what should i have done??

[Locohombre]

Originally Posted by Iceman37

...you can't lay down AK suited? Who's the "everybody" who "knows" that? There's no hand I cant lay down except the bullets (and if I'm playing with the mortgage money and the preflop bet puts me allin, I'd even consider throwing THOSE in the muck). Let's remember, you're not on TV and the only person seeing your cards is YOU. So yeah, if your gut is telling you you're behind...or you are too short on cash...or you don't think you can outplay this guy if the hand requires maneuvering...or you have to piss and your concentration is shot--whatever--you can most certainly lay the hand down.

Now let's get something clear. I'm not saying you SHOULD lay it down. I'm saying you certainly CAN. That decision rests entirely within your gut while you're staring at that stack of chips he just threw in front of him. You know the player, you know how you're playing on the night, you know if you're tired or (heaven forbid) drunk or playing with scared money. You KNOW what call to make...and either one may very well be the right one.

One of the great (and absolutely most ignored, especially among today's players) maxims of poker is "choose your battles". If your opponent is the way you say he is (in your second post), then you know he's got a hand. It almost doesn't matter WHAT it is. You're behind versus ANY pair (not much, but behind nonetheless), you're crippled versus KK, you're dead in the water versus AA, and HIS AK could be just as suited as yours...what other hand could he possibly be playing? And you know the liklihood is it's one of the big three, two of which utterly destroy your odds. ANOTHER great poker maxim is DON'T CONTINUE THE HAND WHEN YOU'RE TAKING THE WORST OF IT.

But if, as the other poster says, you see poker as "gambling" (what person who calls himself a poker player thinks that???), then by all means gamble. Maybe if you get clocked by the guy, he'll give you enough money to go play the nickel slots or the roulette wheel or something equally ludicrous.

But first of all, you never fold AA preflop, since the odds are always in your favor with it. Second, why in the hell are you gambling with mortgage money?! It seems you may have a problem.

[Iceman37]

Thank you, but no, I don't have a problem. And the point remains that there is no hand you can't lay down, period. Circumstances, not just what's printed on those two pieces of cardboard, dictate if and how you play a hand. It's always been that way, it will always be that way. There are no hard and fast rules, and certainly nothing saying that you "always" or "never" do something.

And you're NOT always the favorite with AA, since there are two other aces in the deck. Unlikely perhaps, but possible that someone else is playing the other pair. This makes your AA a coin-toss preflop, and a loser if four of his suit hit the board.

Of course it would be highly odd, and under all but the most unusual circumstances extremely improper, to ever lay down aces preflop. But don't say it's a "never". The only thing that's a "never" in poker is, well, never say never.

A great discussion on the very concept of laying down pocket aces can be found elsewhere in the forum, the result of a thread asking "would you" if it was the first hand of the WSOP and two other people were already all-in. I think it's in the "tournament strategy" section.

[brofriend]

Maybe I am wrong but I believe AA is always the favorite

[RoyalGamer]

what about callin ... i mean i think AK is too overraited... in tournaments you should be playing pretty aggresive... but in cash games... you just could of called there... you have postion on him... after flop comes... you play it out.. if he bets.. you make a raise anyways if you hit or didnt hit... maybe he has same hand.. and he will lay that down... if he has big pp and you didnt hit A or K .. well he will come over the top... but you still will lose less money than you would if you would reraise him back and got reraised from him...
but if you hit your AK.. well same thing you play it aggresive if he reraised you bad.. then its up to you... do you think he has the same hand ... or he hit big.. depends on situation really... but i would really suggest callin with AK.... and be able to lay it down... (callin if you have positon on him... and its late pos... on button call is i think 90% right in most cases... anyways... i would like to hear some feedbacks about callin with AK on postion...