Here is my post in response to my previous challenge.
You’ve been folding every hand for the last three orbits. You’re getting ready to play any two paint cards from any position just to kill the boredom. You peek at the first card as it’s dealt to you and it’s and ace. “Great, here comes a deuce or seven,” you think to yourself. Instead, it’s another ace. Pocket aces!
And this is the point at which you get yourself in trouble.
The two most common reactions to finding pocket aces are:
Oh god, I never win with pocket aces.
Holy smokes! I’m going to win a huge pot!
But in reality, a single pair, even top pair, goes down in value in a multi-way pot.
The pessimist is afraid his aces won’t hold up and doesn’t act aggressively enough to push people out of the pot. He limps UTG or makes a min-raise and by the time it gets around to the blinds, the BB has pot odds to play nearly any two cards. The pessimist sees a possible straight or flush draw out there and figures he’s going to get drawn out on anyway so he just check-calls and gives his opponents cheap cards to draw out against him.
The optimist starts ramming and jamming pre-flop and doesn’t slow down until the showdown despite four limpers in front of him. Even when he gets check-raised on the turn, he refuses to believe his aces are no good and he three bets it trying to get as much money into the pot as possible. The true optimist goes for a check-raise on the river even after having been check-raised on the turn.
The solid player plays his hand one street at a time. He knows his pocket aces are the best hand pre-flop but he also realizes that his hand could turn into crap with a simple wave of the magic flop wand. If he’s holding two red aces and the flop comes all spades he remains aggressive until his opponent tells him that he’s beat. He keeps aware of his opponent’s actions and keeps himself out of trouble when he’s beat. He draws extra bets out of his opponents when he knows his hand is good.
Expecting nothing from a hand means that you have no preconceived notions about whether or not your two starting cards are going to win. Even if you have the nut flush, you recognize that the board pairing might have put your hand in jeopardy. If you play each street based on the moment rather than your expectations you extract the most money when you’re hand is best and lose the least when your hand is outdrawn.
Now let’s see your’s. 🙂