AA at NL25: Probably simple, but I'm new to NL and was lost

[Nick C]

BB is 48/3/2 after 40 hands, with a Went to SD of 13 over that period. He had been mildly aggressive in previous hands at the table, but then again no one had really played back at him. And in terms of dollars, his turn bet was the largest he had made up until this point (although it is a smallish bet relative to the pot, I know).

I didn't know whether Villain would bet a draw on the flop or not.

Also, he had shown some respect for preflop raises during previous hands.


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (8 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

CO ($28.97)
Button ($41.55)
SB ($23.56)
BB ($57.22)
UTG ($24.75)
Hero ($46.67)
MP1 ($30.90)
MP2 ($35.58)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $1</font>, <font color="#666666">4 folds</font>, SB (poster) calls $0.90, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($3) 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="#CC3333">BB bets $2</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $7</font>, SB folds, BB calls $5.

Turn: ($17) J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets $6.47</font>, Hero calls $6.47.

River: ($29.94) 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">BB bets $20.49</font>, Hero folds.

Final Pot: $50.43


Is the flop raise good? Should I have raised bigger?

Is the turn call okay? Should I raise again instead? Should I just fold?

How about the river?

To be honest, I wasn't really sure what to do on any postflop street during this hand.

[jetsetboy]

Flop raise is good I think.

I'm calling on the turn as well. Against any vilain but the nits I PSR the flop/call the turn. The river is really read dependant.

[Waingro]

This looks like an opponent that you really want to play for stacks with AA, even 200 bb deep. A set is really small part of his range where an overpair, top pair, two-pair or other is so much more likely and you crush his range. Raise turn to 22. Obv don´t fold after that, get the rest in on the river. As played call river.

[MrMxyztplk]

Play is good up to the turn. On the turn, I like the call. With deeper stacks (150BB or more), I'd raise. As played, I think you have to call the river, even though it's not very pretty.

[Redd]

[ QUOTE ]
With deeper stacks (150BB or more), I'd raise.

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Why does deeper stacks make this a raise?

[True]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With deeper stacks (150BB or more), I'd raise.

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Why does deeper stacks make this a raise?

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[MrMxyztplk]

[ QUOTE ]
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With deeper stacks (150BB or more), I'd raise.

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Why does deeper stacks make this a raise?

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Oh wait... there stacks ARE that deep.

When the stacks are 100BBs, I'm happy with letting Villain try to bluff the river or VB with a weaker hand that he might think twice about if I raised the turn.

When the stacks are deeper though, the river action is much more volatile. He may no longer VB weaker hands, since I might come over the top. He can also make stronger river pushes (with his strongest hands and missed draws) and I have little idea if I'm correct to call.

So I'd rather raise the turn to: a) deny him the river without putting more money in b) find out if he actually does have a big hand (like a set, or T9).

Does this make sense?

[Skuzzy]

MrMxyztplk: I think this is .10/.25 - so situation is being played at closer to 200BB in the relevenat players stacks... curious why you want to raise this pot if deep?

OP: I think i call this river. Villain called your flop raise then open leads a safe looking turn with a small bet. I think he's drawing and hoping you will simply call the turn giving him decent odds. I see this play mostly from weak tight players but it seems to fit here. IMO, calling or folding are both OK here, I go with my feeling about the player. That said, I'm thinking about a recent similar hand where I called the river and caught a bluff, so this might be skewing my thinking.

[Nick C]

[ QUOTE ]
Villain called your flop raise then open leads a safe looking turn with a small bet.

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It might look safe from his perspective, but, FWIW, it didn't look safe to me. Except for a diamond, a jack is the worst card that could've fallen for me, I think.

Like I said, though, I wasn't really sure what to make of Villain's play. "Does he want me to raise again?" I was thinking. I doubted he saw the jack as a scare card (even though I think it sort of is). I also felt he had a pretty good idea what I had.

So, yeah, his turn lead could be a blocking bet, but I'm not sure I've seen so many $6+ turn blocking bets at NL25. People seem to try min-betting or betting $1 instead.

Anyway, one problem I had during the hand is that there was no precedent for it. Villain hadn't faced a raise to $7 at the table before, and I believe this hand contained both his first and his second donkbet at the table (I'm saying I don't think he'd done that before).

Edit: Actually, the lack of precedent suggests I should be worried, but the thing is, I only had 40 hands on Villain, which is a pretty small sample.

[EMc]

I like a turn raise here. Villain could still be drawing, but we arent sure. He could very easily taking a stab at this pot. I also to probably call the river.