What do you do here?

What play would you make here?

I'll post what I did and also the result of the hand later.

PokerStars Game #2355350329: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00) - 2005/08/16 - 22:11:21 (ET)
Table 'Fama IV' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: JMeador ($39.70 in chips)
Seat 2: bearded1 ($10.95 in chips)
Seat 3: boobaluu ($61.80 in chips)
Seat 4: InsaneCane2 ($110.75 in chips)
Seat 5: darightway ($93.95 in chips)
Seat 6: Min9 ($47.55 in chips)
Seat 7: dsaxton ($231.35 in chips)
Seat 8: bigcec00 ($2 in chips)
Seat 9: Guisseppe ($129.35 in chips)
bigcec00: posts small blind $0.50
Guisseppe: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to dsaxton [7d 6d]
JMeador: calls $1
bearded1: folds
boobaluu: calls $1
InsaneCane2: folds
darightway: raises $3 to $4
Min9: folds
dsaxton: calls $4
bigcec00: calls $1.50 and is all-in
Guisseppe: folds
JMeador: calls $3
boobaluu: calls $3
*** FLOP *** [7c 7h Ac]
JMeador: checks
boobaluu: bets $4
darightway: calls $4
dsaxton: raises $13 to $17
JMeador: folds
boobaluu: folds
darightway: raises $33 to $50

overzealous AK? AA doesn't seem likely, his flop bet is too low to rep AA. I have a feeling you pushed.

Urgh this is horrible, the guy raised preflop which massively increases the chances of him not having a 7, i think you're up against an ace or an overpair so you have the best hand, i guess you have to reraise him all in but i'd still be worried.

Call and get the rest in on the turn, maybe just push depending on how you feel.

Is the money deep enough for this pre-flop call?

Fold PF, but.. Yep, I think I have to pay off AA here.

I reckon he's got AA. Note he's flopped the second-to-nut hand. He just calls on the flop, slowplaying, hoping for yours and JMeador's money to go into the pot. Only when he sees you're making action does he push.

i say AK/AQ. Not many hands with a 7 see the flop after the pre flop raise.

If he has AA, why not just be calling then betting the turn/river? Unless dsax has quad 7's, the best hand he could possibly have is a 1 outter for the 4th one. I don't think AA re-raises quite that hard here. If dsax pushes here i am betting villain gives him credit for the 7 and folds, or calls and shows AK.

How loose is this guy? Depending on that I might put him on a 7 also. But I wouldn't rule out Ax or AA. If he was playing an Ax the flop bet AI is asking to get called. If he floped top trips, I would have to pay him off. But why are u playing that preflop anyway? should have folded on the $4 bet.

If he has any brains, he has AK/AQ and will fold to a push from you here.

If he's got AA he's playing it too agressively letting you off the hand, i tend to think 95% of players will be more likely to slowplay here.

How could he have the fourth 7 with that pre flop raise? A7s? If he's a good player, no.

He definitely doesnt have a pocket pair lower than AA that he's raising with an ace on board(unless he's on a bluff tryign to rep AA? either way you have him beat)...it doesnt' look like he has AA, why wouldn't he just smooth call your raise and then pound you on the turn and river? ...His pre flop raise makes it seem unlikely he has a 7 in his hand.

I'm trying to get as much more money in as possible on the flop, then value betting the turn/river if anythign besides another ace falls.

Dave is loose aggressive so suited connectors are definitely a playable hand for him. And evidently he's got the best hand.
If the other guy's got aces, he's playing it poorly. Hek even A7s wouldn't behave this way. You might min-raise to induce an allin by the guy with the 7 but not big-raise to chase everyone off.

He's either got the top pair or he's overbetting the crap out of his KQ of clubs flush draw.

I push and pay him off if he has AA, which is certainly possible. It is also possible he has AK, AQ and just thinks he is calling your 7s bluff.

I folded. I couldn't see him making this play with anything that my hand could beat, unless he was a fool. I figured if he had A-K and was willing to raise with it, he would've raised the original bet, not simply call it, then reraise my raise on a flop as potentially dangerous as that one.

He ended up being a donkey with A-K, but I still think I probably should've folded against a random opponent given his line of betting (I hadn't really watched him play any hands).

imo i'm worrying about a better 7 here, not aa. ak/aq is very reasonable. I think you're ahead here enough that you can call or fold this depending on reads, its just up to how much gamble you got at the moment.

fold.fold.fold.

Originally Posted by DimitriT

Fold PF, but.. Yep, I think I have to pay off AA here.

I don't think I should've folded preflop. I think suited connectors have a lot of flexibility and are worth seeing a flop with, even facing a raise, particularly if you're willing to make plays at the pot.

Another thing that I think is interesting about these hands is you often find yourself in marginal situations with them, and I think this helps improve your post-flop play and decision-making skills.

This is actually something I've been experimenting with a lot on short-handed tables. I'll play a lot of marginal hands that I'd ordinarily fold just for the purpose of putting myself in difficult situations that require more delicate decision-making. Any idiot can camp for high pairs and sets and then make all the subsequent textbook plays, but it isn't quite clear how you play bottom pair after calling a raise out of position with 7-5 suited. Having some sense of how to play any possible situation seems necessary to improve to the highest possible level.

I think he's got AK - AT (depending onhow good this guy is). Push the flop.

AA doesn't reraise that much on the flop. Odds of him having a 7 is very slim. Put him all in.

Originally Posted by arkana

AA doesn't reraise that much on the flop. Odds of him having a 7 is very slim. Put him all in.

agreed 100%. if he has a higher kicker im paying him off.

Originally Posted by dsaxton

Originally Posted by DimitriT

Fold PF, but.. Yep, I think I have to pay off AA here.

I don't think I should've folded preflop. I think suited connectors have a lot of flexibility and are worth seeing a flop with, even facing a raise, particularly if you're willing to make plays at the pot.

My experience with suited connectors and with small pockets is that your overall yield on the hands depends on two factors: number of hands entering the pot and the size of the initial bet to see the flop. Maybe against weak opponents you can also make moves to increase your EV, but that's really independent of what you're holding - and would usually apply to a heads up situation.

In the hand above you had three opponents entering the pot with the third hand raising by 4x. You also had 4 hands (3 not counting the small stack) behind you and the original 2 hands would still have an opportunity to reraise or to fold.

My ideal scenario here would be if I am late position and I get four limpers ahead of me. Then I can limp with 67s and hope to make my miracle flop with some expectation of getting paid. I may even call a raise if I am almost last to act. Obviously the hand is useless if I can't see a flop so I don't want to risk a reraise by a big pair.

Perhaps your play works if you have a read on your opps and loose passive players who are probably holding weak starting hands and are likely to call the raise to see the flop. In that case I can see your point. But on a table with tight/strong players I think this is -EV.

I'd love to hear more opinions on this.

Originally Posted by arkana

AA doesn't reraise that much on the flop. Odds of him having a 7 is very slim. Put him all in.

If I was holding A-A I may play that hand the exact same way. Once I got reraised I'd start reraising big to get maximum value from a player with a 7.

Most players will min raise or call and raise the turn.

I would push on the flop. I would fear the AA, but push anyway. Here's my reasoning:

In most cases I would fold pre-flop, but in some cases I may call with this hand on the button. However, I'm calling with these cards with the intention of making a real sneaky, undetectable hand and taking down this other guy's entire chip stack. The guy raising has almost $100, I've got over $200, playing for that entire stack gives pretty good implied odds.

With that in mind, I've hit a fantastic flop. The nut straight would be better... but, this is an incredible flop for my hand.

No one is putting me on a 7 with that pre-flop call. I wouldn't put anyone else on a 7 either. When my opponent smooth calls and then raises, I smell AA or he's overplaying a bunch of different hands. Maybe he's thinking I'm on a flush draw. Either way, odds are he does not have AA and he's beaten. I'm pushing all my chips on the re-raise and watching the fireworks. Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by ttanaka

I would push on the flop. I would fear the AA, but push anyway. Here's my reasoning:

In most cases I would fold pre-flop, but in some cases I may call with this hand on the button. However, I'm calling with these cards with the intention of making a real sneaky, undetectable hand and taking down this other guy's entire chip stack. The guy raising has almost $100, I've got over $200, playing for that entire stack gives pretty good implied odds.

With that in mind, I've hit a fantastic flop. The nut straight would be better... but, this is an incredible flop for my hand.

No one is putting me on a 7 with that pre-flop call. I wouldn't put anyone else on a 7 either. When my opponent smooth calls and then raises, I smell AA or he's overplaying a bunch of different hands. Maybe he's thinking I'm on a flush draw. Either way, odds are he does not have AA and he's beaten. I'm pushing all my chips on the re-raise and watching the fireworks. Just my 2 cents.

If I was going to stay in the hand, I probably wouldn't push all-in on the flop. If he does only have an ace, then I have him totally dominated statistically and there's no need to protect my hand. The better play, I think, is to call, and then let him bet into me again on the turn to build the pot, at which point I'd raise all-in after he's gotten himself committed.