How could I have played this differently?
Here is the situation: 9 man live cash game 5/5. I've been playing solid all night and have built up my stack to $1300 from $500. My image so far has been tight aggresive tabling the best hands for most of the night. I'm under the gun+1 and i get dealt pocket AA's after the under the gun player just limped for $5. I raise to $25 and everyone folds except for the big blind a very loose aggressive player and the under the gun player a tight aggressive player who has re-bought once for $500. The loose player has about $800 and the TA has about $600 in front. Both players just called my raise so I'm thinking they have a wide range of hands anything from suited connectors to small pocket pairs possibly A10 to AK as well. The flop comes Q 10 9 rainbow. The TA UG player fires out $100 after the flop which kind of baffles me because of my image and the fact that I was the initial raiser. I think for a few seconds and decide to raise for both value and to get heads up, so I make it $260 to go. The BB folds. Now I'm heads up and my opponent goes into the tank for a few minutes and then decides to just call for the extra $160. When he just calls I figure that I have him beat and I'm hoping the turn brings a brick. The turn is a brick a little 3, but does bring a flush draw, but I'm still lovin this card. To my astonishment the villain announces all in right away for another $310! I am again puzzled but with me holding pocket AA's no flush, maybe a flopped straight, but more likely a Q with a high kicker like a K or an Ace. I decide to call. The villain shows AJ off, no flush draw which gives him an open ended straight draw on the Q 10 9 3 board. The river brings a dreades 8 and the villain scoops the monster pot while mumbling about how he had to go all in on the turn. I sat there kind of confused and wondering: Did I overplay my hand? How could I have played this hand any differently? Should i have just called the villains initial $100 bet on the flop? What could I have done to avoid losing half my stack? Any feedback is appreciated!
Comments
How do you avoid losing half your stack? Fold to the turn bet, lol. Honestly, you seemed to know the players in the hand well enough and read the situation well. I see players lose their entire stacks night after night with an over pair to the board. If you think one of these guys could hold Q10, Q9, 910 or a set, find a better spot. I like the raise on the flop to see where you stand. Once he calls the flop raise and comes out with the all-in on the turn, you are likely (against most players) behind. What hands has he gone all-in previously with? draws or made hands?
If you pushed on the flop, this kind of player would have likely called anyways.
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 43.809% 43.21% 00.60% 54328 753.50 { AcAd }
Hand 1: 56.191% 55.59% 00.60% 69895 753.50 { QQ-99, AJs+, KJs+, Q9s+, J7s+, T9s, AJo+, KJo+, Q9o+, JTo, T9o }
If my range is accurate you shouldnt look at the hand this way.
"Feel" Player vs Math Player - Page 8 - Poker Theory - General Poker Theory Forum
1. You either win a small pot
2. You bloat the pot with a marginal call by utg
Tried to read it, but gave up on line 3.
Now, if you were playing 5c/5c and your stack was $13.. would you have been wondering if you played it right...
Summary: Fold pre and leave the table...>:D
Would you have made the same call with JJ or kk etc. At the end of the day AA is one pair and in most situations people don't have you on AA but some random hand in this case.
Truly at the end the villian make what he thought was a decent play because truly the only hand that should be calling him is a 2 pair plus and he can still draw to the nut straight, one pair is rather tough to call on that board based on the image of the villian (when looking back did you ever see the villian get out of line or shove with anything less than the nut)
The fact that you made the call probably stunned villian because he didn't give you credit for AA and he just got lucky drawing to 8 outs.
in my history of cash games, most times a shove on a co-ordinated board can't get looked up with anything less than 2pair. But that's just been my experience.
Either way chalk it up to another night at the office and onto the next one!
Cheers
For my 2 cents, just keep getting it in good but, as others have said, don't forget that one overpair is still only one pair.
However, in a 5/5 game I'm not sure a raise of 5x with AA is enough. It really depends on the context of previous hands. In some games 8x or more might be required. A bigger pre-flop raise would ensure me folks are not going to wait around with J,8 or K, J.
With the flop coming "Q 10 9 " and his aggressive bet of $100, it indicates either 'flopped straight' or 'semi bluff' or 'set' or even 'two pair'. The larger pre-flop raise makes it more unlikely he would have flopped the straight or has two pair. I think it would lower his range to 10,10; 9,9; JJ or possibly A J. If he had QQ he might have re-raised pre-flop.
As the hand played out, if I had only one pair with that flopped board I would probably be inclined to call the $100 instead of raising.
But of course, if you ran the hand 4 times you would probably win three or more of them....