks on the flop against a table like this unless they happen to smash the flop, in which case you will whether you lead or c/r.

If they have the flush draw (or maybe even a gutter ball), they will call. If they don't and don't have a big piece of the board, they aren't calling here or probably on the turn.

The #1 leak of live players is that they call too much. Use this against them and value town the **** out of them every chance you get.

90-100 sounds about right cause it is a multiway flop. With this many players there is a decent chance there is a heart draw out there and there is a decent chance of a gutshot out there as well.

Clear point, I'm convinced.