DECISION POINT: In a loose $5/$5 cash game with a frequent Under The Gun straddle of $10 you are dealt A♦A♠ on the Button. The player in the UTG seat straddles for $10, MP1 calls, and it folds to you. With pocket aces you raise to $45, the Small Blind folds, and the Big Blind 3-bets to $135. The original callers fold and action is on you. What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing a loose, weekend $5/$5 cash game where players are frequently straddling for $10 UTG. Most players have between $500-$600 and we are on the Button with A♦A♠.

An important note for games where a straddle is in play is that the stakes are effectively doubled. In this case it makes a $5/$5 game a $5/$5/$10 game and instead of starting with 120BBs we are effectively starting with 60BBs. In some cases this can drastically alter your preflop hand selection, as hands with good postflop implied odds go down in value while combos that make strong top pair/overpair type hands go up in value.

In this instance UTG straddles, MP1 just calls and action folds to us. When isolating limpers the recommended strategy is to utilize whatever the standard raise size for the table is and add one big blind per limper to that amount. In this case the straddle makes the big blind effectively $10. In most live games the standard raise size will be between 3-5BBs. We raise to $45 and the Small Blind folds. The Big Blind reraises to $135 and both the straddler and the MP1 limper fold.

If we consult a GTO range for 100BB games pocket aces are frequently a flat call against a 3-bet, particularly in position. When digging deeper into the solver output this seems to largely be as a way to balance the other suited broadway hands and middle to larger pairs that also favor calling. This example demonstrates how including pocket aces in your calling range protects those other hands so your calling range becomes more uncapped and less vulnerable to postflop aggression.

Remember however that this is not a 100+BB and is effectively a 60BB game due to the UTG straddle. Additionally, with the limper in the pot our preflop raise is larger than it would have been had it folded to us, and most standard solver outputs do not account for limper. So the question we have to ask ourselves is, would we call with any hands in our range aside from pocket aces in this scenario?

If there are no other combos that would make sense strategically to call the 3-bet, then flatting with our aces is a betting pattern tell. It is unlikely we would be calling $90, or roughly 20% of our remaining stack, with many hands here so there is very little reason to try and protect our calling range.

An exploitative line in this scenario could be to cold call with our aces here and attempt to get UTG to pot commit themselves with another bet. Against less observant opponents, or players who have a wider than default calling range for 3-bets themselves, calling as an exploitative play is best.

Against thinking opponents who are strategically aware, you are more likely to telegraph your hand strength by calling here than disguising it. This could make a hand like Queens or Ace-King proceed with caution postflop instead of calling off in a preflop all-in situation.

Since we assume our opponents play in a reasonable manner until proven otherwise, moving all-in would be the best play as a default. With any read that Big Blind is attentive of how infrequent you should flat call a 3-bet with AA in this spot, or if you've observed them calling too frequently in general when facing a 3-bet preflop themselves, you should pivot to calling exploitatively.

Moving all-in is the best play.