06- 6-06, LearnTexasHoldem:
Did I Play My AA Right Or Too Passively?
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I had worked my stack up from $160 to $380 over the last 7 hours. I get dealt pocket Ad Ac on the button, and when many players folded I just raised to $7 to ensure I got some action. The BB player (who had me covered with his $700 stack, raised me to $20, and I just called, in order to trap him.
Flop comes 9h 6h 3c. He bets out $40, and I reraise him to $100 total, and and he goes all in. I have about $200 in front of me at this point, after 10 seconds of deliberation I decided he had to be on pocket AA (like me) KK, or QQ. I didn't think he would reraise me preflop with 99, so I would take a chance that he didn't have a set.
The pot is $760 and he turns over Qs Qh. Perfect all the money is in and I'm ahead by a mile. Next two cards are runner, runner hearts and I lose.
I knew when this player reraised me preflop that he had a big pair, so I smooth called the raise to remain under cover. Some players I have spoken to suggest that me not reraising preflop was a mistake, what do you think?
My table image was tight, so when I reraised his bet on the flop his reraise all in for another $200 was really terrible in my opionion, as I could have a set or something bigger. I think he made tons of mistakes, and when the money went all in on the flop I was 87% to double up, and I knew for sure I was ahead.
Sure I could've reraised him preflop to $50, and slowed him down on the flop. I probably could've bet him out and made $50 bucks, but aren't I looking to hook him for every penny I can with this type of hand?
Any insight would be appreciated.
Jesse
AKA TheJazz
Answer:
How do you measure whether your play was correct or not? Is it if you won or lost the hand? No. There are times when you are going to make the wrong play but still win, and there are times when you make the correct play and still end up losing. Is the correct way to play how you would play if the cards were face up instead of concealed? Yes and no. Sometimes there is no way to avoid losing in a hand to a better hand. In your example, there is no way that the other guy knew he QQ wasn't good. Other times you may end up making the correct play but for the wrong reasons. You have to base how "correct" your decision was relative to the available information. Again, the guy with QQ above had no idea you had AA or he wouldn't have called.
I don't think you could have won this hand no matter how you played it. What you did was right in that it got all his money in when you were a big favorite. Other than that, you really have no control over it. Remember too, that we don't raise for the sole reason to cut off the action from drawing, especially when someone has such a long shot draw like this. You would much prefer to have his money in the pot. It just turned out he got lucky. Play the same hand another 100 times and you'll win the vast majority. Lastly, there are hands that if played too passively can result in losing the entire pot, but this wasn't one of them. It would be hard for either of you to fold with overpairs in a blind stealing position.
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