[Closed] AA against flop Raise

By calling down, I believe that you have actually underrepresented the strength of your hand. I would 3-bet the flop or perhaps lead or check-raise the turn, and I would call down if I faced even more aggression after that. Folding does not seem like a good option at any point.

The raise on the flop could represent strength, since the player raised in a 4-way pot. However, AA is ahead of many strong hands like TPTK, lower overpairs, flush draws + overcards, etc. It even has a lot of equity against two pair. You have two backdoor draws in case you are behind.

In addition, the raise on the flop may not represent as much strength as you think. Some players will view your continuation bet as automatic, and will raise to try to isolate you with relatively weak hands. This makes the other players have to call at least a double bet without closing the action if they want to see the turn. I don't expect many of your opponents have read Small Stakes Hold'em, but perhaps some of the tighter and more serious players have, and this type of raise is highly recommended in that book.

It is possible that you will run into some players who are passive enough that you can fold AA to a raise, or to a flop raise and a turn bet. However, if you learn to do that, then you will need to unlearn it as you move up and encounter more aggressive players. It is highly exploitable to fold AA so easily, since you will not call down very often at all if you can't call with AA.

Originally posted by pzhon
By calling down, I believe that you have actually underrepresented the strength of your hand. I would 3-bet the flop or perhaps lead or check-raise the turn, and I would call down if I faced even more aggression after that. Folding does not seem like a good option at any point.

The raise on the flop could represent strength, since the player raised in a 4-way pot. However, AA is ahead of many strong hands like TPTK, lower overpairs, flush draws + overcards, etc. It even has a lot of equity against two pair. You have two backdoor draws in case you are behind.

In addition, the raise on the flop may not represent as much strength as you think. Some players will view your continuation bet as automatic, and will raise to try to isolate you with relatively weak hands. This makes the other players have to call at least a double bet without closing the action if they want to see the turn. I don't expect many of your opponents have read Small Stakes Hold'em, but perhaps some of the tighter and more serious players have, and this type of raise is highly recommended in that book.

It is possible that you will run into some players who are passive enough that you can fold AA to a raise, or to a flop raise and a turn bet. However, if you learn to do that, then you will need to unlearn it as you move up and encounter more aggressive players. It is highly exploitable to fold AA so easily, since you will not call down very often at all if you can't call with AA.

good post!

i agree with pzhon and basically you should consider yourself to be almost always ahead with an overpair, unless a flush and a straight is already possible but neither a flush nor a straight is possible and so you don't have to be scared of many better hands running against you. 3bet the flop and then go from there.

Hi Guys,

Sorry for taking so long to reply.
Thanks for the advice so I shouldn't be so worried with the re raise as my opponent could be holding a lot of weaker hands and trying to isolate.
Maybe reevaluating my hand on the turn after facing more aggression.

Cheers ♦