The Highs And Lows Of Pocket Aces

Two hands I played today where I had pocket Aces. The first one is the sort of thing that makes me hate poker a little. The other made up for it, both emotionally and financially.

This guy was playing over 90% of his hands, shoving pre and postflop like crazy with complete garbage. So of course, he catches when I get a monster.

Poker Stars No Limit Hold'em - 3 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BB: 154.5
Hero (BTN): 343.5
SB: 92

Pre Flop: (1.5) Hero is BTN with A AHero raises to 4, 1 fold, BB raises to 154.5 all in, Hero calls 150.5

Flop: (309.5) 4 9 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: (309.5) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (309.5) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: 309.5
BB shows 9 9 (four of a kind, Nines)
Hero shows A A (a full house, Aces full of Nines)
BB wins 294.5
(Rake: 15)

Me hitting the third Ace on the River, giving me the full house, was like an extra poke in the eye.

Later on in the session at another table, I get Aces again. This time there's a tough River decision.

Poker Stars No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: 250
SB: 156.5
Hero (BB): 269.5
UTG: 117
MP: 141
CO: 55

Pre Flop: (1.5) Hero is BB with A A
UTG calls 1, MP calls 1, 2 folds, SB calls 0.50, Hero raises to 7, UTG calls 6, 1 fold, SB calls 6

Flop: (22) 2 6 6 (3 players)
SB bets 5, Hero raises to 25, UTG folds, SB calls 20

Turn: (72) 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets 50, SB calls 50

River: (172) 4 (2 players)
SB bets 74.5 all in, Hero calls 74.5

Final Pot: 321
SB shows 8 T (a pair of Sixes)
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
Hero wins 306
(Rake: 15)

The villain on this one had been playing nearly any two cards, and was donking into a lot of flops. Sometimes with air, sometimes with a draw or a hand. I've seen him stack off with second pair weak kicker. So obviously, paired boards are absolutely something he'll bluff donkbet.

Facing his flop donkbet, with another player to act behind me, there's no way I'm calling. I'm going to raise and hopefully take it down right away. If I get reraised then he probably hit a set and I can safely fold. Raising also makes sense, because he's betting less than a quarter of the pot, out of position, on a multiway flop. It's a shame that I didn't have the other caller between me and him so I could've squeezed a bit more value out of that player. After all, they're more likely to call a small flop bet and fold to a raise than they were to call a bet and a raise in front. Of course, the other player folds and the villain just  calls. Now I'm putting him on a weaker two pair at best. Possibly something like A2.

I fire the turn for value. Given his tendencies, if he has 54 there's no way he's checking here. I'm also reasonably confident that I won't get check-raised, since his check raise stat was 0%.

The donk shove on the river is interesting. He could have a 5 giving him the straight. He could also have a pair of 4's giving him a full house. I did put him on a weak two pair. Frankly, his range is so wide that he could have literally anything.

If I didn't have a decent read that he's probably bluffing here, this would've been an snap fold. As it was, I thought about it for a few seconds, and mentally berated myself for over-valuing top-pair as I was clicking the call button. I couldn't believe it when he flipped over a busted ten-high flush draw.