AA

Playing in Poker Stars sat and i am 3rd off the button with AA. I believe the blind were 1000/2000 and i had about 62000. 1st off the button raise 6000 and 2nd makes it 12000. Now for my mistake? I only raised it to 27000 and i feel that i should have gone all in. I feel that i did not take the time to think the play through. Thanks for any advise. Results to follow.

All fold to the 2nd and he take a while and calls. Flop come with a 10 and he has a pair of 10s. He checks, i go all in, get called and lose. Had to lose with AA but i feel that i did not give myself the best chance to win, when i did not go all in preflop. Thanks again for any advise.

Notwithstanding what I have said above, giving yourself the best chance to win is not what you should be thinking of. You should be thinking of maximizing your EV. Frequently in tournaments the two methods will lead you to the same answer (there may be only a few potential plays anyway, heck sometimes its just call all-in or fold), but not always.


Remember that the players who win the most pots are often the biggest losers (think about it).


Andy.

I mean giving yourself the best chance to win the pot is not what you should be thinking about.


Andy.

I think 27,000T is a pretty nice raise. I mean, how many times do you get aces in a tournament, You have to maximize your profit when you do catch a hand. The only reason your 2nd guessing yourself is cause your opponent flopped a set. He had to call 15,000 more with 2 outs. I like your chances in the long run. Now, if this opponent is a loose cannon and would call any raise in this spot, I say go all-in pre-flop but if not I like the way you played it. Let the flop come king high or queen high like it will most of the time and get him in. Better luck next time.


Austin

BTW : I got knocked out of the WSOP main event on day 2 with 10's and the other guy had aces and he played it slower then you did and just called out of the BB pre-flop. No, I didn't flop a set but the flop came 9-4-2 rainbow and he made a big bet on the flop. I put him on A9 or a bluff and shoved it in. To make matters worse he hit an ace on the turn and I'm drawing dead going into the river. Nice play dumbass. Sorry, I've told myself that a million times and I finally wanted to write it. If you could you can write back and call me a dumbass just to make it official.

Thanks all for your responces. I was not that upset about losing to trips, I just wanted some input about the correct amount to raise. I do understand that it "depends" and that it is even harder to have a definite answer when playing with play money and on the internet. I try to play as if it was really and i feel i can learn from my mistakes. Thanks again.

You usually have to gamble sometime to win a tournment and the best time to do it is with pocket Aces. Last week I was bounced out of a tournment in 5th place by slowplaying AA, but I have never regreted it for a moment. The difference between first and 5th is was $400 versus $3000. As Andy pointed out, that increase in EV is well worth the risk.

The question is are you happy with winning the pot which is 25k. If you are happy with that pot then going all-in will most likely do that. If you want 1 caller then your raise is fine. AA headsup against an underpair is a pretty good bet.


Ken Poklitar