POTD #289 The Dream Flopping Top Set with AA in a Three Bet Pot
But I get too tricky and fail to capitalize on the situation
Most poker players tend to be better at playing great hands than bad hands. This might seem obvious: If someone shoves the river, you snap call with the nuts, but need to think with second pair. However, what I specifically mean is that great hands are often outlier hands with clear strategies. What should I do with AQ preflop facing a raise 100bbs deep? Sometimes call, sometimes three-bet. What if I three-bet and get four-bet? Sometimes call, sometimes fold, sometimes five-bet. What about AA? Always three-bet. Almost always call a four-bet. Easy.
The other reason why it’s easier to play great hands than bad hands is from a range construction perspective, it’s easy to remember what to do when you have a great hand… look at your two cards, you have a great hand, it’s time to implement Great Hand Strategy™. Balancing your range by adding bluffs, but just enough bluffs that you aren’t unbalanced is tricky, and also requires work. You need to look down at A4o and actively decide to play it like AA sometimes. You can just play AA like AA, you don’t need to worry about playing it like A4o. The rules for playing great hands are often pretty simple: You bet smaller because it’s harder for your opponent to bluff-catch when you have a very strong hand and because you don’t need to worry about protecting your own equity because your hand is strong. It’s more likely your opponent will improve to a second-best hand than improve to one that’s beating yours. However, you also want to build a pot and get lots of money in the middle, so you need to balance getting as much money as possible in the pot with not knocking your opponent out of the hand.
In today’s hand, I have the board totally locked. It feels like my opponent will never be able to bluff catch versus me, so I default to a normal pattern: Play passively, let him bluff or improve. But in the process I missed an even more important concept: When you have a great hand you want to put money in the pot versus hands you have drawing dead.
Triton London 2023 - Event #5 $50k NLH 8-Handed
(1.5k/3k/3k) (SB/BB/BBA) 200k Starting Stack. Registration is Open.
It folds to Pascal Lefrancois (154k) on the button, he makes it 7k, I (168k) make it 26k, with A♥️A♣️ in the SB, Pascal calls.
Flop (58k) A♠️K♥️7♥️: I bet 12k, Pascal calls
Turn (82k) 2♥️: I check, Pascal checks
River (82k) 7♦️: I bet 28k, Pascal folds.
