Thinker_145
Visionary
Silver Level
I am really tired of cold 4 betting AA as it pretty much always ends the hand right there unless it's a fish 3 bet or of course if someone has KK. However if I am OOP to the 3 better or we are talking deep stacks then I still feel there is no option but to do it. In this situation however I am IP with just 100 BB and facing a player who will almost never give any further action against a cold 4 bet without KK. So I decided to flat and as it turns out this was the only way to get the maximum money here.
iPoker - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
SB: 103.16 BB (VPIP: 22.09, PFR: 17.06, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, hands: 6,136)
Hero (BB): 108.46 BB
CO: 105.68 BB (VPIP: 27.77, PFR: 19.25, 3Bet Preflop: 7.10, Hands: 1,045)
BTN: 58.7 BB (VPIP: 56.60, PFR: 15.82, 3Bet Preflop: 5.13, Hands: 165)
SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A:diamond: A:club:
CO raises to 3 BB, fold, SB raises to 10 BB, Hero calls 9 BB, fold
Flop: (23 BB, 2 players) 3:spade: 8:club: 6:heart:
SB bets 11.5 BB, Hero calls 11.5 BB
Turn: (46 BB, 2 players) 4:club:
SB bets 23 BB, Hero calls 23 BB
River: (92 BB, 2 players) 6:spade:
SB bets 58.66 BB, Hero calls 58.66 BB
SB shows Q:diamond: Q:spade: (Two Pair, Queens and Sixes)
(Pre 18%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)
Hero shows A:diamond: A:club: (Two Pair, Aces and Sixes)
(Pre 82%, Flop 92%, Turn 95%)
Hero wins 205.32 BB
Now my question really is if this is indeed the right way to go about these situations? There are several scenarios where this sort of play either loses value or just goes horribly wrong.
I am not in favor of deep stacked cold call and/or OOP call. Right now I am focusing on how to get max value IP with 100 BB.
1. I have seen even very tight players who simply don't slow down with AK pre so if we flat AK 3 bet and they don't flop anything then we potentially lost a lot of value. As long as we make a standard raise our 4 bet is likely to be at least flatted by the vast majority of players holding AK. So basically slow playing against AK is simply not optimal as far as I see.
2. Every time we flop a set against KK we just lost so much value by having slow played it. On the other hand if we never slow play KK ourselves then we will really be losing in the AA vs KK variation. Slow playing KK pre is a whole different situation with it's own pros and cons.
3. Our opponent might simply have air and manage to out flop us. Since we never had an intention to fold post flop we will just have to take that loss and end up looking silly.
On the other hand the single biggest reason to slow play AA against good players is to get max value from QQ. If a K comes on the flop that's too bad but it doesn't matter since he wasn't going to call our 4 bet anyways. We can also potentially get lots of value from JJ on the right kinda flop.
Remember this discussion is only for playing against good solid players who also have a good idea about how we play. You should almost always cold 4 bet a fish 3 bet with AA.
So what do you guys think about this matter I am really interested in feedback.
iPoker - €0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
SB: 103.16 BB (VPIP: 22.09, PFR: 17.06, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, hands: 6,136)
Hero (BB): 108.46 BB
CO: 105.68 BB (VPIP: 27.77, PFR: 19.25, 3Bet Preflop: 7.10, Hands: 1,045)
BTN: 58.7 BB (VPIP: 56.60, PFR: 15.82, 3Bet Preflop: 5.13, Hands: 165)
SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB
Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A:diamond: A:club:
CO raises to 3 BB, fold, SB raises to 10 BB, Hero calls 9 BB, fold
Flop: (23 BB, 2 players) 3:spade: 8:club: 6:heart:
SB bets 11.5 BB, Hero calls 11.5 BB
Turn: (46 BB, 2 players) 4:club:
SB bets 23 BB, Hero calls 23 BB
River: (92 BB, 2 players) 6:spade:
SB bets 58.66 BB, Hero calls 58.66 BB
SB shows Q:diamond: Q:spade: (Two Pair, Queens and Sixes)
(Pre 18%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)
Hero shows A:diamond: A:club: (Two Pair, Aces and Sixes)
(Pre 82%, Flop 92%, Turn 95%)
Hero wins 205.32 BB
Now my question really is if this is indeed the right way to go about these situations? There are several scenarios where this sort of play either loses value or just goes horribly wrong.
I am not in favor of deep stacked cold call and/or OOP call. Right now I am focusing on how to get max value IP with 100 BB.
1. I have seen even very tight players who simply don't slow down with AK pre so if we flat AK 3 bet and they don't flop anything then we potentially lost a lot of value. As long as we make a standard raise our 4 bet is likely to be at least flatted by the vast majority of players holding AK. So basically slow playing against AK is simply not optimal as far as I see.
2. Every time we flop a set against KK we just lost so much value by having slow played it. On the other hand if we never slow play KK ourselves then we will really be losing in the AA vs KK variation. Slow playing KK pre is a whole different situation with it's own pros and cons.
3. Our opponent might simply have air and manage to out flop us. Since we never had an intention to fold post flop we will just have to take that loss and end up looking silly.
On the other hand the single biggest reason to slow play AA against good players is to get max value from QQ. If a K comes on the flop that's too bad but it doesn't matter since he wasn't going to call our 4 bet anyways. We can also potentially get lots of value from JJ on the right kinda flop.
Remember this discussion is only for playing against good solid players who also have a good idea about how we play. You should almost always cold 4 bet a fish 3 bet with AA.
So what do you guys think about this matter I am really interested in feedback.