Pocket AA vs all in on flop

I came across a hand last night that I struggled with. In hindsight I have decided that I should have folded but I would like to get some other thoughts on the situation.

I am sitting with just under 9000 in chips. I am in the hi-jack position... and there are two limpers in the hand. I look down at two red AA's. the blinds are 75 and 150 so I raise to 525. The small blind is the only caller... a fairly tight player.

The flop is the 10 of Spades the 3 of hearts and 4 of diamonds.

The small blind takes all of his chips and makes a show of forcefully pounding them into the middle... As I said he has been a fairly tight player all night, and if anyone else had done the same I would have called fairly easily. I tried talking to him but nothing... However, he did look confident.

I was going back and forth on what he could have called me with to be so confident, and the only thing I could come up with was pocket 10's making a set or pocket AA or KK. I was leaning toward the pocket 10's but do I fold because I am narrowing his range to one hand?

Ultimately I called... and I was right. He had pocket 10's. I guess I should have gone with my gut... but is that the ultimate winning strategy for long-term poker. I'm not sure. What are some thoughts?

Pocket Aces = Pocket pair. Been there done that. You have to expect they have trips if they get excited with a garbage flop. I fold AA as often as I play them. Don't go all in pre flop with them any more as the same thing happens. someone calls with JJ and gets another on the flop.

tulalukchuk said:

Pocket Aces = Pocket pair. Been there done that. You have to expect they have trips if they get excited with a garbage flop. I fold AA as often as I play them. Don't go all in pre flop with them any more as the same thing happens. someone calls with JJ and gets another on the flop.

Click to expand...

So, you're telling me that you're afraid to get your money in preflop with AA because you're scared someone might call with a hand like JJ and hit a set? lol

OP, tough spot to be in and risky play by the SB as they were banking that you had an over pair to the board and would pay them off. How big was the SB stack? With only 525 invested, you may have been able to get away from it if you believed SB was extremely strong. However, it would also depend on your previous experiences with the player and how you've seen them play other strong hands in this situation. Do they play over pairs JJ+ and TPTK like A10s in a similar way? If so, I might lean more towards a call, especially if we have SB covered by a significant amount. If they play hands like JJ+ more passively with a lot of check-calling pre-flop raisers or just differently than how they played the set of 10s, then I might lean more towards a fold. Though, I might call if I had them covered just for the information and to see how they played the hand.

So, yeah. Tough spot. I don't completely hate the call since, but I don't completely hate having to fold here having invested so little. All-in-all, I think it really depends on your past experience with this player and how you've seen them play certain situations in the past. If anything, keep in mind how this person played this hand as they may do the same in future situations.

Call acquitted because the probability of having in his pocket 10 is very small. If he had a stack as yours or your half, it would be worth considering.

calling the SB

philthy said:

How big was the SB stack? With only 525 invested, you may have been able to get away from it if you believed SB was extremely strong. However, it would also depend on your previous experiences with the player and how you've seen them play other strong hands in this situation. Do they play over pairs JJ+ and TPTK like A10s in a similar way? If so, I might lean more towards a call, especially if we have SB covered by a significant amount. If they play hands like JJ+ more passively with a lot of check-calling pre-flop raisers or just differently than how they played the set of 10s, then I might lean more towards a fold. Though, I might call if I had them covered just for the information and to see how they played the hand.

Click to expand...

The SB stack was one of the few that was able to hurt me actually... which makes me think even more that I should have thrown in the hand to wait for a better spot. This was the first time I played with this particular player, but most of the night he was more of a caller than a raiser. All of these factors are things that I had going through my mind at the time, but kept thinking I couldn't lay down the hand because there is one hand that he could have that beats me. I think the ultimate lesson here is to trust my reads... and if I am wrong then I could error on the side of keeping chips as opposed to the other way around.

My Aces have been cracked several times recently. I play in low stakes 40$ buy in tournaments. I guess thats why. I 4 bet whatever was out there and get two callers. A garbage flop came out. We all go all in. One had a set and the other on a draw. Even more recently in same tournament (different week). I re-raise a significant amount to a buddy of mine and he says "**** it lets gamble." He had 10J and got there with a straight. OMG face palm. Aces aren't the nuts after the flop comes out usually.

dackler said:

Aces aren't the nuts after the flop comes out usually.

Click to expand...

dackler... While I realize that pocket Aces are not the nuts at that point, what I wonder is looking at that board if I can fold because I narrow their range down to one possible hand that beats me.

tulalukchuk said:

Pocket Aces = Pocket pair. Been there done that. You have to expect they have trips if they get excited with a garbage flop. I fold AA as often as I play them. Don't go all in pre flop with them any more as the same thing happens. someone calls with JJ and gets another on the flop.

Click to expand...

most unprofitable advice i ever seen. firs of all, Pocket Aces is not just a Pocket Pair, its best pocket hand u can ever have, or u know better? ofcourse to get set u have the same chance like any other pocket pair including JJ, but
if this does not happen, u have the higher pair and better chance to win pot than other. ANYway decision for calling allin with AA is depends on ur position, stackes and quantity of players in the pot. for me its easy call ////////

Well played. If ya folded prob never know.

philphy
No, not afraid but cautious. especially in early position. In the past year have seen all-ins early in tournaments increase substantially, especially with rebuys.
Go all-in early and whoa! you get 2 or 3 calls. one on one is great with AA but 4 all-ins and usually someone with crap hits the jackpot.

Onondaga, not giving advice, it's just my personal preference and yes depends on position early in games with all the bingo players. And sorry but AA is just one pair. Gets beat easily and frequently with two pair or trips.

freestocks, if ya folded why would u care?

tulalukchuk said:

And sorry but AA is just one pair. Gets beat easily and frequently with two pair or trips.

freestocks, if ya folded why would u care?

Click to expand...

with which starting hand would you call allin than? i think u call allin preflop ever/ .... and yes, if u fold it i dont care))))

Onondaga... perhaps I should clarify. I'm cautious about "calling" all in unless it will be heads up but I do like to raise all in when in late position especially small blind if everyone folds no brainer. AA,KK, AKs works for me.
Sorry, should have specified "calling" in my other post.

Really here you have to look at what you have invested in the hand and factor in your confidence in the read You have. If you put little to no likely hood of this player making this move with less than a set... Fold. But if they would with over pairs I think you're more swayed to call here.
On another note I would have sized the preflop raise a bit larger. With two callers ID prob be looking to raise between 650-750 generally depending on stack depths of the others left to act and that are still in the hand.

JPainTrainSicko said:

On another note I would have sized the preflop raise a bit larger. With two callers ID prob be looking to raise between 650-750 generally depending on stack depths of the others left to act and that are still in the hand.

Click to expand...

I did think about this afterward as well. My general raise is 2.5x then one blind for every limper in the pot, but all of my raises had been met by folds for the last few orbits so I decided to go a little less this time. As it turns out I regretted it. I think from now on I will stay with my norm.

this is one of those hands you were probably just doomed on from the get go. Changing the size of your pre-flop bet most likely doesn't change the outcome. Your preflop raise accomplished your goal of winnowing the field down to only one other player (hate playing AA with multi players in the pot) but not sure making it larger would have gotten rid of the small blind. Yes, maybe it makes you think a little more about folding postflop, but that was going to be a difficult laydown no matter what.

What was the starting stack for this tourney?

We need to see more factors like chips quantity that you start the tournament

simple cooler nothing to discuss.
Among his winning hands - only 3 sets
hands that we are ahead - J10,Q10,K10, A10 (maybe even 910s) and JJ+
Ok our opponent never bluffs - and still we have 67% against his push range