Fun times with pocket Aces

[Sugarmaan]

http://www.sharemypair.com/smpweb/smpviewdetails/feed_id/34537

1/3NL, $300 max buyin.

Villain in this situation seemed to be competent.

I downsized a little on the flop as it seemed highly unlikely V would connect with it in any way.

I felt like the turn would rarely ever complete many straights given V so rarely has a 3 in his range imo. Maybe A3 but that’s quite heavily blocked, maybe the occasional 33, but against an opponent such as this I thought I could safely remove 23s, 34s, 35s, 36s from the range.

Once V min-raises on the turn I put him on a worse overpair, some sort of pair+straight draw, possibly a set but unlikely. It seemed odd to me for a bluff to minraise there.

River was incredibly difficult. I know this is a terrible/illogical thought process, but I had just dug myself out of a hole, and was facing a bet for around 60% of my remaining stack to chop, knowing that if I got shown 57s, 67s, 78s, 79s or 77 that I’d spew on the table there and then, so I tank for a long while and find the fold button.

Obviously I can’t fold every time the board runs out with a straight, facing a large bet. I think my best calling hands that would take my line that don’t have a 7 include 66, 88, 99, 89s and maybe 68s if I decided to open that up from ep.

Could I have found a call here? Villain only much later in the session told me his hand.

Thanks!

[John S]

It’s hard to call just to chop, and at this level not a lot of players are bluffing 100 BB into a board with a straight on it. So there’s that.

I’m not sure you’re ranging yourself properly here. Are you really the type of player to open 86s UTG+1? If you are, that’s fine, but most players are limping or folding that at 1/3. The preflop bet seems a bit big for the game (this is table dependent, but most 1/3 opens are 10-15). I don’t think you have sets in your range because you just called the turn min-raise. I would expect any set to go all-in there. Your hand to me is pretty face-up after the turn. You’ve got a pocket pair that’s probably 99 or bigger. Not much else made sense.

The villain, I don’t believe he had K9. That float flop – min-raise turn makes no sense given that he can’t even beat Ace high. I’d put way more sets in his range or hands like 67 or 78 suited. If he’s running that play with K9 he’s either an absolute madman (which you would probably know since they’re easy to spot at the table), took a really strange line and got absolutely lucky (possible, but unlikely), or he’s a really good player, knew you had a big pair, and could fold you out on any scare-card on the river. But my guess is he lied to you about his hand. He either had the set or suited connector, or he played some strange suited hand with a 3 or a 7 and got there on you.

But I don’t fault the fold. You’re betting 323 to win 160. Not great odds. Best play you have probably to either fold or jam on the turn.

[Sugarmaan]

Totally agree with your assessment of what my range looks like. It’s just so bizarre because if he put me on what I had (a big pocket pair) he should know surely that just about any river other than a 3,7 or 8 is a pretty comfortable call.

Looking back on it, I think he was trying to “make a play” on me and got incredibly lucky, lol.

Thanks for the feedback, John.

[Author]

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