AA in a 5 handed pot

[maccamack]

Difficult spot, I think it is either raise or fold - I shove. You are up against AJ, QQ, KK or a draw and pair often enough I think. Two pair you can suck out it.

I don't like a call here - on the turn if you get a 1/2 pot bet do you call it? Probably right (assuming no spade). If you call 1/2 pot on the turn, then its only 1/3 pot bet on the river to all in - so you have to call that - means you end up all in anyway. So I shove and give my opponent the decision.

I also play 6 max so my advice might not be sound.

[martijn]

easy raise-call allin, stack his AJ!

with a set or 2 pair I think he would be alot more inclined to check-raise.

besides, there is already alot of money in the pot.

[maccamack]

Given no reads on this villian - he might be a smart player - in which case he won't c/r his great hand, because he can get calls in between him and the preflop raiser, which a check raise won't achieve.

[Route66]

You're right, big pot. And after 3 folds, a lot of dead money in there. Definitely worth fighting for. And I have an overpair, which may very well still be the best hand right now. Very compelling reasons to shove. I mucked (let the flaming begin).

The key to this hand for me is the number of opponents. After getting 4 callers, even before I saw the flop, a red flag went up in my mind to proceed cautiously. I believe this hand plays entirely different HU or even 3-way. The initial pot would be smaller and the stacks large in relation so that I can raise his flop bet and see how he reacts without committing my whole stack. Plus, with 4 opponents, I believe the odds of being up against a set are much higher than normal.

I just couldn't put villain on AJ here. He can't think I was trying to steal. There were already several limpers before my PFR. He should believe I have a real hand here. If that's the case, would he call a 6x raise from the worst possible position w/AJ? I wouldn't. I wouldn't call that raise from the blinds with a SC either. I would call it with a pocket pair looking to flop a set though. And if I flopped a set I would play it EXACTLY how villain did. A C/R is too risky on this coordinated board, and it doesn't get all the money in the middle. A bet/3bet does. As mack mentioned, it also adds the possibility of getting a few calls before the PF raiser (me) pops it up, adding some dead money to the pot (although, I think a slightly smaller bet might have had a better chance to acheive this).

I never considered calling. There just aren't any cards that can come on the turn that I'm excited about. I'm really just calling to see if he fires another barrel. I really can't raise (unless it's a min raise) without being committed, so I believed it was fold or push. I HATE getting my money in bad with a one pair hand. This was my biggest leak over the past few months since starting to play NL. Maybe I'm overcompensating or seeing monsters under the bed, but here I put 6 BBs in the pot when I knew I had the best hand. I'm risking 94 more when I have no idea where I'm at. Didn't make sense to me. Yeah he could be betting a draw. If he is I give him credit for a good bet. He's betting $5, I'm betting my whole stack. I figured if he's a good player and he gets all in, my aces are no good. If he's a weak player that will overplay TP, I'll get his money later. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to get any more info on him, he left the table a few hands later.

Overall, I felt that this was a marginally +EV, but high variance situation and folded. Maybe I'm WT or just giving too much credit to other players... maybe both.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the feedback. I thought it was an interesting discussion.