fold AA to scary board against push? (not interested in PF)

[Jeff76]

[ QUOTE ]
I figure anyone who is apparently good would have remembered that hand.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, but anyone who is apparently good will also realize that YOU remember the hand as well.

Case in point- I was at the final 3 tables in a small MTT. I had an M of around 7 in the CO and the player sitting on my right limps. I have 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. They are suited and connected (J/K), he can't be strong limping in there, so I push. He thinks and thinks then finally calls with K9o. Apparently I underestimated his ability to fold. At any rate, I flop two pair and double up (all skill!). The table gives me a ration of good natured crap (I protest that my hand was "sooooted") and we all moved on. So the next round I raise from the button with ATo and the BB shoves over me. Now I think hard here, because I know he's got me pegged as an aggressive player due to the 23s hand. He knows that K5o is in my range here, and ATo is way better than the range he's given me. So I tank for a bit and he types (this is on FTP where you can type while someone is all in) "23s again?". I "lol" and open fold my hand- he shows AK.

See, here's what happened. We BOTH remembered the earlier hand, and while he might be pushing light to punish my aggressive ways, he also knew that I might CALL light figuring he was thinking that I was raising with trash and therefore could push me off my hand. I really thought hard about it because I had to figure out if he was the type of player who was thinking on the single level of "he could have trash here", or if he was going deeper and maybe pushing a real hand. When he finally made the comment I knew he was multi-leveling me and it became an easy muck.

But the point is, villain might just be smart enough to realize that if you made the play once and folded, you might make the same play trying to induce him to make a mistake. It is not so clear cut as "I did it once and folded- certainly he'll have to discount my strong hand if I play it the same way".

In the end, he didn't push over you because he had a good read. He did it because he had a monster- QQ. In the 2nd hand you offered him great odds to see a flop and then he caught a killer flop for his hand. That he didn't get it all in on the flop is a testament that he probably was giving you credit for a real hand (i.e: your minraise didn't disguise your hand near as well as you thought).

In the final analysis, the min-reraise was Fancy Play Syndrome that nearly lost you the hand. You didn't get him all in because of any mind game- you got him in because he flopped a friggen great draw and turned bigger draw + a made hand.