OK, you already know pocket AA can and do get busted - that's not the complaint! Your question is are your pre-flop raises of 4xBB sufficently to prevent pocket aces being busted by trash. My short answer is most probably yes but as long as your bets/raises are structured so the other guy is making a mistake by calling, then whatever amount the bet/raise is, then it would correct. For example, the 8-5 suited is a speculation hand looking for
> a small str8 draw (about 8.5-1 odds);
> a flush draw (also about 8-1 odds)
> a single pair of one of the pocket cards (about 2.5-1 odds)or
> 2 pair (about 49-1 odds)
> a set (abut 73-1 odds)
ALL AGAINST.

Any time you get a low calibre spectualtive hand calling your pocket pair, be happy - GET CHIPS! Make them pay for their call. If any 2 suited show up on the flop, DO NOT slowplay, bet the pot! Same for any two to a possible str8 - bet at least 1/2 to the full pot to denign proper calling odds and then hopw they do anyway. Sure, you'll get your AA busted a few times and these times are the ones you remember - the times you win are soon forgotten but the odds will prove out over time. Next time a 8-5 suited calls your AA, smile, you're ahead by quite a margin and just have to stick it to him on the flop. Most guy's ALLOW their pocket pairs to get sucked out (Fancy Play Syndrome) by overdoing the slowplay. You have a good hand but not an invinceable one so protect it!

Originally Posted by HSM

Although the thing that REALLY wound me up was how he accused me of not pushing my Aces enough.

I guess I must be a hell of a tight player then as I'd never call a 4xBB raise with 85 suited!

Paying too much attention to what other players say about your game - especially when they don't know what the hell they're talking about - can put you on tilt and cost you more money by making poor decisions. As shown in my previos post, a 4xbb would have to first be called by other 6 players to justify a call by 8-5s and get 8:1 odds! Hitting the set was 73-1 agaist!

Calling was a mistake but as Phytopath points out the 'implied odds' will still get these hands involved - although getting up to 73-1 implied odds would require a big stack for both players involved!. I had A-K in the SB with 4 limpers already in, the BB to go and the Big Blinds @ 50 so the pot was already 275. I completed and raised 300 so the pots odds to the Big Blind was 600-300 (he folded) and then the UTG - who called while the other 3 limpers folded. The flop comes 6-2-K rainbow, I bet 500 and he goes all-in for another 1100. I call with TPTK and he wins with a set of 2s (8.3-1 odds against). He was an idiot to call but got lucky and doubled up his stack - that's poker! But look at what he got - only 1100 more than the 300 which comes out to 1700 - 300 implied odds pre-flop or 5.6-1. He was not getting proper odds to call pre-flop even with implied odds! Another overlooked factor when using implied odds are "YOU HAVE TO WIN TOO" and that's not a guarantee even with a flopped set - you can still lose up to 20% of the time!

As for being too tight to call 4xbb with 8-5s, I wouldn't worry about it too much. At least 8 times out of 9 that idiot would have called my pot size raise and folded on the flop with his 2-2. I just got unlucky to be the 1 time in 9 that he got paid off for being an idiot! I have a little saying "I don't mind a donk playing like an idiot - I just hate it when they get rewarded for it"