Just wanted some opinions on how i could have if possible played this hand any better. The game is 1/2 no limit (plays like 2/5) 4 out of 9 players players have $1,200+ in front of them. The hand begins folded to me whereIm in the cutoff with As/Ad. I open to $20 (1,300 effective). Folds to small blind (plays to many hands) who jams for $75 BB repops to $200 (aggressive when in position player) he has $1000 back .and now its back to me with a serious decision with two aces. A less than than 3 x raise does not scream kings to me so i put him on QQ or AK suited. I end up putting in a 5 bet to $650 and he tank folds after standing up. Should i have flatted? The board runs out clean for AA. 10/9/2/6/6 rainbow. Whats the optimal play here when facing a 4 bet ? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The problem with your 4bet sizing is that it looks exactly like what it is and most players don't 4bet bluff nearly enough.
If you wanted to maximise then flatting or even just shoving would have been best. When you shove most people assume AK more often than not and you could get a lighter call.

However saying all that, getting Aces heads up for a considerable pot is a great outcome in itself.

In the end you still have made some money anyway, better than getting cracked ! Your move probably gave away your strength, but we see guys calling with lesser hands all the time (AK,AQ, ...), It just didn't happen that time.

The way it worked out, at least you're not posting the hand because you got 'creative' and lost. I agree that a shove will look a little less strong, so that may have been your best bet.

You're playing against crazy players. When you get a monster of AA and you're still in the pre-flop stage facng a 4 bet, you want to make them pay. I would have made the 5 bet and possibly overshove. That way it looks like to them you're trying to steal the pot and they may tank call in this spot.

while getting it all in with AA against opponents who are 3-betting is never a mistake , you often want to see a flop with such a premium hand and make your opponent pay you more .Calling the 4-bet seems like the optimal play. You cant be scared of getting drawn out on with such a nutted hand I would have seen a flop in position against an aggressive opponent, almost certain after a call an aggro villain is going to make a hefty c-bet on the flop which is good for you .

Originally Posted by Codyb94

Just wanted some opinions on how i could have if possible played this hand any better. The game is 1/2 no limit (plays like 2/5) 4 out of 9 players players have $1,200+ in front of them. The hand begins folded to me whereIm in the cutoff with As/Ad. I open to $20 (1,300 effective). Folds to small blind (plays to many hands) who jams for $75 BB repops to $200 (aggressive when in position player) he has $1000 back .and now its back to me with a serious decision with two aces. A less than than 3 x raise does not scream kings to me so i put him on QQ or AK suited. I end up putting in a 5 bet to $650 and he tank folds after standing up. Should i have flatted? The board runs out clean for AA. 10/9/2/6/6 rainbow. Whats the optimal play here when facing a 4 bet ? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank U 4 Posting.

Others have pointed out that we do not want AA to look like AA so their advice is good as to how to disguise your hand.

You stated that the BB was agg with position.
Does that mean they were passive OOP?
Does it mean they are more likely to fold to our 5 bet as we have POS on them?
What range of hands would that type of Villain 4 bet fold?
What is the best way to extract max value from that range vs this player?
The shove or the smooth call?

Could this BB not have raised QQ-99 AK-AQ AKs-AJs?
Could this less than 3x raise be an ISO raise?

In hindsight if your range is correct AK QQ why would you expect BB to pot commit themselves with those hands OOP when BB was passive OOP?

If BB calls your raise there is 1375 ish in the pot with BB having 575 left. BB has no fold equity preflop now and none on most flops either. BB has to think they are 50/50 at best with either of those hands.

Just some thoughts to consider. We want to tailor our strategies to our villain types so we need to take the data we have and analyze it well.

Hope this helps

Its never to reraise before the flop with AA, but as others have said, your sizing might have given off a tell. The situation is a little awkward because of stack sizes, but basically you can either make a very small "click-it-back" 5-bet, which might make him think, he has room to come over the top, or you can go all in.

Hind sight i do like the all in shove to represent a lighter holding. Even with flatting in position on the table. Im pretty sure his holding was 10/10 , J/J , or maybe QQ. He could try and hero with these hands and call my all in. Taking the ladder though and smooth calling he is most likely going to lead on the 10/9/2 flop. I hope he doesnt have two 10's and raise most of the time. If he happens to check flop betting quite large. I have shown kings two times before this hand once against him and once against another player for roughly $400 pot wins each so i think in the end of the day his range on me was exzactly KK/AA. Out of position this player plays on the more conservative side, through out most hands, preflop out of position he was more open though calling a couple straddles for 40 50 and 60, 30 times the big blind.

Originally Posted by Codyb94

Hind sight i do like the all in shove to represent a lighter holding. Even with flatting in position on the table. Im pretty sure his holding was 10/10 , J/J , or maybe QQ. He could try and hero with these hands and call my all in. Taking the ladder though and smooth calling he is most likely going to lead on the 10/9/2 flop. I hope he doesnt have two 10's and raise most of the time. If he happens to check flop betting quite large. I have shown kings two times before this hand once against him and once against another player for roughly $400 pot wins each so i think in the end of the day his range on me was exzactly KK/AA. Out of position this player plays on the more conservative side, through out most hands, preflop out of position he was more open though calling a couple straddles for 40 50 and 60, 30 times the big blind.

Semi grunch. I agree with many others that your 5 bet sizing is too large. I think either option can work (call or 5 bet). I prefer a 5 bet to $500 with these stack sizes. This leaves a fairly trivial flop jam with less than a pot sized bet ($700 effective into $1075). If we flat however I would not raise flop. I would call flop, call turn, and GII river on most run outs.

IMO we are too deep to jam here facing a $200 bet with $1000 effective behind. Sure, it can look like AK some of the time but are we really taking this line with AK this deep at a 1/2 game? If we have a wildman image I'm more inclined to say this could work but it sounds like we have only been showing down strong value hands. It's important how our opponents perceive our range. Ask yourself which play is more likely to induce a mistake. I think getting a fold for $500 is a fine result. Getting called in position is also good. I don't like flatting then blowing him off AK, QQ, JJ by raising flop though. He's more likely to call if he checks turn and we take the lead than if he bets flop and gets raised.

Also wanted to add that I would not read his cold 4 bet as weaker because he sized less than 3x. From what I've read 4b sizing in general is 2.5-3x. Players sizing larger are typically just using 3 bet sizings for every raise. In some cases this can still be correct but in general I think we can and should be starting at 2.5 and working up.

Originally Posted by c0rnBr34d

Semi grunch. I agree with many others that your 5 bet sizing is too large. I think either option can work (call or 5 bet). I prefer a 5 bet to $500 with these stack sizes. This leaves a fairly trivial flop jam with less than a pot sized bet ($700 effective into $1075). If we flat however I would not raise flop. I would call flop, call turn, and GII river on most run outs.

IMO we are too deep to jam here facing a $200 bet with $1000 effective behind. Sure, it can look like AK some of the time but are we really taking this line with AK this deep at a 1/2 game? If we have a wildman image I'm more inclined to say this could work but it sounds like we have only been showing down strong value hands. It's important how our opponents perceive our range. Ask yourself which play is more likely to induce a mistake. I think getting a fold for $500 is a fine result. Getting called in position is also good. I don't like flatting then blowing him off AK, QQ, JJ by raising flop though. He's more likely to call if he checks turn and we take the lead than if he bets flop and gets raised.

Damn, thank you for this. People who aren't calling a $650 bet are not going to call a shove when they're this deep. I think that a $450-$500 bet will keep in hands like AQ+, JJ+ and the flop easy an easy shove.

Honestly a shove may get him to put you in AK and get him to gamble. The added benefit is your but going to be in a spot where you have an over pair on a board that leaves you guessing for stacks.

Originally Posted by bgomez89

Damn, thank you for this. People who aren't calling a $650 bet are not going to call a shove when they're this deep. I think that a $450-$500 bet will keep in hands like AQ+, JJ+ and the flop easy an easy shove.

My pleasure bro, I agree. There are times when going for the home run makes sense. This does not seem like one of those times to me (600 BB deep in a 5 bet pot).