I folded pre so it doesn't involve me, but I think there is something for me to learn about the mindset of a winning player here, maybe.

Player 1 is a reg who is a winning player for sure, I admire his game and like to sit at his table (on his left only) to watch him play. He's fairly aggressive pre flop but is not a maniac by any stretch. He's not showing up at showdown with junk. He would, however, rather take the pot by betting you out of it rather than showing you the winning hand.

Player 2 I can only describe as tight/overly aggressive. He didn't play many hands but the ones he played he was raising almost too much preflop, opening to $30, re-raising to $75 over top of $15, etc...

Both stacks are over the $300 buy in but not more than $400.



Player 1 opens this hand to $17, player 2 re-raises to $65, player 1 calls.

Flop is all low cards, something along the lines of 569r. Player 1 checks, player 2 bets $75, player 1 tanks for a minute and shoves, player 2 snap calls.


As it turns out player 1 had AK and player 2 had AA. I can make a case that I would have folded each hand in the given situation and would like to know how wrong I am.

When player 2 bets the flop player 1 has to feel like it's an overpair he's up against and while he still has outs, he likely doesn't have a lot of fold equity against this type of player. Was player 1's shove as bad as I think it is?


I know I'm answering my own question at least a little bit when I look at it from the perspective of player 2, but player 2 is much more aggressive than I am. If I'm player 2 I make a case to fold to the shove as player 1 did raise pre and called a re-raise so it's likely AK or a small pair. Small pair could have just hit his set based on the check raise shove, no?

Did either play the hand wrong? I'm trying to not be results oriented, but I feel like the lack fold equity makes the check/shove a little risky by player 2.

Do they have any history? Played before? $65 pf is a big bet and its almost always aces or kings at this level.

Given your desc of P2, P1's shove is pretty spewy. Like you said, there is little (if any) fold equity. Highly unlikely he shows 78s or pocket 5s / 6s for a flopped set. If he does, its a high risk play for stacks. He's not getting set mining odds - he's going off pure aggro and implied odds and he's OOP. I've seen 9s show up here for a flopped top set before, but stacks were deeper.

If P1 does indeed have a set, P2 rarely ever gets away from pocket aces and goes broke a majority of times. All things considered, I would consider this a semi-standard spot. Nothing advanced. P1 was too aggro, AK very unlikely ever good there given circumstances and P2 was riding the aces train to the finish line no matter the result.

Yeah it sounds like player1, although from your read is a more skilled player, over valued his AK. I don't like jamming all in on the flop when I don't get a piece of the flop. I'd much rather have seen a 4bet preflop from player 1 if he was going to take that line of jamming flop regardless if he hit/miss. Furthermore player 1 puts himself in even a tougher spot by flatting the villains 3b, for this exact reason...if he flats and doesn't hit a pair, which happens 2/3 of the time, how does he proceed, any option is weak or spewy.
C/Fold super weak. Since player 2 is likely cbetting any hand given the flop texture
C/Call player 1 is OOP and likely having to call big bets on 2 streets vs villains wide range with the hopes his A high is good.
C/Raise is almost commiting himself given how large the pot was built preflop
Bet/fold is just terrible, even if player 2 has something like QJ or AT, he can still call (and probably will)

Yeah player 2 isn't folding AA here or probably ever lol...i mean come on guys, THEY'RE ACES but I'd probably call with Aces here to given the pot size

AK is overplayed. (Player 1 can use QQ-99 for his check-jams). AA is a snap call.

That's not the sign of a good player

How do you know this?

I guess I don't know this, but my observation is he puts a ton of pressure on other players with aggressive bets on all streets. I see him win more pots by getting folds rather than showing the best hand.

Well, that's not the same thing, is it?

Snap-call with AA here is no - brainer. The shove with AK means that villain figured his opponent to be JJ or QQ and that he might get them to fold (not likely) or that he would have outs to draw to (both wrong) so really bad play there.

AK is a drawing hand. If you get aggression pre-flop and whiff your flop, just fold. You're never good there.