to fold or not to fold
So today I was playing NL 40/100, I wasn't playing many hands today because I wasn't being dealt good hands what so ever. So finally after 2 hours I get dealt AK off suit in the late position. Now this is where I feel I went wrong, instead of 3 betting I called the blind hoping to get a decent flop, because when I had played my big blinds the flops were nothing good. One of the 2 players to call is a VERY loose/aggressive player. the flop came 7QA, giving me ace high pair. Mr. loose bets 20 and player 1 folds, I elect to call. the turn came 6 of diamonds, Mr. Loose goes all in and I follow quickly thinking I have top pair and ok odds to get two pair, not a set because one ace was mucked pre-flop. river comes its a 3 of spades. We show and he has two pair with Q7. I loose my stack and go home annoyed. What should I have done differently?
It doesn't matter that when you had played previous big hands, there was nothing good on the flop. Every hand is entirely independent of each other. All that matters is whether your current hand in your current position is good enough to raise with or not. AK from late position is definitely good enough to raise with. So, you should have raised preflop.
As played, I think just calling on the flop is fine. A loose player is going to have a lot of worse aces in that spot. So, you want to just call on the flop hoping that he will shove on the turn all of the times that he is behind your AK. Once he does shove on the turn, you have to call. Again, a loose player is going to have a lot of worse aces in that spot and you need to call the shove to get full value in those spots. This particular hand, he had 2 pair; it happens.
If you had raised preflop, then maybe the player you describe as "Mr. Loose" still calls and you get stacked anyhow. But, it is still a better way to play the hand than the way that you did play it -- and that's what is important. The more that you play hands better than your opponents, the more that you will win long term. An opponent can get lucky on a single hand, in a single session, or even over a few sessions; but, the longer you play, the more money will go to the better players.
Dave
Raised before the flop to get th BS loose cannon hands out. No raise means go home broke.
Always value bet preflop... I would never limp with qq or better, wouldn't even limp with suited connectors... that's how he beat you... you flat called when you should've represented the aces... and allowed him to limp with shit cards which only helps the limper... always value bet preflop in cash games...
A good player wouldn't call a 5 times big bet preflop with q7... that's what you should've done and represent the aces afterwards on the flop.
He definitely seems aggressive the best way to get an aggressive poker player is to play passive at him... always bet small when you have the outs and let him call. Hope he raises... show weakness then when you get your outs show him the nuts.. he's aggressive and loose so you know he'll call, probably raise and more than likely shit cards. So you will have much better chance of getting a good river because you will only be playing suited connectors or better.
It happens tho, especially if you were there for a long time and tired...