AA - Questions from the frontline.

Just Raised the pot with my AA preflop, and had two callers. Flop comes 568, and I'm first to act. I'm all in. I get called by a fish holding 77. Of course he finds a 4 on the river, would it really be a story worth retelling if he hadn't ?

So my question regarding AA is simple. How much do you raise preflop and from what position. Does it vary ? Is it always the same raise anywhere ? If your called or reraised how do you treat that bet preflop (assuming you have an option to call, or go allin). And on the flop what are you looking for and what are your decisions on the flop. Will you fold if the flop shows a King or a queen ? Bet pot ? Check ? Why ?

A lot of people will call a big raise preflop with pairs. Most good players look for a raise less than 10% of the smaller stack size between the two of you (around 5%-15% depending on who you ask). The reason is because you will flop a set about 1 in 8 flops and you will be playing for stacks. So the fishy move was the call with an open ender on the flop (assuming he was getting worse than 3:1 or so).

When you play aces, what are you trying to do?
Some people are happy with the blinds and just move in (late in a tourney?).
Some people slow-play them (I personally think this is a little greedy and will bite you in the ass, but it's pretty common in short games).

Most players raise enough to knock out all but one or maybe two players. If the game you play is so loose that 4-7 people will see the flop anyway, just go ludicrous speed and you'll eventually find a raise that works.

Your play was good. This stuff happens. Poker is a game of lots and lots of hands, and almost 1 in every 5 times, your aces will lose to a lower pair.

Originally Posted by dreamover

So my question regarding AA is simple. How much do you raise preflop and from what position. Does it vary ? Is it always the same raise anywhere ? If your called or reraised how do you treat that bet preflop (assuming you have an option to call, or go allin). And on the flop what are you looking for and what are your decisions on the flop. Will you fold if the flop shows a King or a queen ? Bet pot ? Check ? Why ?

I am a big believer in keeping your raises the same preflop. Varying the size of your raise preflop (and the flop IMO) gives away too much info to thinking players. If someone reraises, I like to fire 3x their raises to get the pot big. Always push AA fast, they are not as strong as you think!

Dreamover: you ask some good questions.

You'll have to excuse me as sometimes I like to answer questions with questions, especially when there is usually not a concrete answer to a situational game.

It's about making the right decision for the situation and the situation isn't always the same. I feel it's more about thought processes than ironclad rules.

onwards...

How much do you raise preflop and from what position. Does it vary ? Is it always the same raise anywhere ?

What is your plan with AA? How does AA win in HE? What makes AA strong? Under what circumstances does AA become relatively weaker?

WHY are you raising preflop? What are your reasons for raising preflop? With AA, how many people do you want seeing the flop and why? What is the best action to achieve your desired outcome?

[/quote]
If your called or reraised how do you treat that bet preflop [/quote]

If an opponent calls, what does that say about what s/he thinks about the strength of their hand? - and if they reraise you?

And on the flop what are you looking for and what are your decisions on the flop.

What do you think would be a "good" flop for AA? Why? What would be a "bad" flop for AA? Why? Your decisions should be based on flop texture.

Will you fold if the flop shows a King or a queen ? Bet pot ? Check ? Why ?

Why would you consider folding AA on a K- or Q-high flop? (I don't ask this sarcastically) How do you gain information to help guide your actions?

Stack sizes? PF raise?

Board: 5d 6h 8s

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 61.3131 % 60.51% 00.81% { AcAs }
Hand 2: 38.6869 % 37.88% 00.81% { 7d7h }

Here's the way to really fly:

***** Hand History for Game 3521023291 *****
$50 NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, February 09, 02:30:52 EDT 2006
Table Table 69427 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: Chicago_Kid ( $37.75 )
Seat 6: eatbullets ( $48.95 )
Seat 9: twobigblinds ( $87 )
Seat 10: stakehar ( $43.75 )
Seat 1: King4484 ( $50 )
Seat 8: Jovies ( $50 )
Seat 7: KillingRoad ( $49.50 )
Seat 4: FukUjackals ( $49.35 )
Seat 3: delegate88 ( $42.05 )
Seat 5: qadafi11 ( $50 )
KillingRoad posts small blind [$0.25].
Jovies posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Chicago_Kid [ Ad As ]
>You have options at Table 64723 (No DP) Table!.
twobigblinds folds.
stakehar calls [$0.50].
>You have options at Table 66265 Table!.
King4484 folds.
Chicago_Kid raises [$3].
>You have options at Table 66265 Table!.
delegate88 calls [$3].
FukUjackals folds.
eatbullets folds.
>You have options at Table 64723 (No DP) Table!.
>You have options at Table 66265 Table!.
KillingRoad folds.
Jovies folds.
stakehar folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6d, Kd, 5s ]
>You have options at Table 64723 (No DP) Table!.
Chicago_Kid bets [$4].
>You have options at Table 64723 (No DP) Table!.
delegate88 raises [$10].
>You have options at Table 66265 Table!.
Chicago_Kid is all-In.
Chicago_Kid: try and draw on me
delegate88 calls [$24.75].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2h ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
delegate88 shows [ Ks, 7s ] a pair of kings.
Chicago_Kid shows [ Ad, As ] a pair of aces.
Chicago_Kid wins $73.75 from the main pot with a pair of aces.

BTW--I don't usually taunt fish, but I was a bit tired of getting drawn out that night, so I just decided to coerce him into calling his stack with any piece of the flop...he did.