Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 59/12/40

Well I will explain my reasoning in this play, I know that many will say that it is very wrong to play limp AA even more in a starting position. But as you may have already noticed I am a very aggressive player and I never limp, 25 K hands have 4% limp, but in this spot I saw the opportunity to confuse my opponents, at the table there were very aggressive players so as I was shortstack I thought if I limped any raise I suffered I would allin, thus confusing the range reading since it is a very strange move. And that's exactly what happened and the villain to complete was still calling station. perfect, were it not for the flop. I chose to take the risk of getting limp. GG


Winning Poker, Hold'em No Limit - 20/40 - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

T1tpfdc5 (UTG): 2,368 (59 bb)
1MilhaoSemNada (MP): 1,020 (26 bb)
JCuervo (MP+1): 2,310 (58 bb)
BEAGGRO (CO): 6,415 (160 bb)
mammadduke (BU): 3,301 (83 bb)
upay31 (BB): 3,036 (76 bb)

Pre-Flop: (40) Hero (1MilhaoSemNada) is MP with A♦ A♣
1 fold, 1MilhaoSemNada (MP) calls 40, JCuervo (MP+1) raises to 80, 3 players fold, 1MilhaoSemNada (MP) 3-bets to 1,020 (all-in), JCuervo (MP+1) calls 940

Flop: (2,080) 5♣ T♥ T♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (2,080) K♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (2,080) 5♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: 2,080

Showdown:
1MilhaoSemNada (MP) shows A♦ A♣ (two pair, Aces and Tens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 92%, Flop: 4%, Turn: 2%, River: 0%)

JCuervo (MP+1) shows T♣ A♥ (a full house, Tens full of Fives)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 8%, Flop: 96%, Turn: 98%, River: 100%)

JCuervo (MP+1) wins 2,080

We play in these everyday with the same crew of about 140 or so (on the US facing side which I am assuming this hand is from since I recognize all the players) and since we play these everyday against the same people we get to know eash others tendencies. You said this is why you limped here and I understand where you are coming from when you say that but I could not disagree with you more. It worked this instance but if I was at your table and saw you specifically do this I would instantly think something is wrong here because he never ever does this. That means he has something that out of the ordinary and what first pops into a players mind when they think out of the ordinary? Of course it would be the nuts. To me this limp play with aces works better for players who limp a lot (not saying they should limp or limp a lot as part of the their play) because the play is camouflaged. They limp a lot and therefore it could be a lot of hands they are limping with. When you do it and never do it before it should raise eyebrows. You got the call here and just got sucked out on (by the way, I think they were calling any size you make it anyway so it does not affect this hand but all this will come again and affect those hands). In my opinion you should be playing this the other way around and raise with these big hands because personally I know you raise 25% of hands so you could be K9 suited ish or you could be AA when you raise. Like I said when I see players like yourself open limp, I am on high alert.

Any move preflop with AA other than folding is obviously +EV, but I dont think, limping is more +EV than raising. If you make it 2,5BB and get a single caller, then the SPR is around 4 on the flop, and life is typically very easy and profitable postflop with AA. And of course you might also get 3-bet, which is even better than having a limp raised.

As played the hand is kind of ridiculous, because the opponent min-raises over your limp, and even getting a terrible price he still call off your 26BB shove with AT offsuit, which should have been a very easy fold for him. And then of course he hit some miracle runout and turns his 8% equity into 100%. Classic freeroll action

Hello, I don't agree with some things. I think that hero didn't make a big mistake in this situation with pocket AA. If we know that at table are many aggressive players, I think that we can risk and we can limp pocket AA pre flop from UTG position. It is a little risky move, because sometimes nobody won't be aggressive and sometimes big blind can see the flop for free. If big blind will see the flop for free, sometimes he can hits very strong flop and we will have huge problems. So I think that if somebody is confident skills he can plays like hero. Many very good players on high stakes level sometimes trap pocket AA from the UTG position, so I think that isn't something bad, but it is still very risky move. GL

Originally Posted by I Live Poker

I thought if I limped any raise I suffered I would allin, thus confusing the range reading since it is a very strange move.

This particular opponent was obviously not very good as shown both by his preflop sizing mistake, the fact he called it off with ATo, and also his HUD-stats. He was basically the classic "fish" playing way to many hands and playing most of them passively preflop. So it was quite lucky, he decided to min-raise rather than limp behind, since it reopened the betting for you. But if you are facing better opponents, then I dont really think, a limp-reraise confuse anyone. Its no more strange than a check-raise, and when I face a limp-reraise, I basically consider it a 3-bet and act accordingly. In the opponents spot I would have isolated to 4 or 4,5BB with ATo and folded to a jam

Originally Posted by 300HPGOD

We play in these everyday with the same crew of about 140 or so (on the US facing side which I am assuming this hand is from since I recognize all the players) and since we play these everyday against the same people we get to know eash others tendencies. You said this is why you limped here and I understand where you are coming from when you say that but I could not disagree with you more. It worked this instance but if I was at your table and saw you specifically do this I would instantly think something is wrong here because he never ever does this. That means he has something that out of the ordinary and what first pops into a players mind when they think out of the ordinary? Of course it would be the nuts. To me this limp play with aces works better for players who limp a lot (not saying they should limp or limp a lot as part of the their play) because the play is camouflaged. They limp a lot and therefore it could be a lot of hands they are limping with. When you do it and never do it before it should raise eyebrows. You got the call here and just got sucked out on (by the way, I think they were calling any size you make it anyway so it does not affect this hand but all this will come again and affect those hands). In my opinion you should be playing this the other way around and raise with these big hands because personally I know you raise 25% of hands so you could be K9 suited ish or you could be AA when you raise. Like I said when I see players like yourself open limp, I am on high alert.

Yes! always very valuable your opinion my friend! You are right about balancing the range downwards (being passive) or balancing the range upwards, "which is my case". I really posted this hand because it was an unusual case for me and outside of my range and movement line, I really did it as a test, so I wanted to know the opinions. Thank you very much my dear!

Originally Posted by fundiver199

Any move preflop with AA other than folding is obviously +EV, but I dont think, limping is more +EV than raising. If you make it 2,5BB and get a single caller, then the SPR is around 4 on the flop, and life is typically very easy and profitable postflop with AA. And of course you might also get 3-bet, which is even better than having a limp raised.

As played the hand is kind of ridiculous, because the opponent min-raises over your limp, and even getting a terrible price he still call off your 26BB shove with AT offsuit, which should have been a very easy fold for him. And then of course he hit some miracle runout and turns his 8% equity into 100%. Classic freeroll action

Well, there is also another reason why I limped, if I raise and call the pre flop action ends, and it would be practically the same thing as limping and receiving several calls, even more keeping in mind that the villain is a lot of calling station, the flop would be the same ... And taking into account that the table was aggressive "outside the calling station" I knew that I would not be limping, that someone would do something silly. Another issue is the tribet: it is a little out of my line of play the tribet in this situation because I don’t really like to tribulate for value leaving 20 bb - stop back, I think I wired the play a little bit I would rather go allin from UTG with this value simulating a tilt or something confusing the villain and polarizing this range. Thank you my dear!

By the way you are an excellent player! Very difficult to play with you!

Originally Posted by jaworek1405

Hello, I don't agree with some things. I think that hero didn't make a big mistake in this situation with pocket AA. If we know that at table are many aggressive players, I think that we can risk and we can limp pocket AA pre flop from UTG position. It is a little risky move, because sometimes nobody won't be aggressive and sometimes big blind can see the flop for free. If big blind will see the flop for free, sometimes he can hits very strong flop and we will have huge problems. So I think that if somebody is confident skills he can plays like hero. Many very good players on high stakes level sometimes trap pocket AA from the UTG position, so I think that isn't something bad, but it is still very risky move. GL

Well, as I said I saw the opportunity and did the test but 99% of the time I would not play like that, it was a very specific case so I decided to explore. But never again ...

Originally Posted by fundiver199

This particular opponent was obviously not very good as shown both by his preflop sizing mistake, the fact he called it off with ATo, and also his HUD-stats. He was basically the classic "fish" playing way to many hands and playing most of them passively preflop. So it was quite lucky, he decided to min-raise rather than limp behind, since it reopened the betting for you. But if you are facing better opponents, then I dont really think, a limp-reraise confuse anyone. Its no more strange than a check-raise, and when I face a limp-reraise, I basically consider it a 3-bet and act accordingly. In the opponents spot I would have isolated to 4 or 4,5BB with ATo and folded to a jam

Yes, I totally agree!