You make the poker decision

I'm surprised about that, Chef. It sounded like you knew you were in trouble when the queen hit on the river.

I figured you checked it, knowing you were probably screwed and when there was a bet and a raise from two guys who called you twice already, you knew you were cooked.

I'm not trying to be a douche, but it sounds like an obvious laydown at that point. :-\

 

Hit a set of aces off the rip, then tell me how easy it is to get rid of a hand.

If the queen doesn't hit the river, I honestly don't know what I would have done.

Check that; I do know one thing.

I would have lost my entire stack.

 

Yep, if that Q doesn't hit the board, you probably lose it all.
That card saved you, and cost Mr. 15-times-the-big-blind-with-KQ a lot.

 

No need to get defensive here, Chef.

I have hit sets on the flop and I have laid them down. It's not always easy, but as I said, when the queen hits, it's an obvious fold unless you're willing to bet your stack he's bluffing.

With two possible four-card straights, and two players who called me twice and then bet and raised when that queen hit, yes, it's an obvious fold. You know it is ... that's why you checked the river. You had to know you were screwed. Your actions certainly reflect that you knew you were beat. That's the only reason I'm surprised it's in your top three or four laydowns.

As I said, I'd have probably gone broke the way I would have played it because I would have likely bet more on the flop and if he puts me all-in, I'd probably put him on a weaker set and called.

But I'd still go back and play it that way later because most of the time, I'm going to win that hand.

 

Not defensive at all.

 

Sorry ... my defensive font is on the fritz.

 

Texas Dolly said it best in Super System:

With AA, you usually either win a small pot or lose a big one.

 

Chef, you should have lost all of your money on this hand if you'd played it right. That sounds odd, but that's the way it is.

On the flop the pot is $90. You've got to bet at least $60 or so. Now, assuming the guy with the KQ just calls, the pot is going to be $210 and you are only going to have about $150 left in your stack. The turn is a blank, so you've got to go all-in. You still have a monster hand that is really only threatened by one hand. If he happens to have it, you say c'est la vie and kiss your chips goodbye.

 

Exactamundo.
I would have made a pot-siz bet after the flop. That puts $180 in the pot and I've got $160 back.
Assuming Mr. KQ smooth calls my pot-size raise, I'm committed when the turn brings a blank. At that point there's $270 in the middle, assuming the second guy didn't call the pot-size raise. I'm all in there when the blank comes on fourth street. Of course, I'd be thinking he's got a smaller set, two pair or is still one card off the straight. He's getting a little better than 3-1 from the pot at that point, so he calls with either of the two lesser made hands, and he might call with the draw (which I'm fine with because in the long run that's a paying situation for me).
There's no way I'm putting him on the nut straight at that point and I pay like a bank teller.

 

In my mind, your big mistake was your bet post-flop. There was at least 90 in the pot (30 from you, plus two callers), and you only bet 30. That gave everyone else great pot odds, so their calls didn't tell you anything.

Your pre-flop bet was 15 times the big blind, which was really high. Given that you had two callers, I would assume that they both (and especially the second caller) had great hands. So I would have made a much bigger bet (at least the pot, if not more) and defined the hand right there. You would either win the pot or find out that you were very much behind (which would make subsequent decisions easier).