In my continuing effort to work on "getting away from strong hands when raised on the turn", this is a hand I had in my notes that I played back on 2005-01-02. I think this is an example of one I can't get away from, but I'm posting it for posterity and to see if others agree.
In an online $5/$10 limit HE game, I picked up AA
in the big blind. There are three limpers before me
(putting the pot at 4.5 small bets). I decided to raise right there, to
build the pot. I would rather win a bigger pot, and punish those who
limped with trash. Of course, with my tight image, this gives away that I
have a big hand preflop. (That's the typical trade-off for raising with
a strong holding in the BB.)
Everyone called the preflop raise, so we saw a flop of 3
Q
5
four-handed, and with 8.5 small bets in the pot.
I bet out on the flop, and a hyperaggressive player named Morron (interesting name, that) raised me. I reraise and he called. Someone in-between us also called, so we saw the turn three handed with about 8.5 big bets in the pot.
I was pretty sure that Morron had a pretty good hand. Even though his aggression was typical, he wasn't usually terribly aggressive with three in the pot -- he saved his most aggressive tendencies for heads-up play. I figure he had KQ or a holding like that. I was pretty convinced it was simply a strong queen he was overplaying a bit. Q5 and Q3 weren't really possibilities, since Morron had reasonable starting hand selection (even though he was hyperaggressive) and he had been in early position preflop.
The turn fell 5, pairing fives. I bet again, and Morron raised,
giving the pot 10.5 big bets. The other guy folded. So, I'd have to call
two big bets to showdown (because I know it will go check-bet-call on the
river). I'm thus offered 1-to-5.25. The question was: are those odds
good enough to justify the idea that he didn't flop a set or holds a 5? I
decided that they did, so I called, the river came 3
, with the expected check-bet-call, and Morron showed A
5
.
I wonder, can I get away from that hand? Should I have gotten away? Don't I have to put him on at least trips when the 5 turns? OTOH, he's hyperaggressive, so I should call, I guess. I'm not sweating the call down, but I am trying figure out the right lines of when to get away from raises on the turn in limit HE.