Place: Poker Stars
Date: 03/20/2009
Before the following Amateur Poker Blunder took place, I can still remember the last time I limped with aces. It was about 3 years ago on Full Tilt. I had won a micro buy-in satellite to a $25+$2 tournament which, at the time, was probably the biggest buy-in I had ever participated in online (even though it only cost me a couple of bucks). Long story short, we were on the bubble, I limped with aces UTG, no-one raised, someone flopped two pair, and I ended up being the bubble boy. Since that day, I have have been a strong opponent of limping with aces, for obvious reasons. Whenever I play live and I see someone do it, I invariably bend their ear about why they did it, and about what a bad play I think it is.
Now I know some players will make a case for limping with aces in early position at an aggressive table (which was exactly the situation I found myself in the other day), but I think those same players will admit that it is also a very risky proposition. This is why my rule about limping with aces is don't do it ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. I don't think I had enough evers memorized, so here we are (thank you Brian Regan for the 'ever' bit).
This was not the same situation as 3 years ago by any means. That time I was just playing like a pussy because we were on the bubble. This time I think my pre-flop play was almost justified. My table was VERY aggressive. There were 3 different players that were consistently raising 4 to 5 times the blinds, even with what I consider to be marginal holdings. I had already seen two different players take advantage of this by limping in early position with AA and KK respectively, and both players got raised pre-flop and ended up raking in huge pots.
We are 9 handed and the blinds are at 30/60. I have 2920 in chips (below average for the table). I was UTG+1 and the action is folded to me. I look at A
A
.Now I have already mentioned how aggressive this table was, but like I said, I am usually dead against limping with aces. After all, I hadn't done it in THREE YEARS. That's a lot of poker hands and I must have had aces in early position hundreds of times over that span. But seeing the big pots raked in by those 2 other players with the same play, I end the drought.
I limp. A player in MP limps. The cutoff limps. The button limps. The SB completes. The BB checks.
@*#%!!! I wanted to cry. No one raised and now I am in a 6 way pot with aces. Not good. Any sane player knows to play the rest of this hand very cautiously, but I am slightly tilting because none of these loose aggressive players raised. Why me? It was at this moment I knew I was going to lose all my chips.
The flop comes out 7
26.I must say I was slightly relieved when I saw this flop. Barring someone limping with 77, 66 or 22, which would give them a set, there would have to be some really garbage hands out there for my aces to be behind. I think it's probably safe to thin out the field with a bet.
It is checked to me and I bet 300 into the 360 pot. The player in MP calls and everyone else folds.
Well at least there are only 2 players now. The player in middle position could have a wide variety of hands in a limped pot, but I narrow it down to A7, A6, maybe 88, but most likely a flush draw. Only a garbage hand has two pair or a straight draw so I rule those possibilities out. I am definitely thinking flush draw.
The turn comes out 4
.OK, that's gotta be a brick. I've already ruled out the straight draw so that card could not have helped. I decide to end his flush draw right here.
I push all in for 2560 into a 960 pot. My opponent snap calls and shows 7
2 for two pair. He has me covered.So now I AM crying. Not really but you can imagine how I felt after such a huge Blunder. At least I am not drawing dead.
The river bricks out 3
and I am eliminated.I don't think I have to tell you how demoralizing it feels to lose to 72 with AA, especially when it was all my fault for not raising pre-flop. But I guess this blog wouldn't exist if it weren't for Amateur Poker Blunders like this one.
So please, I beg you to use the following information against me. If we are playing against each other in a limped pot, I can one million percent guarantee I do not have aces. That's because I AM NEVER LIMPING WITH ACES AGAIN. This time I promise.
Your comments, critique, advice and ridicule are always appreciated. I have been called every name in the book, but keep in mind that your comments will be screened for profanity and/or spam.
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