Hi Guys

This kind of hand really frustrates me and i would appreciate your assistance in developing an approach that will be successful.

So, we are in the first 6 hands and everyone is close to the 1500 starting chips of the MTT with 872 registered and 9 at the table. The blinds are 20/10. No antes

The play has been pretty slow with not much action so far.

I'm UTG and have AA (clubs and hearts). I raise to 3 times the BB. The next 3 players fold and the fourth calls me. Everyone else, including the blinds fold.

The Flop arrives.... 2d 9s 6c.

First to Act i pot size bet.

The villain calls.

The turn comes 3c.

What is your next move and why?


Thanks

BB

Hi!The beginning of the tournament and you value the stack.In such a situation, I would check the opponent by raising the bet.If he supports you after that then he probably has a pocket pair and he's looking for it for Seth.You missed the flop and not confident in their cards, then I advise you to do a check and see what say the opponents.If he goes on all the certainly have him the elder combination of and so as have us little information on player the netimer just we'll throw off our hand as would notorious this not was.Good luck!

This gets weird when you bet pot sized on the flop...why so big? If you are looking to turn your hand face up and stack off then why not just shove the flop?

As dry as this flop is I want to keep his floating hands in - AK and AQ - so I would bet 1/3 pot here on the flop. If we bet huge the only hands that are calling us would be flopped sets, overpairs and possibly a sticky top pair hand - the point is when we bet big we narrow his range and dont get value from very much. So again, I like 1/3 pot here on the flop.

Turn comes off a relative brick and doesnt change much aside from bringing in a backdoor flush draw - when I get called on the flop I would elect to bet bigger here on the turn and pull value from hands that can call us while hands like AK and AQ will likely be folding on this street even for a smaller bet so it's time to start pulling value from their made hands. I would bet around 1/2 ‐ 2/3 pot on the turn - if we get called again we can evaluate rivers.

Say our turn bet is called and the river comes a non club safe card. This is a spot where we can go for value - I would biggest on safe rivers - 2/3 ‐ 80% pot targeting overpairs that cannot fold and sticky top pairs. That being said I would be checking all rivers that bring in backdoor clubs - also check all Ts and Js - the point being these cards nail the overpairs they would be calling us with while hands like QQ KK and AK (which we heavily block) would have likely re raised us preflop. The Ten and Jack also bring in 2 pair combos like 9T and J9 on the river which is also a good reason to be checking - this check is not setting us up to fold, we are simply pot controlling and allowing our villan to keep their bluffs in - if they bet a reasonable amount on the river, we call off and accept whatever it may be. If the villan jams, it's super polarized to a strong made hand or absolutely nothing. The call would then be up to you and your personal discretion.

ill go for 1/3 pot in the flop and when the 3C comes i will try to over bet the pot trying to get a max value or a fold

Originally Posted by eurosTotnd

ill go for 1/3 pot in the flop and when the 3C comes i will try to over bet the pot trying to get a max value or a fold

The only things we get max value from are pairs TT+ - AA are unlikely because we have two of them, KK and QQ should have 3bet us preflop so effectively we are only getting "max value" from 2 hands when we overbet and force our opponent to polarize their range to those hands and flopped sets which we lose to. We fold out everything else that could possibly call a reasonable bet here on the turn. Over betting here on the turn only does two things - gets better to call us, and gets worse to fold. Neither of which will get us max value.

3c on the turn changes nothing, so I am definitely betting for value again. However as others have pointed out, pot betting the flop is probably a bit to large and puts us in a spot, where we are already making a decision for stacks, if we bet and get raised.

When you pot it, it almost look like a "please fold and let me win a small pot" kind of bet. Like you are almost turning your aces into a bluff. But you have a great hand, and even though its uncomfortable to be out of position, you WANT him to float you with his 77-88, his overcards with BDFD and all those other hands, that you have crushed.

And you also dont want to expose your stack right out of the gate for those rare times, where he did outflop you with a set. I might not go quite as small, as others have suggested, but half pot or a bit more is certainly enough here.

Pot bet for what?
After this pot bet i always will check turn. His range very strong after our pot bet.

As you say, it was a dry flop, there is no need to protect the AA.
With a strong cbet, bad hands will fold and they will only call you hands like 22 66 99, etc.
Since the BBs are small, I like 50 percent of cbet the pot on the flop, and maybe 40 or 50 on the turn, so as not to throw low pairs o KQ etc, that were floating.

gl mate

My next move is about another pot sized bet, because I still probably have the best hand and want to get villain's chips.

Similar problems happen not only with you. In general, in games with low limits, the AA hand is not a monster and is not very profitable. Usually everyone folds to the overbet and on a 3-5VV raise there is an eccentric who calls with almost any two cards and gets his two pairs either a straight or a flush. I think there is no universal solution here and at different tables different people will play this hand in different ways. Probably this is the magic of poker. Good luck

Originally Posted by Sidetracked

My next move is about another pot sized bet, because I still probably have the best hand and want to get villain's chips.

You will give your chips to him in most of cases. Because after pot bet on the flop and calls, your hand - bluff catcher

I would bet 60% flop and bet/fold 60% on the turn. River I would x evaluate and then call or fold depending on card and betsize

Unlikely anyone can give you universal advice. Even the same player will play this hand in different ways depending on the level of the tournament, his location in the tournament and at the table, the history of the villain and many other factors including physical, psychological and emotional state. In this particular situation, you may be dealing with a manka in your hands who has an ace with a small card that is paired with a board card. And what about suited 45. For this category of players, a stake with a holey straight draw after the flop is quite common. It cannot be ruled out that you are far behind against the finished set. Arguing in a calm environment and not knowing anything about the villain, I would check and depending on his actions I might have thrown off a couple of aces. Sitting at the gaming table, of course, I would go to the end. Sorry for the lack of a sane answer to this question, but it seems to me that the whole charm of poker lies in its understatement, and the number of sets on PokerStars against an overpair refutes the theory of probability.

Originally Posted by BentleyBoy

Hi Guys

This kind of hand really frustrates me and i would appreciate your assistance in developing an approach that will be successful.

So, we are in the first 6 hands and everyone is close to the 1500 starting chips of the MTT with 872 registered and 9 at the table. The blinds are 20/10. No antes

The play has been pretty slow with not much action so far.

I'm UTG and have AA (clubs and hearts). I raise to 3 times the BB. The next 3 players fold and the fourth calls me. Everyone else, including the blinds fold.

The Flop arrives.... 2d 9s 6c.

First to Act i pot size bet.

The villain calls.

The turn comes 3c.

What is your next move and why?


Thanks

BB

I think the only hands the villain hits this flop is sets or top pairs, so if he called flop, I would bet turn again because in my opinion doesnt change anything. So I would analize to possibly check call on the river.

@BentleyBoy

This is a spot where a lot of people misplay, even most of midstake regs don't know exactly how to play these spots. And problem for you is that, judging from answers, nobody in this forum can help you with answer that makes sense. On the other hand, lucky you, I've analyzed these spots a lot and can tell you exactly what to do.

These flops are not good for EP pre-flop raiser, because villain can have all 3 sets and hero shouldn't have 22. Villain has, narrower range and more nuts which give him huge nuts advantage percentage wise. Think about it this way: Hero's opening range is roughly 15% and hero has 6 sets, Villains calling range is roughly 4% and he has 9 sets. If you cross multiply and do the math, it turns out that villain is 6 times more likely to have nuts on this board. For these reasons you MUST play these flops extremely cautiously, and check flop with 100% of your range, including all your overpairs, and sets. The worst way to play it is to bet big, because you are committing your hand against all sets that villain has.

When we check flop and villain bets, with AA we are blocking A9. That makes it that if we raise, villain is less likely to call us with 9x hand(since we are blocking A9) and more likely that villain will call us with set. It is actually better to check-raise KK and QQ, because they don't block A9s and can get called by worse hand and they need more protection. With AA, it is check call flop.

You misplayed flop, so what to do on the turn? When you bet pot on the flop, villain shouldn't raise with sets, he should be willing to give you more chance to bluff and bet with overpairs, even though you shouldn't pot overpairs, most fish do play like that. So, when villain calls, you can't conclude that he has capped range, not at all. Villain's range is most likely not capped because of your sizing, and he still at least 6 times more likely than you to have sets. For these reasons, with AA you should check call the turn and check fold the river.

Now, thanks to me, you exactly how to play these spots perfectly.

I agree with everyone else that a pot size bet is too large and polarizing. When you 3x and then pot that flop you are basically playing with your cards face up. A savvy opponent will put you on a premium pocket pair and realize that if he can catch a straight, 2-pair or trips that he will most likely stack you. So you give your opponents massive implied odds by playing in this manner and in general you should be betting closer to 1/3 pot with your entire range on that board.

You know, I like the pot size bet. It makes it look like you have AK/AQ and are trying to force your opponent out. If they called you with any 9x hands they will obviously call and think they are good. You are building a pot with a strong holding. On the turn, I shove. If they have a set, so be it. But I like getting as much as I can in with a monster hand like that on that type of board heads up.

After reading everyone else's posts as well, the 1/3 pot size bet on the flop also does the job. I just never check the turn to let the villain catch up in any way for free.

Originally Posted by BentleyBoy

Hi Guys

This kind of hand really frustrates me and i would appreciate your assistance in developing an approach that will be successful.

So, we are in the first 6 hands and everyone is close to the 1500 starting chips of the MTT with 872 registered and 9 at the table. The blinds are 20/10. No antes

The play has been pretty slow with not much action so far.

I'm UTG and have AA (clubs and hearts). I raise to 3 times the BB. The next 3 players fold and the fourth calls me. Everyone else, including the blinds fold.

The Flop arrives.... 2d 9s 6c.

First to Act i pot size bet.

The villain calls.

The turn comes 3c.

What is your next move and why?


Thanks

BB

Well first off I'm not betting pot on the flop. What are you getting to call you, that is not 3Betting you pre? They shouldnt have meny 9s in thier range outside of A9, T9s, maybe J9s.... no 2 pairs, yea sets are always thier but not enough to go along with them, and what over pair that flats pre and flats a pot size bet? TT? maybe?

I'm gonna bet for value, but I'm betting small.... then when the turn comes 3 (no help) I'd bet small again in Hope's to induce a bluff raise, chance are they call there too....

Then on river Im looking to over bet all missed rivers and over cards....