Can I make a fold here? (opponent limps pocket aces)

Asho28

Evening,

Apologies for posting another hand for advice on, but I'm starting to realise there are significant leaks in my game and my awareness of what my opponents could have is not at a good level. After a very successful first two months on Sky, I've had an appalling third month so far. I'm also starting to get quite annoyed with myself and agitated at the table and in the chat box, which is very uncharacteristic or me, and probably means it time to sit out for a few weeks. But I am determined to address my errors, hence why I post hands quite frequently on here for review, so do forgive me if I'm over-posting or posting hands which should be easy decisions.

Anyway, the hand in question is below (5p/10p cash game)

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
Bretz	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£9.27
BURTY1989	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£8.65
	Your hole cards	2 2
wltgo	Call		£0.10	£0.25	£5.80
BAKERG1966	Call		£0.10	£0.35	£14.36
UP	Raise		£0.40	£0.75	£10.46
Asho28	Call		£0.40	£1.15	£16.50
Bretz	Call		£0.35	£1.50	£8.92
BURTY1989	Fold
wltgo	Call		£0.30	£1.80	£5.50
BAKERG1966	Call		£0.30	£2.10	£14.06
Flop
		A 7 2
Bretz	Check
wltgo	Check
BAKERG1966	Check
UP	Bet		£1.58	£3.68	£8.88
Asho28	Raise		£4.20	£7.88	£12.30
Bretz	Fold
wltgo	Fold
BAKERG1966	All-in		£14.06	£21.94	£0.00
UP	Fold
Asho28	All-in		£12.30	£34.24	£0.00
Asho28	Unmatched bet		£2.44	£31.80	£2.44
BAKERG1966	Show	A A
Asho28	Show	2 2
Turn
		10
River
		Q
BAKERG1966	Win	Three Aces	£30.40		£30.40

I can't put my opponent on pocket aces here, given that he limped pre-flop. The only had I could put him on that was beating me was pocket 7s, but even then I'd still expect a pre-flop raise. And surely if I always put my opponent on a specific holding, I'm going to fold the best hand often. That said, there are limited hands that would jam here (perhaps 2 pair or a nut flush draw, but that's unlikely). My opponent hadn't been at the table long and didn't have any notes of him prior to this. Maybe I would have found a fold if I was up against a familiar opponent, but on this occasion it was a reluctant call.

Is limping aces generally a successful play? Granted, there are scenarios where an AA limp is a good idea (e.g. late in a tourney when small stacks are shoving with wide ranges), but I wouldn't have thought early position in a 6-handed cash game was one of them. In hindsight, my opponent played it well but surely it won't always end well limping aces. This particularly table was playing quite loose as well, which made it more surprising..

Also on reflection I feel my re-raise sizing was too big, which seems to be another issue with my game.

Is this another example of me "falling in love" with my hand and making a poor call, or is this just a hand where I would need to have specific notes on my opponent to even contemplate not doing my stack? Can I realistically put my opponent on the nut hand here? Advices please.

Asho

mumsie

I think you played it fine.

You had two jobs to do.

1) Hit a set on the flop

2) Get your stack in when you do.

hoban01

nothing you can do about getting it in on the flop but with that many people limping and the raise pre i think you should be folding and picking a better spot

benc

Wouldn't worry about this spot it's just a cooler. Pre flop is the only decision that might be debatable, but i think it's fine especially if the table is playing loose and you expect the two limpers to call as well.

Post you have to go broke here readless and should be pretty happy about it, the fact you were reluctant to stack off might indicate potentially being too tight in certain spots so maybe post a few more hands in the forum that you feel are close to get some more opinions,be careful not to range random opponents too tight or be results oriented, for example if oppo flips a7 or ak here do you still post the hand etc, personally i would assign a slighty wider range to a random oppo at 10nl in this spot, Ax with strong kickers and big flush draws could easily be punting it in here once you 3b flop.

You would have to have ridiculously solid reads and a large sample playing with someone to ever contemplate folding here. Good that you are thinking in depth about hands like this though gl at the tables.

TheEdge949

If you don't go broke post flop here then somethings wrong.

Just chalk it up to experience make a note of villains penchant for limping AA pre and move on.

FeNdeR36

As stated above there are simply too many combinations you beat here to do anything other than this. Try to think of situations like this as neutral ev it helps with the pain. WP ul for the cooler mate

Asho28

Thanks everyone, reassuring that I played it fine for the most part.

I think there is small argument to fold pocket 2s pre flop but given the types of hands that normally limp (e.g suited aces), hitting a set here would usually result in getting paid. If one of my opponents had pocket 7s then so be it, but just can't account for someone turning up with pocket aces in this spot.

I've noticed from being on a bad run recently that I'm starting to try and find faults with the hands I'm playing fine or that are coolers. By my own admission I've played some poor poker recently, but sometimes I just need to accept than in some hands I'm just destined to lose my stack.