Smooth Calling A Re-Raise with AA

[Roscopiko]

Generally speaking I am talking about hand where having made a standard raise with AA, you are reraised and rather than expose the strength of your hand, just smooth call.

This seems to be a very popular pre flop play at the moment and I have seen it be both v effective and v expensive where u can encourage hands such as AK KK AQ QQ and JJ to continue pre flop where a reraise might lose the customer. (Unlikely admittedly with KK).

Major downfall of course is the odd inevitable outdrawn flop but due to pre flop action you can be fairly confident of opponents range.

Personally got suckered with this play in GUKPT last year when I held KK.  Flop came without an A and I was married to the hand.  Luckily I rivered the K and lived to tell the tale but it did force a big error against a player I thought I had well read.

[George2Loose]

Smooth calling here depends what you put your opponent on and how likely they are to fold a hand.

I know people who won"t lay down nines pre flop so no point in smooth calling- just stick it in and take your 4-1 shot

[Roscopiko]

I"m with you on that, I would generally be trying to make good with the AA and get as many chips in the middle as I can pre flop but it does provide greater opportunities to build a bigger stack on later streets, especially in later stages where the reraise might scare off your customer.

Not really used it too often myself, only really when I am stacked and know my oppo might be squeezing or playing more marginal hands.

[AMRN]

Situation has to come into the decision here though - in a large MTT if you are short stacked with AA, surely the correct move is to push preflop. The re-raiser is likely to put you as a shortie on a wide range and will call more often than fold, meaning you achieved the desired result of all in with a caller whilst you are ahead. 

However, if you are deep stacked, then a smooth call might be a better option if only one other player in pot - you give him the rope to hang himself if he hits the flop sideways... but also you are not committed to the hand and can get away from a scary board.

BUT in a cash game at any level, I"m nearly always re-re-raising preflop to give the other guy the option of pushing back again. In a headsup situation, AA will win most of the time against any two cards, hence I want the opportunity for all the chips to get in preflop whilst it is in the lead.   He might have QQ/JJ, and if the flop comes with overcard after your smooth call, any decent player should be able to fold the QQ/JJ..... get all the chips in preflop and he doesn"t have the option.  It"s also amazing how many people are prepared to stick all their chips in the middle preflop with AK in cash games - smooth calling denies them the opportunity to do so.

[kinboshi]

If it"s the first hand of a deepstack tourney, shove it in.  Loads of people will call with KK and quite a few with QQ.

Happy days.

[tumblet]

If it"s the first hand of a deepstack tourney, shove it in.  Loads of people will call with KK and quite a few with QQ.

Happy days.

                 

[Roscopiko]

If it"s the first hand of a deepstack tourney, shove it in.  Loads of people will call with KK and quite a few with QQ.

Happy days.

Wow is that like 5 callers guaranteed? ALL IN!!  

[deanp27]

this is purely situation/player/position/stack dependant.

works well against players who are savvy enough to know that a 4bet is usually KK or AA, but obviously you need to be aware it carries more risk than the standard rereraise.

but there are so many factors to consider when weighing this up that its difficult to give a generic answer.

but generally in donkfests that i play online i am just shipping it in. Live games that i play tend to be more cautious preflop, so i have to be more crafty, unless i have been reraising often.

[mal666]

there was an excellent example of this play in an ept game where gus hansen made the inital raise in seat 2 with AA,the action is then folded round to the sb who reraised,
gus being gus instantly puts his oppo on a big pair(reraisng s2 out of position) so he smooth calls the rr, and 5 low cards later gus has doubled up,easy.
oh the sb had KK

[BobFish]

I think it is OK to smooth call with aces providing you"ve only got 1 opponent along for the ride.  If you get carnage with all-ins from KK QQ JJ etc (as per earlier post), there"s a good change the Aces will be busted. 

It"s a 7-1 to hit a set when holding a pocket pair.  Therefore with 2 players in the hand, it"s 7 - 2 that someone will hit a set.  With 4 in the hand it"s 7 - 4.

In other words if you are holding Aces, with 3 other players all in with pocket pairs, it"s 7 - 1 you will hit Trip Aces but 7 - 3 (just  2 1/3- 1) that one of the other pair"s will hit the set.  And that"s not including things like straights & flushes which can also fall to high connectors, but are much less likley when holding pocket aces.

This is the problem with aces when you are playing in a Donk-fest and get multiple callers.  They are often beaten with much worse starting hands.