$10NL 6Max - Could this be semi-tricky AA

Frosteater · #1 01-17-2007, 10:41 PM

I don't know what exactly this hand history is, since I think I played it fine, but as I tried to put villain on a range here, I thought about something I really don't know how to judge, so maybe there are some opinions on this possible play.

SB is 24/10/2.4 over 300 hands. I remembered him as a solid player when he sat down, although I actually couldn't remember to actually ever have played against him. Seems like we generally avoided going to showdown together. So I assume we both think of each other as an above-average player, capable of tag-style play and semi-tough laydowns.

BB on the other hand is 76/2/0.8 over 140 hands and basically .... well, let's just say he doesn't seem to like imaginative plays. I lost a good amount the first time I played against him trying to c-bet him out of pots. He calls preflop raises with complete garbage and won't let go postflop as long as he hits in even slightest way. That said, he will call down monsters with bottom pair, as long as you don't "scare" him, but whenever he does something for his TA stat, he usually has quite a hand.

I was 26/18/2.7 over 199 hands in that session and tried to play good tag-style poker. I tried to mix up my c-bets, but I was quite cautious whenever I didn't hit the flop big time, since I overvalued pairs in the past and keep pots small in these situations, trying to work on that point. I think if someone did a above-average (at least for $10NL) job at observing my play, he might have noticed how I often shut down postflop HU against resistance from weak players. Like folding to a $0.4 donkbet into a $1.2 pot if I had nothing more than two overs (see BB analysis).

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

saw flop|saw showdown

Hero ($25.70)
CO ($6.25)
Button ($12.60)
SB ($10.80)
BB ($15.20)
UTG ($9.70)

Preflop: Hero is MP with T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.4, CO calls $0.40, 1 fold, SB calls $0.35, BB calls $0.30.

Flop: ($1.60) 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $1.2, CO folds, SB raises to $3, BB calls $3, Hero folds.

Turn: ($8.80) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB checks, BB checks.

River: ($8.80) T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
SB bets $4.1, BB folds.

Final Pot: $12.90

Flop was a pretty clear fold for me. A straight was highly unlikely, but I instantly put SB on trips and folded. But while I was watching the hand playing out, I couldn't dismiss the thought that SB might have AA or KK.

Now, the question that came to my mind is, in this exact situation, would SB have been right just calling with Aces preflop? I think he's a better player than just min-raising aces to $0.7, so I assume, if he raised pre-flop, it would have been to about $1 - $1.5. BB calling my initial raise was actually expected, but I'm not sure if BB would have called a re-raise like this. I think SB might have expected BB to fold to a re-raise preflop and me to be capable to fold a good but maybe second-best hand on the flop.
If so, by simply calling preflop he would have a high chance of keeping BB in the pot. If he assumed I'm capable of a laydown in this situation, while BB would call with any piece of the flop, he might have wanted to isolate BB and not me, and by calling preflop, while taking the risk of two opponents possibly hitting big, he could have done this much better than by re-raising.

It's just a thought, but in this exact situation and given SB has the same read on all three of us that I have, would calling preflop with Aces here actually be better than re-raising?