$2 NLHE 6-max: Going for thin value on a board with paired aces

[braun_kan]

Winning Poker, Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 6 players
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UTG (Hero): $2.09 (105 bb)
MP: $2.61 (131 bb)
CO: $2.99 (150 bb)
BU: $2.02 (101 bb)
SB: $1.53 (77 bb)
BB: $2.33 (117 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03) Hero is UTG with K♥ K♣
Hero raises to $0.06, 1 fold, CO calls $0.06, 3 players fold

Flop: ($0.15) A♥ 4♦ A♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.07, CO calls $0.07

Turn: ($0.29) 6♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.14, CO calls $0.14

River: ($0.57) 2♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.18, CO raises to $2.72 (all-in), UTG (Hero) folds

Villain Stats: 35/27/1 (40)
Villain is trending towards fish/LAG and is sticky post flop.

On the flop I know villain has a lot of aces in their range, probably around 45 combos, but he has more combos (around 57 total) of pocket pairs (22-TT) and X4 (64s, 54s, 43s) that I can extract value from. Additionally he has like 200 combos of hands that did not connect with the flop, some of which he might continue with. So I go for a small value bet to get value but also keep the pot small since I don't have the nuts.

Turn is pretty much the same story. I want to keep getting value but keep the pot small.

On the river I feel like I can still get thin value but once he shoves I think it is an auto-fold.

Should I have played this different on any streets?

 

[fundiver199]

I dont think, you can get 3 streets of value with this hand. Yes he have some pocket pairs and some suited connector type hands like 64s or 54s, but is he really going to go call, call, call with those, when you opened UTG and can have a ton of AX in your range, even with two aces on the board?

Also as you mention yourself, he have a lot of total air, and the best way to get value from air is to hand him the rope to hang himself. Its an extreme way ahead way behind spot, and your hand really needs no protection at all. A hand like QJo has 0,8% equity, so you gain very little by betting and making it fold. For that reason I lean towards checking already on the flop, but there can be validity to other lines as well.

 

[300HPGOD]

This is a spot where a vast majority of the time I check on the flop no matter what I have whether it be pairs, aces, one ace, or air. Most villains will think here that you are not betting with Ax here as you would be afraid of folds (that might buy us chips when we have Ax but I usually check it all hands here). Therefore when you bet I believe to villain you are less likely to have an ace in your hand. Once villain goes with that they can play the hand the way they did when they have an ace or a hand they can bluff with. I usually give too much credit to villains but I like checking this flop for that reason and also that we cant expect 3 streets here with this board. Villain will unlikely have a hand they will call all the way with (that doesnt beat us) since they did not 3 bet pre. I think we can remove the other big pocket pairs from their range and we are going against Ax, some mid pair hand like 55-88, or some speculative pre flop hand like suited connectors.

I would definitely check the flop here and might even check the turn as well here since as Fundiver said we are either way ahead or way behind so when we are behind we want to lose the least and I think the way to win the most here is to let villain think they can bluff at us. Checking the flop and even the turn could let villain fire one off here on the turn which we can call and evaluate the river.

 

[Alex_Ogienko]

I think there may be several lines in such spots. 1. This is a check game. We check-call and see what our opponent does on the river. 2. This is a line of small bets less than 1/3 of the pot on all three streets. A weak player can drag a pile of garbage to the river. In the second case, you need to be ready to fold to your opponent's allin.

 

[Sidetracked]

It's very villain dependent.

Your sizing is a smaller % of the pot on the river, and he may have perceived this as weakness, and decided to try to make you fold. At $2 NL, players will do some crazy things, and though good players may be trying to play well at this limit, others will just think 'what the hell...it's only $2' and make crazy nonsensical plays.

 

[zuker]

Classic way ahead way behind. Hard to play without position. I would cbet possible small amount or check/call reasonable bet.

 

[jaworek1405]

Hello, I agree with guys who play check/call on the flop and check/call on the turn. IMO it is good line, because we play OOP and I don't want to play big pot with pocket KK with one or two aces on the flop. Many times I played this hand similar to hero and sometimes I got raise from my opponent, and I had to make hard fold. Check/call on the flop and on the turn is good, because opponent sometimes will bluff us with weaker hands than pocket KK. Besides in this situation we should try go cheaply to showdown. I prefer fast decision in this situation, because if opponent see that we play fast and we do fast decisions, he sometimes can afraid us. We have to be confident with our fast decisions, we should show that we don't afraid our opponent. If opponent play bets on the flop, on the turn and on the river, I think we can fold pocket KK on the river. I don't think so that opponent bets three streets with something weaker than three of a kind aces. GL