Poker plays with PokerPeaker - Folding Aces
Jul 29, 2008By: PokerPeaker THE SITUATION -
I'm playing $25 NLHE on Bodog.
I have black Aces in late position.
Don't you wish you could just freeze time and keep those Aces forever? You know you have the best hand possible.
The darn flop always seems to ruin it.
I raise to $1.25, for the same reasons I've explained in the past. I don't want a ton of callers trashing my Aces once a flop comes. I want this hand heads-up or against two players at the most. I'm looking for action but only a little action.
I get two callers from players who originally limped into the pot. That's fine. I'll have position on them. When the blinds fold, it's not a bad result. I've got two callers. Still, I'll have to keep in mind that I'm only 60 percent to win.
The flop comes Q♦ - 3♣ - 7♦.
This is not a bad flop for me. In fact it's a good one.
It's checked to me.
I bet the pot.
WHY?
Well, look, it's still only a pair. One of the reasons I raise so much pre-flop is I won't hesitate to take down a decent pot post-flop. The pot, $4, isn't bad right now for a $25 NL game.
Some may argue that a big raise costs me callers, and occasionally everyone folds, but you'd be surprised how many times I do get a caller or two. The same holds true for a big bet on the flop here.
It's possible someone will stick around. It's conceivable, for instance, that someone has K-Q or Q-J. I'm discounting A-Q because I think someone would have raised with that.
This is a hand you could slow-play a bit if you were heads-up, but I'm not, and so I'd rather just drive at least one player out.
However, not only does one player stick around, he raises me the pot.
And the third player shoves all-in.
Wow.
What the hell?
OK, let's figure this out. Both of them checked. So not only did one check-raise me the pot, the third player check-raised me all-in after the other player check-raised the pot. That's after I bet the pot!
The third player is not only afraid of me, he's not afraid of a guy who check-raised me the pot.
That's either the stupidest move on the planet or an incredible show of strength. And that kind of move shrinks my Aces pretty quickly.
This is an easy fold, in my view. In fact, I can't think of a situation here where I'm calling, even if I think the two players are donkeys. The action is just too strong, and on that kind of a flop, I have to put at least one of the players on a set. There is a draw out there, after all, and it looks like both players are trying to protect their hand.
Yeah, maybe the second guy has A-Q, that's surely possible, but again, he didn't raise pre-flop. So I'm hoping for K-Q or Q-J, and that's a lot to hope for from the second player. And the third player? Come on. He's not making that move with just a pair. At least I don't think so. Maybe a flush draw, in which case I'm dodging a lot of outs.
Bye-bye, Aces.
I hope we meet again soon.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT?
The second player did call and showed a flush draw. The third player did indeed have a set of 7s. He was trying to protect his hand and was probably thinking he would get at least one caller given the action.
He was right, but it hurt him. The second player hit his flush on the turn.
