Q&A #15: Playing AA from the Blinds in a Big Pot (Limit)

To give you a sense of where to draw the line between building the pot and protecting it, here’s an example where might try the protection play.

You have AA on the button. Three limpers, and the cutoff raises. You reraise, the limpers call, and the cutoff caps. Everyone calls. The flop comes J 9 7 . You don’t have the A . Everyone checks to the cutoff, who bets.

In this situation, I might just call.

I would never just call in this situation. Never. This is a picture perfect setup. If you call K-7 will call and snap you on the turn for one bet. He most likley won’t call two bets.

If you just call and K-7 calls then pocket fours will call, etc., etc., etc.

I raise here all day long.

I would never just call in this situation. Never. This is a picture perfect setup. If you call K-7 will call and snap you on the turn for one bet. He most likley won’t call two bets.

If you just call and K-7 calls then pocket fours will call, etc., etc., etc.

I raise here all day long.

If you raise, you give anyone approximately 1-12 odds to call, an easy call for any more than 3.5 outs (some outs may not win 100% of the time). This will in turn make it near impossible to protect the pot if garbage shows up on the turn, making it correct for any limper to try again.
If instead you call, everyone else will call since the pot is so big. Now let’s say garbage shows up on the turn. The action will be checked to CO who will bet. If you raise here to protect your hand, it’ll be more correct. This will give everyone approximate 1-8 odds (slightly lower than 8 actually) making it incorrect for anyone with less than 5.5 outs. So any pocket pair will be incorrect to call, unless connected to other outs, or K-7 having only 5 outs will be slightly incorrect in calling, as long as the turn didn’t help K-7 in any way.