Lost Value?

[DaBears]

Playing 2/5 on a good table with a starting stack of $1,100. Have a super aggressive player on the Cutoff that bets $30. I look down at pocket aces in the SB and rip it for $105. He calls, Flop is A K K. I decided to check and so did he. I decided to bet on a rainbow board for $100 on the turn and he snap folded. Should I have let him bet instead of checking or made a big bluffy looking bet on the river to get any additional value? He probably had a very weak hand so who knows.

A few hands later I find myself in the BB with 99. UTG raises to 15, same aggressive player calls and I raise to 65. Both call and we go to a 9S 10S AD flop. I check, which is a bad play but I was trying to trap the two aggressive players. The final 9 lands on the turn, can’t tell you how few times I’ve ever had quads and I lead out for $50 and both fold.

The aggressive player ended up going broke two hands later, how do you guys think I could have played both these hands better? The first hand I don’t think there was much else I could have done, he probably would have checked all the way through had I checked each street but how much do you think I should have bet on the heavy draw board on the second one?

Thanks for your input.

[Robert L]

Hi, The 1st hand I like the 3-bet sizing and think betting halfpot on the turn is fine here. I’d probably bet even a bit smaller (~$90), but overall I think there’s not much else to do and you’re just getting a fold so often.

The 2nd hand I like flatting more since the UTG player should probably have a really strong opening range, but I don’t mind the squeeze. I think you should be leading the flop for around $120 or so.

Thanks!

[Nick Z]

Unfortunately I think you found yourself in situations where your hand was “too good.” Nothing you can do. You need someone to show up with some kind of calling equity on danger boards and these guys just didn’t have it this time. If your 3-bet range is really tight, they might just be calling pre-flop knowing they have to out-flop you and, if they don’t, they know they’re auto-folding. Tough to tell without knowing your 3-bet range pre-flop.

[DeeKay]

I’m going to disagree a little with the other comments. Given how you hammered the flop… you hammered it a little too good as it will be tough for your opponent to have any to play with.
The first hand I think you needed to check the turn as well. Given how strong you were, likely only had 1 street of value… I think you give the opportunity to bluff at it. And if he happened to catch a king, wouldn’t make a difference as there are only two hands that beat him, so you’re going to get pretty max value anyway. Especially given his aggressive nature, he might see your check as weakness and give it a shot, folding to your raise

The second hand… again, not the worst thing in the world to look to check raise to aggressive players, but you not betting the c-bet almost looks more suspicious. I like a down sized bet here to get value and appear a little weak… a little info. But overall, its difficult to max value when you are so strong and clearly no one else has a piece.

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