Villain was unknown at the time.

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

MP2: $34.80
CO: $84.25
BTN: $34.25
SB: $50.25
BB: $40.55
Hero (UTG): $51.40
UTG+1: $51.85
UTG+2: $28.50
MP1: $48.00

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with A A
Hero raises to $2, 4 folds, CO calls $2, 2 folds, BB raises to $6.50, Hero calls $4.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($15.25) K 6 6 (2 players)
BB bets $5.50, Hero calls $5.50

Turn: ($26.25) 7 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $28.55


I could have reraised PF, but i don't think it's optimal.

I really liked the flop, and by flat calling, i could bet/raise all in on the turn as long as a king doesn't peel off.

As played, I'm confident that I will get more value; villain would find plenty of reasons to call with 99 or something.

Let me know if you think I suck balls.

How many players do you know who 3bet unknown UTG raises from the blinds with 99?


If you're going to under-rep like this, check behind on the turn and let him shove the river. After his flop donk, his range is exactly KK/AK. Nobody is ever putting money in a dry 3bet K-high flop with less than AK unless they're in the middle of a stroke. Since you're posting this, we can expect he had KK or he managed to get away from AK. Oh well...

make it $22 pre and call shove of course or open shove flop as you'll be committed anyhow

Nevermind...

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

MP: $73.95
CO: $15.35
BTN: $22.10
SB: $41.95
BB: $49.95
Hero (UTG): $41.75
UTG+1: $50.80

Pre Flop: Hero is UTG with A A
Hero raises to $2, UTG+1 raises to $6, 5 folds, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($12.75) 9 2 K (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $8, Hero calls $8

Turn: ($28.75) A (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

River: ($28.75) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $27.75 all in, UTG+1 calls $27.75

Final Pot: $84.25
Hero shows Ah Ad (three of a kind, Aces)
UTG+1 mucks Qd Qc
Hero wins $81.25
(Rake: $3.00)

4betting isn't good as alot of hands that will stack off postflop will fold. Shoving the flop on a different kind of board is ok but not on this one. Just because we're committed doesn't mean the money needs to go in asap. I agree with CMAR and just check the turn back to induce river bluffs/value bets from worse.

I think he says all he needs to preflop here. Who steals like this? No one. His raise size tells me he's likely not terribly donkish, and I'm putting him on a pretty tight range. That said, he has the initiative, and I can see him leading that flop there with less than AK/KK. QQ, JJ probably would as they're OOP and it's their only chance to win. They also know that QQ, JJ, AQ might fold to any bet fearing commitment, and $5 does both that and only has to succeed 1 in 4 times to break even. For that reason I call the flop and am committed (looking to maximize), and check behind turn.

*Does not compute*



But seriously, I don't love your line, but I don't hate it either. The reason I like 4-betting pre is to build the pot when it will likely be HU, and make it easier to get the money in if the flop is at all favorable. And if he has KK or QQ, he's almost never folding pre to a 4-bet (at least with the villains I've played against). If he has nothing or a weak holding (which is doubtful, considering he 3-bet an UTG raiser), then flatting pre might be the better option, as it lets him make a pair first, or bluff at the pot, and you get more out of him.

I agree with chargers and CMAR about checking the turn.

I suppose it's not exactly nonstandard.

One reason I flatted preflop was that I wanted the third guy to call as well - stupid, since #3 isn't a calling station enough to overcall with the types of hands he'd flat with in CO position.

The second reason I flatted preflop was because I was UTG. By 4betting I've killed the potential value of my AA on future streets because villain can narrow my range to AA/KK. Essentially, by 4betting preflop I'm letting too much of his 3betting range fold correctly.

I agree with checking back the turn to truly under-rep my hand to get more value from JJ-QQ...

However, I believe that his turn check polarizes his range because he won't check the turn with AK. He'd have either JJ-QQ, or KK - a hand range which my shove on the turn is very -ev against.

I would check back the turn and call any bet on the river. If checked to me a second time on the river, I would make a small enough bet to get JJ-QQ to call.

why the heck would you want another player to join the pot? hu AA is a good hand, 3-handed the value decreases significantly. you named a second reason for flatting, but the first one is questionable at best imo.
the second reason is more valid, however since we want to keep it hu (at least that's what I would like to do) I prefer a raise.
most importantly: he 3bet your utg from the blinds, so I am pretty sure he has a good hand. for that reason alone I am raising it up.

the turn play I'm not fond of. you are playing it tricky, why are you betting that hard on the turn? check behind and let him bet the river. and no, he won't call you with 99 here. you raised utg, he 3bet, you call the 3bet AND the cbet. a decent opponent will not think that 99 is good in this spot.

in conclusion: a lot of the times I see someone playing his aces in a tricky way, he either stacked off or still won a small pot. raise it up pf.

PF is good.

Flop is kind of meh, problem is that big parts of his range hate that flop (TT+,AQs) so you have to make a decision here. Additionally, from the flop on your line just looks so strong: raise PF then just flat call, now only flat call the flop where you can like never actually continue without a big K, right?
Anyway, from a lot of the hands in his range you won't get any more money when you flat his flop bet because, as mentionend, that looks so damn strong. Therefore we should concentrate to get the money in in case he has one of the 6 AK combinations that are still left and raising the flop (small raise is enough, make it like 13) seems to make the most sense to achieve that.

BTW: if flop was like 644 then I'd like your line a lot more because he can fire 2nd barrels there with TT+ and with that commit himself.

Oh, I don't get your huge turn bet though...Supposed to look bluffy?

alex, I'd be interested in your thoughts about pf play. with the co still involved, do you think that the smoothcall is good? hu is different, but the third player now has good odds of joining the party.

imo that's not too much of a problem here, basically for 3 reasons:
1) 4betting PF would make our hand extremly transparent here, I can't imagine hero is 4betting light a ton so it's basically AA or KK. With the betting as it is (and with how the pot size is developing) disguising our hand seems reasonable here because:
2) the pot is already pretty big. Against the BB only it's 15.25 $ with BB having only 34 $ left. That means we have an SPR with effective stacks of only 2.2 which is as good as we could wish for.
BUT: say CO also calls then the pot would be 19.75 $ We have only 44.90 $ left so this time vs CO we also do have a great SPR of around 2.2 (even smaller vs BB now obv) so we're happily stacking off here again on every turn.
One more thing though is that
3) as we've seen we wouldn't really have a problem with CO "joining the party", it is rather unlikely though that he'll do it without a really big hand. The reason is that BB, who was the final PF agressor, does not even have a full stack. Therefore (and due to the already big pot) all the hands that need implied odds to be profitable (like SCs, small PPs) have now become an easy fold (for 9 more BBs)after they have been an easy call when hero first raised with a full stack and for only 4BBs.

Wow, that got kind of long, I apologize. Hope it helps though.

cheers, much appreciated alex. I need to think this over tomorrow, this could be very useful in the future.

Smooth calling preflop with the CO behind is asking them to crack your aces

I was rofling when you said K66 was a good flop for you, what did you think he three bet you with? Qj?

Given two logic flaws in one post I'm concerned that you're going to have some tough times ahead

My best advice that you seem to be lacking is that after the flop pocket aces is just one pair. Take it down preflop. Bet when you know you're ahead

I think flat calling or 4 betting are close, but here I lean more towards the 4bet. You have CO left to act, and BB may be eager to get it in now, but change his mind on bad flop. Lastly, smooth calling gives CO big odds.

^ This is perfect imo. Against unknowns I assume their range is still relatively wide and they're folding to a lot of 4bets, and thus reducing the value of your AA. Under repping is not used often enough.

Once you've got some reads/stats, I still like this line against looser players to help them stack off postflop. They are thinking JJ is the nuts when the flop comes 9 high. I like the 4bet against TAGs and nits who want to get it in preflop.

I also agree that checking behind turn is optimal.

I think a lot of players 3-bet this preflop w/ QQ & JJ. Also, are we completely ruling out the BB just being on a re-steal w/ the CO's flat call?? I actually think he's posting this b/c villain had KK or QQ-air & shut down.

I like the flat if you're planning to get it in on almost any flop.

What are the general thoughts on going to $13 ish preflop (assuming we're obv going broke postflop)?

Firstly, I like preflop alot. 4betting UTG with AA is basically turning your hand face up. I prefer a call on that flop rather than a raise because he could be testing the waters here with 77-QQ, and he may even be vbetting AK; obviously he could have KK too, but thats just a cooler. I don't know how others think about this, but I would bet something ******ed like $13 or $14 on the turn because I think that he calls a bet that small with 77-QQ here just because its so cheap. And on the river, you have a small bet left in comparison the the pot, and villain might feel pot-stuck with the hands mentioned above. Just keep in mind that I would take this line against a fishy or somewhat non-thinking player; against a regular I would check behind and get it on the river.

Also just a little fun fact, we live in the same city