Cracked Aces post drew some very good comments – thank you!

My last post was about having my pocket Aces beaten at the river when my opponent made three of a kind. Right up to the turn, I was in the lead with the un-improved pocket Aces.

Three of the four comments were positive. Some suggested that perhaps raising all-in earlier would have made my opponent fold. One commenter wondered why I even stayed in the hand as it appeared that the caller might have had a stronger hand than mine after the flop.

Getting him to fold was not my intent, as I did not want to fold if I had the best hand. I wanted to get as much of his chips in the pot in order to maximize my win if my pocket Aces held up.  Pocket Aces will lose about 20% of the time, so I wanted to win as much as I could to make up for those times when my Aces got beaten.

This was not a tournament where I had to worry about losing and not being able to play any more. Of course, this assumed that I could afford to risk my buy-in and if I lost it, to re-buy in and continue to play.

Well, as it turned out, I lost my buy-in when my opponent hit his magic card at the river. I re-bought into the game and continued to play without letting my defeat get in the way of solid card playing.

I appreciated all of the comments and suggestions given to me on how to play the hand or what to watch out for as well. It is this give and take that helps me to grow as a player.

Do you have a sounding board where you discuss your poker hands and results? Do you have a way of getting feedback about your game? Did you know that there are all kind of resources available for you to have these kind of discussion?