AA with one 1 person left before money???

[ordinaryboy]

ok this is my first post so im sorry if its a bit rubbish but i dont really know what im doing!!!

Just won my first multi-table tournament and had a really interesting hand at a crucial time in the game, thought the situation would be perfect for my first post.

Scenario:

$30 buy in tourney with just over 100 people entered.

Down to the last 11 top ten get paid. Blinds 400/800.

Hero is SB with AA and 12000 chips (slightly more than average 5 out of 11)

Villain is CO with 33000 chips (leads the tourney with double amount of chips than 2nd place)

Pre-flop:

Folded to Villain who raises 3200
Button folds
Hero???

Do i go all-in? It would make me chip leader if i win, but i could get knocked out and finish annoyingly in 11th place.

Do i play it slow and try and exact as much from villain as possible.

Read on villain is good player, plays relatively tight and aggressive but has made a lot of raises recently due to his enormous stack advantage.

I am happy with the way i played this hand i just thought it was an interesting scenario and wondered what others would do.

[The4Aces]

I would go all in, but i like going for first place and winning hear would incease my chances of getting more money.

[DonButtons]

Push. AA is not that big of a hand too slow play, unless you get a set on a rainbow flop with no straight possibilites.

The key to being a successful tournament player is not worrying about making the baby money, but aiming for the the top 3 spots, or better yet, 1st place. Because one top 3 spot will pay better than a ton of small cashs.

[sdplayerb]

you push all your money in.

[sdplayerb]

On the no straight possibilites, such a flop when you flop a set of Aces, there is always a possibility to hit a str on the turn..always. And that is why multiway it is hardly ever correct to slowplay a set of aces.

[ QUOTE ]
Push. AA is not that big of a hand too slow play, unless you get a set on a rainbow flop with no straight possibilites.


[/ QUOTE ]

[DemonDeac Holding Rockets]

What are the payouts?
I'm pushing anyway.

[fl0w]

You have 15x the BB, you don't *need* to push, take it easy here.

[meatwad]

exactly why push only 1 from the money when you dont need to. this hand wont make or break you unless you put yourself in that position by pushing. relax.

[DVC Calif]

Sorry Nick, couldn't resist!

http://www.bettheriver.com/image/pushit.jpg

[ilya]

[ QUOTE ]
On the no straight possibilites, such a flop when you flop a set of Aces, there is always a possibility to hit a str on the turn..always. And that is why multiway it is hardly ever correct to slowplay a set of aces.

[/ QUOTE ]

Viva Le Doyle

[ilya]

aAAAArggghh!!!! Kamikaaaaazeee puuush!

[woodguy]

If you are a risk taker, you can smooth call pre-flop then go for the check raise all-in on the flop.

If you don't like to take risks, push all in.

Just please tell me you didn't fold.

Regards,
Woodguy

[niin]

You have the best starting hand possible, and you're HU against someone who can double you up. The thought of being knocked out here shouldn't come to mind. You should be trying to figure out how to double up here.

Slowplaying sucks. Call and push the flop isn't a bad line. Reraising then pushing the flop isn't a bad line either since if he calls your preflop reraise, he'll be forced to call the rest of your chips on the flop regardless of what lands. You're going to get all your chips in here; figure out how to get the same amount of his chips in too.

And this is not a situation to fold AA preflop.

[Al Mirpuri]

You push and he lets it go as he is a good player. Or you push and he thinks he's got you covered and he has a hand and your AA stand up or bust you. However, you do definitely push.

[schwah]

push

if your stack was a little bigger, or if you had position on him... i might consider just flat calling and then raising all in on the flop. this is also assuming he is playing his big stack aggressively and will bet out on most flop... and he's not smart enough to read your smooth call as a trap.

but with his raise being 1/4 your stack and you being out of position, i think a push is best move.

[Dawdy]

A dream position with the best preflop starting hand.
Especially as there will be a maximum of 3 players. Villian, Hero and maybe BB depending on how u play it.
Has the BB been protective?
My feeling here is you dont want the BB to call and make this a 3 way pot if u are worried about being outdrawn.
SO if u think he will call villians initial raise you should reraise to 6000, half your stack. Reason.. you want villian to call and BB to fold. You havent just got the best of it heads up, hes so far behind you want him to put as much money in the pot as possible, not scare him off with a big raise to all in.
He has, most likely been raising using his extra chips to take advantage of the bubble situation by only reraising to 6000 (double his initial raise) you are leaving him alot of room to imagine what u have got and why your raising whereas an all in on the bubble is a 'Ive got the nuts at this point' play or an incredible bluff (which I wouldnt play but have read some people on here do play).
Most players, imo, who are chip leader will prolly fold to an all in 3 or 4x the initial raise. Hes made enough from raising and everyone folding over the last cpl of rounds to afford a 3k raise and fold to a reraise all in whereas a reraise to 6k may just suck him in.
You cant be worried about being sucked out with AA this late in a torney with at most a 3 way play (hopefully 2 way). You want him to double u up or u go out in 11th with an AA bubble story. Ive had this happen to me but wouldnt change a thing about the way I played it. Sometimes you just have to trust in the odds. This is one of those times.

I didnt mention it above, on the flop u go all in no matter what the flop brings. Have faith in your hand being better than his.

Dawdy

[mcteecho]

Push. 10th to (probably) 5th won't much matter to you, you'll need to double up to get to the real money, this is the best chance you can have. I wouldn't smooth call or re-raise because you're out of position. If you push and he calls you're in best possible position and if you push and he folds you've still added 33% to your stack and you've made something of your aces. Villain may read the push as a bluff by a medium stack who's tired of being bullied around, and call - esepcially if his raise (4xbb) is bigger than his usual steal raise, suggesting he may actually have a hand. In any event, congrats on winning the tourny.

[JaBlue]

I'm smooth calling here. Given that this will most likely heads up, you have the perfect situation if there ever were any to slowplay your aces (except being in the big blind in this situation because you know you would be heads up).

If you push, you're giving him a good opportunity to get away from his hand if he doesn't have much. Since he's a big stack, though, you can try to let him hang himself and play it slow. I'd check most flops here and try to induce a bluff. If it doesn't work, open up on the turn. Use good judgement.

There are a lot of ways to play this hand, and thinking that pushing is clearly the only option here (which has been reiterated so many times here) just isn't true. Also notice that you're on the bubble. You're the one that has the chance to bust out, not him. If he's a good big stack he should be using this to his advantage; hence in this situation its even better to slow play.

You can push if you want to... its certainly not a mistake... but I'd smooth call and try to get some value from this hand.

[zaxx19]

If you push I dont think the villain can get away from 9-9 8-8 10-10 J-J Q-Q K-K A-K A-Q here almost ever with that much already in the pot. If he has less than that its might be hard to get doubled up post flop seeing how you said he was a good player and that "good player" just saw you cold call a third of your stack off.

Pushing also has the added benefit of getting him to slow down on your blinds..he might be a large stack but that raise just became pretty pricey for him to muck.

[PokerNeal]

A no-brainer all-in. I would not let him see the flop with any less. You have the very best hand and a win here puts you in the running for #1 where most of the money is. My answer would be different if this were a qualifier where the top 10 or so qualify for a satellite or a prize-package and you are only 1 away from getting there.

[ordinaryboy]

Thanks for all the replies it seems i was right with it being an interesting topic.

I ended up going all-in which i think most people have said is what they would do, which makes me feel a bit better.

My thinking was:

If he calls and i win i will go into last table as chip leader, if he wins then so be it, i lose and go out.

But my main reason for going all-in was that despite the fact that i could double up i would be happy to just take his 3000 odd chips this alone would put me ahead of most of the table when it gets down to the last 10.

I have some sympathy for slowplaying or min-raising it (incidentally the BB was never gonna call it he was as tight as a nut and was obviously waiting for the money) i often slowplay my aces in ring games if i know im gonna be heads up, however thats because i am a greedy player. Here even the minimal risk of him fluking a win was too much and he would have to pay for that bit of luck.

Also i didnt add in that he had folded twice before to an all-in raise by another player, what difference this makes i dont know.


His action:

He folded i won the 3000 odd chips and 10 mins later it went to final table and i went in in 4th place.

It ended up being heads up between me and him, eventually i took him down but he was a worthy opponent.

thanks again for the feedback

[dr_venkman]

[ QUOTE ]
You push and he lets it go as he is a good player.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why, if it were me in that position, I'd push in for about 1/2 my stack and hope the good player senses weakness and takes the bait and reraises me for my whole stack.

I couldn't hit the call button fast enough.

[DavSimon]

I agree with the push, I was in a very similar situation last night. 50 people left in the 4:45pm Stars $11 R&A.....ITM is 45. I get dealt A-A in the big blind, and it folds around to the button and he throws out a 3xBB raise - here is how it played out:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t3000 (9 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

MP1 (t69850)
MP2 (t186441)
MP3 (t51186)
CO (t31122)
Button (t101697)
SB (t22690)
Hero (t22175)
UTG (t78369)
UTG+1 (t35485)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO folds, <font color="#CC3333">Button raises to t9000</font>, SB folds, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t22025</font>, Button calls t13025.

Flop: (t45100) 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 6/images/graemlins/club.gif, 7/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>

Turn: (t45100) 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>

River: (t45100) T/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>

Final Pot: t45100

Whoops, it didn't put in his hand
Button: 8/images/graemlins/club.gif 9/images/graemlins/club.gif

Sucks to be me...but I would do it each and every time.

[zaxx19]

CLUBBBBBBBBBBB
CLUBBBBBBBBBB
CLUBBBBBBBBBB(NO 5 OR 10)


Id have to go kill a small animal after that one...

[Al Mirpuri]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You push and he lets it go as he is a good player.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why, if it were me in that position, I'd push in for about 1/2 my stack and hope the good player senses weakness and takes the bait and reraises me for my whole stack.

I couldn't hit the call button fast enough.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point but what if all you do is allow him to call and make trips on the flop?

[dr_venkman]

[ QUOTE ]
Good point but what if all you do is allow him to call and make trips on the flop?

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't fear the sets. With AA up against another PP you have the same odds of spiking your own set on the flop or whatever. Seeing as how you're all-in now it's just a matter of sitting back and letting the cards drop.

[sfwusc]

Middle suited connectors have the best odds against AA.

Their odds still suck, but they are better than a pair.

SWUSC

[KingDan]

don't know if its right, but I would be tempted to minraise and then pushing every flop
He will probably call preflop everytime. If he hits something on the flop, or enough to call your allin with on the flop and rivers you, oh well thats poker. I want as many chips as possible. Usually these mtts are so damn topheavy anyway.