General rule of thumb is, it is better to win a small pot than lose a huge one.
Lets say you give the big blind a free look with aces, hoping to pick up some money post flop. The flop comes out 2 7 J.
The BB bets, you raise, he raises, you shove he calls - and turns J2o, a nice big blind special for all your money.
There are some situations where it can be better to flat with KK or AA to a 2 or 3 bet - I use "On3betfold" on my elephant HUD for just that reason, and also have Squeeze% up so I know if a call might be profitable by encouraging someone behind me to squeeze raise - but generally you just want to play these hands fairly straight forward, especially at micro limits against mostly unknown players.
What if he opened with AJo and the flop came KQT rainbow? You arn't easily folding your overpair and are probably going to lose a stack, when by raising you won 45 cents preflop.
Actually I have a great hand that I played just 4 days ago that shows why you should almost never trap with AA.
Known players:
- Position:
- Stack
- Hero:
- $11.27
- BU:
- $9.85
0.05/0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)
Hand recorder used for this poker hand: PokerStrategy.com Elephant 0.102 by www.pokerstrategy.com.
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J

, T
3 folds,
Hero raises to $0.40,
2 folds, BU calls $0.40,
2 folds.
Flop: ($0.95) K

, 9

, 4
(2 players)
Hero bets $0.72, BU calls $0.72.
Turn: ($2.39) Q
(2 players)
Hero bets $1.82,
BU raises to $3.84,
Hero raises to $10.15 (All-In), BU calls $4.89 (All-In), Hero gets uncalled bet back (All-In).
River: ($19.85) 3
(2 players)
Final Pot: $19.85
Results follow (highlight to see):
Hero shows a straight, king high (Js Ts)
BU shows (Ah As)
Hero wins with a straight, king high (Js Ts)