[johnf]

I think I may have totally blown it on this one.

I was playing in a NL game. I had AA on the small blind. One person limped in ahead of me. Since the blinds were small, I got greedy and wanted to slowply the aces to make a good pot. I simply called, and BB checked. The flop comes down 2-5-6, all hearts. I was thrilled since I was holding the ace of hearts for the nut flush draw, and the low cards didn't scare me one bit. I went all right here. Big blind folded, but the other guy pushed his chips in without a second thought. He turned over a pair of deuces for a set. I wasn't too worried because 1) I had about twice the chips he did, and, 2) I was about 2:1 to make the nut flush, not to mention the two aces to make the set(or running 34 to chop the pot). The jack of hearts fell on the turn, but before I could do my nut flush victory dance, the 6 of clubs came on the river filling him in. I lost about half my stack to what I saw as a mistake.

The way I see it, I went all in at the wrong time (I was beat by the flop). With only one caller ahead of me and one potential behind me, I should have pushed it in pre-flop when I had the best possible hand. The BB would have folded, and the guy with the deuces would have been an idiot to call against a possible big hand like AA,KK, or AK. When he flopped a set with no big overcards, his decision to call my bet was a little easier at that point, although he was taking a gamble that I didn't have the flush made already. Since I didn't do it pre-flop, instead of going all in here, I should have just checked the flop, hoping he would check too fearing a possible check-raise on the flush. When the jack of hearts fell on the turn, that's when I should have gone all-in. With four hearts on the board, if he was anything of a decent poker player, he would have known that his set was beat right there and that his chances of filling in would not justify putting all his chips at stake-or at least that's my analysis. What do you think?

[ballen]

with AA or KK i almost always try to get all my chips in before the flop when you have thoose big pairs you want to shut people out of a flop because your such a big favorite preflop

[arcfinn]

How much did you raise in the NL hand? if you raised a considerable amount, then the BB had no reason to protect his BB with a 2 7. but if you just doubled the BB then he might have had the pot odds to call.

[DeepBlue]

I would have gone in hard preflop. As ballen stated, you're on top preflop and the fewer people that see the flop, the better for you.

He had a hand in the making, but if you'd raised beyond the worth of his hand preflop you may not have had to deal with him at all.

[Chi_Town]

First mistake was letting the limp and check the BB. Going all in would not have been that great either.

Raise it up to make you opponents pay to see a flop. What could the limp have been (middle small pair, suited connector???). You don't want to give cheap cards.

Second mistake was going all in. You are only going to be called by someone who has you beat... You were drawing to the nut flush, so then you want to 'draw to the nut flush' rather then moving in hoping to hit it. You mentioned that you were 2:1 to hit the flush, but on a 1:1 pot casued by the all-in, that is not good play (not to mention that he had a 3:1 redraw for a board pair and the full-house). Best to make a probe bet on the possibility of the flush being out there. Then a call or reraise will provide you with tons of information. You may even be getting proper odds to call a raise for the flush or third A.

Then when the 4th heart comes off, you push with the nuts and he make lay down the set right there (as opposed to calling all-in with two cards to come, becaue with one card to come there is only a 6:1 redraw for the river full-house).

If he calls and sucks out the 6, it is no different than what happenned, but with the other play that I explained above, you had some chances to take it down through decision making.