AA Early doors $5.50 9 man

[Skeeno]

Second hand, never played with villain, did I play this okay?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

CO (t1500)
Hero (t1490)
SB (t1480)
BB (t1500)
UTG (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1500)
MP1 (t1530)
MP2 (t1500)
MP3 (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A.
2 folds, MP1 raises to t40, 3 folds, Hero raises to t110, 2 folds, MP1 calls t70.

Flop: (t250) J, T, K (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks.

Turn: (t250) Q (2 players)
MP1 bets t40, Hero raises to t140, MP1 calls t100.

River: (t530) J (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: t530

[taipan168]

OK there are some issues with bet sizing here.

Preflop: I make it at least 140 to go if not 160-180. You have AA, build the pot! The thing about NL games is that the pot size increases exponentially on each subsequent street so raising 50-70 chips more can mean several hundred by the river.

Flop: I do not give a free card on that flop, you're letting somebody with Qx draw for free.

Turn: You basically have the nuts here, I would raise by about the size of the pot or 250, you want to build a pot.

River: After opp checks, I would bet 1/2 pot or so for value, if opp made a full house on the river it is unlikely they would check (although it does happen).

I suggest reading this post as an example of bet sizing - http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...oker-58581.htm

[Skeeno]

I really appreciate that thread Tai, so basically played it dreadfully

Bet sizing is definately somewhere where I do struggle and this hand in particular emphasises that. I guess I was trying to get cute pre-flop with the rockets and hoping he'd re-raise, as for the flop again I know I should have bet it, not sure why I checked there, is the river check behind terrible? Are we going to get called by anything aside from something we lose to or another Ace?

[elitemob]

Hey Skeeno

I think in this situation it's the same as in microstakes ring-games. Don't slow play this. As taipan said ... you want to build the pot, you're still ahead. Let villain pay more and more for every card he wants to see. Don't let him draw on you (especially not for free) ... you want him to fold his drawing hand or pay up handsomely.

So in essence:
flop ... bet, I'd probably do a half pot, It's a great flop for you. I think you can bet out bottom/mid-pair here. You probably won't bet out two-pair/sets obviously.
turn ... raise is fine, maybe I would have raised a little more (4x-5x), you raised 3.5x his bet. You have nothing to worry about here
river ... bet, I'd probably do a half pot again, only thing that beats you is a full house (instacall from villain), but lower straights/sets/two-pairs MAY be calling you here. But one thing is certain, if you check you will not get any more chips from him on the river, if you bet you may be getting more chips with an almost certain win

[taipan168]

is the river check behind terrible? Are we going to get called by anything aside from something we lose to or another Ace?

Because the board paired, although this does mean somebody filled up, it also means that you just pulled ahead of KT/KQ/QT. Ax ties with you but there are plenty of other hands they could have. I doubt that anybody would check the river if they have something that beats you.

Anyway, as per the other hand this is how I would have played it:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t20 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

CO (t1500)
Hero (t1490)
SB (t1480)
BB (t1500)
UTG (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1500)
MP1 (t1530)
MP2 (t1500)
MP3 (t1500)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A.
2 folds, MP1 raises to t40, 3 folds, Hero raises to t180, 2 folds, MP1 calls t140.

Flop: (t390) J, T, K (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets t300, MP1 calls t300.

Turn: (t990) Q (2 players)
MP1 bets t100, Hero raises to t1010 (All-in)

By betting more preflop and betting the flop, you basically get yourself into a situation where you could shove the turn for about a pot-sized bet with the nuts.

[bjsaust]

With rockets I'm always trying to get all my chips into the pot the fastest way I can.