(nl25) Preflop Queens

[kev]

I don't play much 10 player usually play 6 max, but today I decided to play 4 full tables. The UTG was playing loose and was losing money, so when he reraised all-in I didn't figure him to have a premium hand, I was thinking more likely an Ace-Face hand. So I called. But the guy in Seat 4 was a tighter player and when he raised all-in I was confident he must have either AA or KK. Although I was getting more than 2:1 on the call I felt I was a much bigger dog than that and I folded. Was my first call okay or should I have folded there? I've noticed that these micro 10 player tables are more trappy affairs with lots of preflop slowplaying of AA and KK.


Cryptologic
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.15/$0.25
9 players
Converter (http://www.neildewhurst.com/hand-converter)

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is MP2 with :qs :qc
UTG calls, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1</font>, 5 folds, call from seat 4UTG raises all-in $7.6</font>, Hero calls, Seat 4 raises to $24.80 and is all-in, Hero folds.

Results:
Final pot: $15.6

[MasterLJ]

Without a read I call this at $25. With said read, it's a fold.

[KEW]

I would've have shoved over the UTG LRR..As played called..The AI could easily be reading your flat call as weakness and is trying to push you off your hand a be HU w/UTG plus the dead money..I doubt the LP would slowplay AA or KK after a limper and a raise..

[kev]

Interesting. I don't think many nl25 players would have folded to the 2nd push as I did so the Seat 4 player must have felt he had the best hand and wanted to get all the money in the pot preflop. The UTG actually had AKs and the Seat 4 player had KK. I suppose the play with KK isn't typical at nl25 and he was taking a risk as he couldn't have known neither of us he AA.

Only a few minutes earlier I got trapped for a good pot on another table with KK against a slowplaying AA so I concluded that these plays must be common at these full games(?)

(As I said before, I'm inexperienced at full ring, but my strategy is to try to play small pairs as cheaply as possible from any position so that if someone is slowplaying AA or KK and I hit a set they have effectively trapped themselves for their whole stack. The exception is if the raiser is short stacked which means I have to fold preflop.)

[LearningCurve]

At this level I find the large majority of people try to get as much of their money in as possible with AA and KK hands preflop. There is some slowplaying, but it's the exception rather than the rule. AK seems to be more variable.

[corsakh]

A proper TAG would (almost) never smooth call your first raise with KK or AA in the light of the risk being in a multipot after the flop. I don't see much point of raising AI with AK/AQ in position either. Your flat call of the UTG with QQ is a poor play and it indicates weakness. Hence the TAG decided hes 99-JJ or whatever was good enough.

[kev]

The Seat 4 player was more Tight-Passive aggressive than Tight Aggressive Aggressive. If he had 99-JJ then I think the flat call with QQ would have been a great bluff inducement. I think I will flat call with AA if situation comes up again as all the money would go into the middle before the river if the 3 of us saw a flop.


It's good to know that these slowplays are the exception rather than the rule. Personally I think getting all the money into the pot preflop with a huge edge is much better than trying to trap and risk trapping yourself. But the UTG play of AKs was quite clever considering his stack was short.

[corsakh]

Slowplayws with AA KK are extremely common at this level. Thats the reason you always hear that aces never hold. You have to be a real genius postflop to be able to trap someone and not loose all your money consistently.

And nope, UTG line was terrible no matter what he had.