Texas Holdem Poker
Scenario is heads up in a $5 dollar NL Holdem tournament. I have a chip stack of around 40k to his 25k...blinds are at 1k/2k... This player im up against has been super aggressive raising preflop manier a time.
I am dealt read aces in the SB.. and i only call...hoping he will raise which he does 4k..and then i re-raise him 8k...Trying to give him the idea im buying pot..he cant possibly put me on aces...he just calls.
Flop comes k 4 j rainbow......straight away he is all in..with his remaining chips...Im hoping he didnt hit two pair or a set...but im pretty happy putting my chips in..which i do..
He turns over K2 to my AA...
Turn - j .........River 3...
Aces and jacks beats king and jacks and i take out tourney..........Im not a fan of slow playing aces but this was 2nd time in a row ive done it and both times ive taken entire chip stacks....Good play or just lucky?
Good play, but of course slow playing bullets can be detrimental. especially in heads up. I wouldnt take the chance.... but in your case it worked. Congrats!
Let me preface by saying that I'm new to poker, but learning as much as I can. So please correct me if I'm wrong.
Isn't what you did essentially a pre-flop check raise? You had reason to believe that he was going to raise and you were able to suck him out. I wouldn't consider this slow playing.
And a question for Ricky Chan. Why would slow playing AA be more detrimental in heads up than in a full table? It would seem to be the opposite to me.
Thanks for any insight.
In my experience it is much better to slow play heads up contrary to what another poster said especially against an aggressive player because you only have one hand to beat you're not really risking a free flop for 5 callers like early in a tournament when lots of people see the flop with drawing hands hoping to hit when the blinds are low. Good play.
I play NL .25/.50 Hold Em' at Ultimate Bet. I will never slow play aces again. I had always made huge raises pre-flop and then another big raise after the flop, and I had never taken a bad beat when doing this strategy. Granted, I never won huge pots, but basically some small-medium pots.
However, last week I decided I'd slow-play them somewhat. Instead of going all-in preflop, which is what I usually do, I only raised $2.00. This was a substantial raise in my mind, but not huge, I got one caller. Flop comes 9 7 4. I bet another $2.00 and he calls. I've got him on a pair of nines at best, maybe a higher pocket pair, but I doubt it. Next comes a 2. I bet another $2.00, he calls. The river bring a 10. I bet another $2.00 and he reraises to $10.00, and I can't figure what is going on. Anyway, I can't lay down pocket aces and I call it. He flips over 6 8 (unsuited too) for the straight. Needless to say, I was pissed. I just couldn't understand how he even called my raise pre-flop with that crappy hand.
Since then, I have made it a rule to basically just go ahead and push it all in if I get pocket aces. If I get a caller, great, if I don't, at least I won't lose a big pot.
Smooth calling and/or slow playing aces pre-flop is exactly what you are supposed to do heads up.
Shivvy in your example you should have ratcheted up the pressure post-flop with a potential straight on the board, and certainly not called the last $10 with only pocket aces.
Heads up it's a smart play. Just be ready for the occasional loss that will happen when he gets his card on the turn or river.
I actually do it rarely. Typically only very late in tournaments when I'm almost guaranteed aggressive raises and heads up play.
It's been done to me twice. I got knocked out of a tournement last night holding KQ flop was QT2 rainbow. I put in about half my stack against the one guy who had called my raise after thinking about it I went all in and he turned over AA.
About a week ago I was dealt pocket JJ. Raised, was called by one player. Flop comes JXX. I bet huge am raised all in. He turns over AA I show him my 3 Jacks. As an observer he tells me how lucky I got.
I'm begining to wonder if this is a weakness in my game or if other players are just morons! I'm becoming increasingly amazed by some of the all-in calls I'm seeing both online and B&M.
Personally I won't call someone's all in unless I am a) confident I'm ahead OR b) It is less than 10% my stack to call and will take someone out OR c) I'm short stacked and there is real value in the pot that justify the play rather than waiting for the big hand.
For example, I have 1500 chips in a 10 seater NL tourney with 6 people left. I'm in a mid-late position and raise 400 chips with KQs a raise of 4BB and the SB goes all-in for all my chips. I think about it and conclude I'm against a made pair or at best Ace high so I fold. So many of the players I play every day would call there but I have no problem at all laying that hand or better even down!!
The reason I raise the topic is because of the amount of times I'm being called by inferior hands that are hitting and wondering why on earth they called in the first place!!
Unless someone can provide insite into my game and can convince me that calling all-in with A3s when you MUST KNOW you're against a better kicker is a good play then I guess this topic is a bit of a misnomer given I can't change what people call with.
Maybe its just been one of those nights. Had AKs busted by 67o - lol (that time I called the all-in)
Paradise .05/.10 NL
I'm on the BB with 7c8c. There were five players in the hand and the pot was unraised.
The flop was 3h5c6c ($.50). I had an open-ended straight flush draw. The SB checks, and I bet $.60 and get two callers.
Turn 3c ($2.30) I made my flush, and still have a redraw to a SF if the 4c or 9c hits the board. I'm in a somewhat tough situation being UTG with a flush that's not the nuts. I got two callers, so someone could have a bigger flush, or be on a straight draw. I figure I need to make a bet to see where I stand. If I get raised here, I fold. I decided to bet $1.50, a little more than half the pot. Well the first guy folds, and the button flat calls.
River Ks ($5.30) I have about $8.50 and my sole opponent has about $3.50. My thought is that if he had a bigger flush, he would have let me know on the turn. I still want to be somewhat safe here. I don't want to commit too much money, but if my hand is good and he called this far, maybe he will keep me honest for a small bet. I bet $1, he quickly moves all-in, leaving me with a choice of calling an additional $2.50 into a $9.80 pot.
Do You call his all-in here?
What do you think he has?
Interesting. He didn't come in hard enough to have KK. He probably didn't fill up on the turn, he would have raised. If he were check-calling on the turn with a bigger flush out of fear of a full house, he wouldn't come over you on the river when you led out. I'm guessing AcKx and he's hoping you missed whatever you were drawing to. But I fear he has Kc3x, and you were beaten.
I think he slow played a set of five's or six's. Caught his boat at the turn and was letting you bet your flush to the river. A small pair wouldn't raise pre-flop but a KK would have.
Since I have been on tilt after a string of bad beats, I called his raise even though I knew I was beat. No one thought he could have had KK, but that's precisely what he had. Bruce gets the gold star because he got the Kc part right. Sneaky bastard slowplayed KK and got lucky on the river.
Even if he raised pre-flop, I would have called with my hand if his raise was less than 5% of my stack. With the open ended straight flush draw on the flop I would have leaned into him hard. I would do this because I would know he has a big pair or big slick. I want to get him heads up and shut out any other possible draws so that all my outs are good. The money would have just gone in the middle on the flop. He just happened to hit his miracle on the river.
One of my BIGGEST leaks is not slowing down when there's a big pot and I have a big hand. I rarely if ever stop to think how far behind I may actually be. This also illustrates the NL Principle of Be careful not to get broke in an unraised pot.
Paradise .05/.1 NL I have $30 and I'm on the button with 3s4s. I limp in for $.10.
Flop 34K rainbow. It's checked around to the second biggest stack in MP. He has just under $20 in front of him. He leads out for $.40, and two players call between us. I re-raise it to $2, MP flat calls, the other players fold. I'm a little uneasy here, thinking I may be behind. I'm almost prepared to fold the turn without giving a single thought to what his hand might be. As cruel poker fate would have it, the turn was another 4. I filled in and all common sense went out the window. I played like a fuckin amateur, concentrating only on my cards and not what he might have. He leads on the turn for $2, I raise it up making for a $10 pot going into the river. I don't remember what the river was, but he bet $4 on the river. Without even giving it a second thought I set him all in, figuing I would quit after this hand with a healthy profit. He called and there was nearly $40 in the pot.
Before I knew what hit me, the chips were sliding away from me. What the fuck? I looked at his cards. K4 offsuit for crying out loud. He made fours full of kings and I was back down to $10.
I was steamed to say the least. The only smart thing I did was to quit playing after that hand. On the bright side of things, I still finished the session up $2. The past few days have been a string of bad beats, suckouts, and tilt induced loose calls, I think I need to take a few days off from poker. Seems like everytime I break someone, I turn around and get AA and give it all away to some moron who goes all-in pre flop with 36s and catches a flush, or someone who hits their miracle draw on the river.
