Limping With Aces, Part One - Pick The Right Spot

I RARELY limp with Aces. I RARELY flat-call a raise with Aces. But in certain situations I am willing to do it. Here are three examples, one of which is from my play.

My wife told me about a hand of 25c/50c NL she played the other day. She had AA in late position, a couple of people had limped, and then another player made it $3 to go. She flat-called the raiser and I believe all the other players folded. I really like this play for two reasons. Since the raiser had raised a significant amount, it was unlikely that anyone else would be able to call the raise without a very big hand, so there was no reason for her to reraise to drive the other players out. Also, if she had reraised to $8-9, I think the other player would have to put her on at least KK and most probably would have to fold. The flop came A-9-7, the raiser bet out, and my wife called. The turn was a blank, he bet out again, and she called again. The river was another blank, he fired a third shell, and my wife reraised him the minimum. He called, and it turned out that he had flopped trips as well, as he held 99, and my wife scooped a very nice pot. I was actually surprised he didn't push over the top of her raise on the river, but he must have sensed that she either had AA or that she would have to fold a lesser hand to his push. Well-played hand by all parties involved - I don't know that the guy with 99 could have played it much differently since there was really only one hand that could beat him.

I was playing 25c/50c NL at a table where there had been a lot of limping and mini-reraising going on, so I decided to limp UTG with AA. I had already limped a couple of times in early position with smaller pairs and hands like QJ suited and folded to big reraises. There were a couple of smallish stacks ($15-20) at the table, and one of them mini-raised my limp to $1, another small guy called the mini-raise, and a third guy called as well. When it got back to me I reraised, making it $5 to go, hoping that at least one of the small stacks would call, and was pleasantly surprised when they both did and everyone else folded. The flop came 10-8-4 with two diamonds, and since neither of the other players had more than about the size of the pot in front of them, I pushed all-in and watched them both fold. (As an aside, these guys were really terrible - I don't know how or why you would put only $5 of your $18-20 stack in the pot at any time UNLESS you have Kings or Aces and are slowplaying, like in the next example - if you are gonna play for that % of your stack push it all in pre-flop or fold.) I think I did about as well as I could on this hand - if I raised pre-flop I might not have gotten any action, and if I had it would have been for less money. And there was no reason to slow-play the flop - if they had two diamonds or any kind of draw they would probably have called and I certainly wasn't folding to any bet so I might as well just get it in there and make them make the hard decision.

The third example happened at this same table earlier in the evening. A very small stack ($9) limped UTG, and I reraised to $2 in middle position with KK. The guy to my left called, and when it got back to the small stack he reraised it to $3.50. At this point, I felt pretty sure he had AA, but since he only had another $5.50 behind I called the raise willing to risk another $7 on the hand, also taking into account that the guy to my left probably couldn't ALSO have AA and so if I lost the main pot to the small stack I might still be able to win a good-sized side pot from him. The flop came small, 2-3-4 or 2-4-5 with two hearts, and the small stack checked. I immediately bet his remaining $5.50, and was surprised when the guy to my left, who I had covered but still had $30 or so, repopped it up to $11. The small stack obviously called, and since I was now positive he had to have AA, I put the other player on a lower pair like tens or jacks or queens, and so I pushed all-in. He called with what turned out to be 10 10 and I was able to scoop the side pot when no ten came, but lost the main pot to the small stack and his Aces. I benefited greatly from the small stack's limp, because if he had come in for a raise, I certainly would have reraised enough pre-flop to put him all in, and I seriously doubt that the guy with the 10 10 would have called that reraise. And he benefited as well - he tripled up !