Howto play AA ?

How to play Aces post-flop in deep stack situations ?

This hand is from the PokerStars $11 Sunday Hundred Grand - the largest tournament on the net with over 17,000 players. The standard in this tournament is typically quite bad, with most players playing either too wild or too predictably, with the average hand usually following pretty basic and predictable patterns.

The hand

Blinds were 25/50 with no ante.

Player one is under the gun with a stack of 2740.

Player two is in the small blind with 2830.

Player one limped under the gun for 50.

All other players folded round to player two in the small blind who raises to 200 with AsAd.

The big blind folds and player one calls - leaving the pot at 450.

The flop is 7sQc10c.

Player two bets 399 and player one calls - leaving the pot at 1248.

Turn is the Qh.

Player two checks and player one bets 500 - Player two calls after thinking for a while - leaving the pot at 2248.

The river is the 3s.

Player two checks and player one goes all in for 1641 which player two instantly calls.

Player one turns over 8c9c for a missed open ended straight and flush draw and player twos aces and queens wins the pot.

Analysis

The reason I picked this hand is afterwards some players at the table called player two an idiot while others complimented him for making a great play - any hand that divides player opinions like this is always interesting.

The pre-flop action is pretty standard in a tournament like this: player one wants to see a flop with a suited connector and player two wants to build a pot with aces. Calling a smallish re-raise from a player in the small blind is ok from player one - a suited connector is a good hand to take a flop with in position with decent stacks behind.

The flop is a great flop for both players - over pair for player two and flush draw and open-ended straight draw for player one. Player two makes an interesting bet - 399 into a pot of 450 - which sells the hand nicely (think of shops selling goods at $3.99 instead of $4 - a subtle psychological ploy), while also pricing out draws.

Player one elects to just call this bet with their monster (8c9c is actually a 5% favourite over aces on the flop) probably wanting to hit one of their 15 outs before committing all of their stack.

The turn comes the Qh - a dangerous card for player two as it is quite likely player one called with a hand like KQ/QJ/AQ pre-flop and has now made trips - and elects to check. Player one bets 500 into a pot of 1248.

In my opinion this bet gives away a huge amount of information about their hand. Firstly, it is unlikely that they have a queen or a full house, nearly all low stakes players would check their trips/full house in this spot, hoping that they can let you catch up and trap you for more bets later. Secondly, that they do have a hand of some kind - it is rare at these stakes that players will make advanced plays like calling large bets on the flop and value bet bluffing the turn.

This leaves a variety of hands left - straight draws, flush draws and possibly hands like 88, 99, or JJ (they may think you have AK and are genuinely trying to get value from their hand) - all of which Aces are beating. In the face of these factors I think player two’s flat call is good for one reason - how the river will be played.

If the river comes a club or a card that fills a straight draw (all of which could give player one trips if they hold a medium pocket pair), player one is likely to value bet the river and aces can be folded easily.

If none of these cards come then player one is probably going to either a) check the hand down, or b) put in a big bet bluff on the river. Either of these options is desirable for player two if a blank river comes - either way a big pot is won - the only question is how big.

Player two’s check when the three comes out is not actually a defensive move - it is a trap. I think this is pretty likely considering the instant call player two makes. Surely they would think for at least a second if they were worried about trip Queens or a full house? After all, they put in a long pause on the turn thinking about the 500 bet.
Good luck and don t forget ... Pocket acesr are not invincible ! Don t overvalue them !