HOME < strategies
change font size   Bookmark and Share

Why not to call a 3 bet pre flop with AA and equity demonstration

our users say that this strategy is worth: a royal flush
2 Games and Luck users rated this strategy.
The average rating has the value of:
A ROYAL FLUSH
Monday November, 16th 2009 by fullhouse

Poker players like to get tricky with their hands from time to time, but most of the time you will be better off sticking to the basics. Pocket aces and pocket kings are two hands that many players like to get creative with, especially pre flop. The problem with using this creativity is that you need to be able to play it just as creatively post flop. You will screw yourself to the ground by calling a 3 bet pre flop with a very strong hand as you will allow other players to catch up at relatively low cost. Sure, it might become obvious that you are holding a strong hand when you 4 or 5 bet pre flop, but if you are in a spot where you could 4 or 5 bet there is a good chance that the other player is willing to stack off. Think about what a 4 bet or 5 bet is, it is the fourth or fifth bet in one single street of betting. If there is this much action going on, why not take advantage of it by forcing the issue when you have a big hand? Clearly the other player has something decent; you might as well get the most you can from them before you have to see the flop, turn, or river. Take note of our hand in the example below and what happened to the other player because he decided to play his big hand unconventionally.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6-Max)

Button ($28.75)
SB ($14.90)
Hero (BB) ($108.50)
UTG ($69.50)
MP ($37.50)
CO ($41.65)

Preflop

Hero is BB with Kd, Kc
3 folds, Button bets $1.75, 1 fold, Hero raises to $5.50, Button calls $3.75
We are dealt the second best hand possible pre flop in pocket kings. The button open raises and we of course 3 bet him. He flats us so we should be putting him on a pretty strong hand. We want to avoid an ace on the flop and hopefully hit another king.

Flop

($11.25) 6d, Js, Qs (2 players)
Hero bets $7, Button raises to $23.25 (All-In), Hero calls $16.25
The flop isn’t the best we could have hoped for, but we are holding an over pair so we are forced to call the button’s shove over us. Now, there are many hands we beat, but there are still a few we lose to. Even if our hand is not the best at the moment we will be left with a bit of equity after factoring in the two remaining kings in the deck.

Turn

($57.75) Jh (2 players, 1 all-in)
The turn completely misses us and we have one last chance to improve our hand.

River

($57.75) Kh (2 players, 1 all-in)
The river gives us the virtual nuts as we only lose to pocket jacks. It turns out that we were beaten by aces, but we were left with equity on the flop and this equity was realized when we hit our king on the river.

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Button - Shows [Ad Ac] (Two Pair, aces and jacks)
Hero - Shows [Kd Kc] (Full house, kings full of jacks)
Total pot: $57.75