Laying Down Aces

Can YOU do it? I thought I could. I can do it online where anonymity prevents me from being red-cheeked when the other guy is actually bluffing me off my monster.

Here's the situation. I was on a stack of about $200, having bought in for $100. About an hour and a half of play, I picked up pocket Aces out of position in a $1/$2 NLHE live game. I raised preflop to $15. I've slow-played Aces way too many times and been burned that I just don't do it much anymore. Most people folded. I got two calls in position. The flop was Q-9-6. Not a bad flop. I was hoping that that Queen hit someone's hand. I bet $30. One of my callers folded, and one older man at the end of the table called. The turn was another 6. Recognizing the fact that the board had paired, and nothing had hit my Aces yet, I bet out again, hoping to flush out trip 6s if they existed. I bet $50. I got called. Shit. Did he really play X-6 down there in middle position? He had seemed like a tighter player than that, although I had caught him bluffing several hands earlier.

The river was another 9. Two pair on the board. Not good at all. I checked just to see what he would do. I kind of expected a check in return. He bet $100 at me. So, let's review. He called a bet of 7x the BB pre-flop, a bet of $30 (about 2/3 of the pot) on the flop, a $50 bet (a little more than half the pot) on the turn, and now he was betting $100 AT me. My head was telling me "FULL HOUSE", "GET OUT", "LAY THEM DOWN!" But what could he have to be making his previous plays? Was he bluffing again? Really? Was he really calling bets all along with 2nd or 3rd pair? I was chained to my Aces. I couldn't justify laying them down in most situations. I deliberated for a long time. I counted out my chips, seeing that I would be down to about $40 if I called and lost. But REALLY? Would he have played like that? I called. He showed me 9-5 suited!! A full house on the river!

So, I made a bad play. Deep down, I knew he had the full house. I couldn't believe that he had played whatever cards he had that made the full house, but I knew he had it. But he had made at least 3 bad plays, if not more, and then been paid-off for it. God, I love this game. As I shoved my chips to the dealer, I said "Good hand, sir." I always like to encourage bad play by bad players when they beat me. Sort of a "Please keep playing like that, because I know, over the long haul, I'll get my money back plus a lot of yours."

Later.