An interesting hand this from last nights session, I played it a bit unusually to be honest.
I'll put the hand history up first then explain my thinking in the hand afterwards and see what you think.
Fletch 10475294-2455 Holdem No Limit $2/$4
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Hand Start.
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 1 : SheriffEarl has $451
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 2 : incongruous has $248.50
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 3 : Golden4 has $298
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 4 : Astro-Nut has $263.75
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 5 : cooljake22 has $206.25
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 6 : cmcoolidge has $705.25
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 7 : 40ozslushy has $643
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 8 : BBDefendah has $668.75
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : Seat 9 : ZonInstinct has $260.53
[Aug 26 02:34:09] : ZonInstinct is the dealer.
[Aug 26 02:34:10] : SheriffEarl posted small blind.
[Aug 26 02:34:10] : incongruous posted big blind.
[Aug 26 02:34:10] : Game [2455] started with 9 players.
[Aug 26 02:34:10] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Aug 26 02:34:10] : Seat 8 : BBDefendah has Ad Ac
[Aug 26 02:34:11] : Golden4 called $4
[Aug 26 02:34:13] : Astro-Nut folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:13] : cooljake22 folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:17] : cmcoolidge folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:18] : 40ozslushy folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:21] : BBDefendah called $4 and raised $16
[Aug 26 02:34:26] : ZonInstinct folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:29] : SheriffEarl folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:30] : incongruous folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:32] : Golden4 called $16
[Aug 26 02:34:32] : Dealing flop.
[Aug 26 02:34:32] : Board cards [Qd 9s Js]
[Aug 26 02:34:34] : Golden4 checked.
[Aug 26 02:34:36] : BBDefendah checked.
[Aug 26 02:34:36] : Dealing turn.
[Aug 26 02:34:36] : Board cards [Qd 9s Js 8c]
[Aug 26 02:34:40] : Golden4 bet $40
[Aug 26 02:34:46] : BBDefendah called $40
[Aug 26 02:34:46] : Dealing river.
[Aug 26 02:34:46] : Board cards [Qd 9s Js 8c Th]
[Aug 26 02:34:49] : Golden4 checked.
[Aug 26 02:34:53] : BBDefendah bet $123
[Aug 26 02:34:54] : Golden4 folded.
[Aug 26 02:34:55] : BBDefendah wins $123 as the last player standing
[Aug 26 02:34:57] : Hand is over.
Preflop is pretty normal I guess no need to debate that, 99/100 if you get AA preflop in a NL game then raise it up baby! The raise to 20 was pretty much the standard preflop in this game.
Now my opponent in this hand, Golden4, is probably the best player on VC at 2/4 and 3/6 NL - he is VERY good and aggressive. I would never play this hand like this against a poor opponent who will go to the felt with top pair on every board - I should make that clear now. It is not really that common on a friday night that I know I have to think about what the other player thinks I have
. However here I definately did and it is why I played it as such.
The flop was not really that great. A myriad of draws and two pair (and set of 9) combos were presenting themselves to me. Of course usually if I raise preflop I bet on the flop, and with AA even more so however I took the odd line of checking here for several reasons.
Firstly my opponent is good enough to realise I was playing tight and he was certainly not going to stack off to me here with AQ. For this reason I cannot stomach a lot of action from him on this flop. A check-raise is a definate possibility and I would have to insta fold if that happened. If I got flat called then we are odds on to see some sort of ugly card on the board (to create 4 to a straight, the Q pairing or the flush appearing) before the end of the hand, and if this happens it opens the door for me to be bluffed out of a large pot. If he is not going to give me any action when I am behind and I am going to lose more when I am ahead then I feel a check is the right option in this case. Against a bad player I might well have bet it. Another plus to checking is that it disguises my hand a little. Seeing as he is good enough to consider what I have he surely thinks I am betting AA KK QQQ and JJJ for SURE on this draw heavy board and a check will lead him into thinking AK which might cause him to call a bet later on by mistake and help get me paid off. The downside is of course I give him a free card which could very well help him on this board, however I am willing to take this risk for the reasons outlined above.
Well it was a nasty turn - the four to the straight came and now he bets. It is conceivable he has a ten but I am not convinced. He is aggressive and likes to bluff and I have to think that he puts me on AK. He surely thinks I would have bet all reasonable hands I would have raised with on this flop and thus I hold AK and have missed. I cannot give him credit for any set as he would have led the flop on the board, maybe 8s. Would he have led with a pair/draw combo on the flop like 910s or J10s...or would he have checked and played them like this? This is a possibility but I am not convinced. I figure because he is sure I have AK I have to call as he is sure I have no hand.
Well the river was pretty sweet....I am 100% sure its now a split pot! He definately was not limp/calling a raise utg with K10 so if he DID have a ten on the turn it is now a split (I doubt this is the case however). He cant really have a K here as KK or AK would have raised preflop and he probably folded any other hand with a K in it to my raise. He checks knowing fine well he has been caught. However I know that he thinks I hold AK, infact he is SURE I do and now is a sweet time to bluff. It is a split if I get called anyway (OK if he has the balls to do a river check raise he wins it outright but I cant see that happening here given my read) and I really think he will probably fold so I go ahead and bet the pot, to which he folds faster than the speed of light :drums .
It is interesting to actually end up having to bluff when you hold AA
...Usually you are trying to pretend you hold AA when you actually have AK, not the other way around
I should say that the unusual way I played this hand was mainly due to my opponent - you dont need to think so deeply about what your opponent thinks you have unless they are very good....If your playing your average online player you need only think about what they have, and if that had been the case here I would probably have played this hand very differently.
Jez