Harrington this AA hand ITM? I'm confused. Is stack big enough?

[People_Mover]

2200 Entrants, down to 200, just inside the money. Avg stack - 18K

750/1500 Blinds

MP1(36K) minraises to 3000 (means nothing)
Hero in MP2(16500) w/ A /images/graemlins/diamond.gifA /images/graemlins/club.gif

Now, Harrington says to minraise this again, then put the rest in on the flop. Is the stack big enough to do this or just push it? Pushing gives me a 33% boost if they fold, but doubling is always better /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Raise it to 6000. They will still have to call that given the odds you are giving them. It gets you a few extra chips than the min raise would get you, with about the same chance of them calling.

6k sounds about right.

Then Push anything but a flop of one suit that you don't have (and maybe Push on one of those).

I would just push this. Mini-raising practically screams AA/KK.

Also, mini-raising doesn't always maximize your value here. If you mini-raise you give them an opportunity to get away from the hand on a bad flop. For example, QQ or KK on a ace-high flop (and king-high flop for QQ), or a whiffed AK. Those hands likely call your push anyway, and you prefer the money in now with those hands so they can't get away.

[Rduke55]

I'd push. You don't want him to get away from this hand if the flop scares him. And even if he folds you still get the 1/3 boost you mentioned.

If you weren't in the money (but close) I'd raise it to 6k more. Since you're in the money people are more apt to call so I'd just push it. By moving in it could look like a steal or an Ax or low PP all-in. If he folds, big deal. You make 5250 and whatever antes are there, which puts you above average.

Milk it. He hits two pair or better on the flop 1 time out of 50.

With a ppair he could always slap u with some trips @ 7.5 to 1, but it is a risk well worth to get some extra money out of him. Don't price him into a draw after the flop though. Make it expensive for him to hang on if the brd is danger.

If you smooth call you have to be able to get away if you think you are beaten. Pushing is easily the best option here. A smooth call screams milking a monster to any playing with half a brain.

Steve

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If you smooth call you have to be able to get away if you think you are beaten. Pushing is easily the best option here. A smooth call screams milking a monster to any playing with half a brain.

Steve

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Sorry Steve, I wasn't very clear. Milk it - re-raise and price him into an expensive outing.

[Dave D]

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If you smooth call you have to be able to get away if you think you are beaten.


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That's awful.

With 11 blinds there is no way hero should ever get away from this hand, even on a "scary" flop. Folding at any stage is at best weak tight. If you get beat heads up with AA so be it. There's no way hero can fold on the flop, with aces, after calling off ~20% of his stack. The question is really about what's the best way to get villian to get all his money in.

Definatly don't min raise, as that screams AA/KK. Also it's pretty much useless, you might as well go all in. The question here is really do you think anyone else will call if you call. If you think more than one person will call, you should push to isolate (you don't want to see the flop w/ 3 other people). If the table has been playing tight enough that you think it'll just be you and him, then call as this has a ton of deception value and is likely to get him to call an all in from you at some point.

Also, a min raise like that yells high pair to me, very likely KK. He's screaming for action.

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Now, Harrington says to minraise this again, then put the rest in on the flop. Is the stack big enough to do this or just push it? Pushing gives me a 33% boost if they fold, but doubling is always better /images/graemlins/grin.gif

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No disrespect to the Author, but this is a time when you have to get the "book move" out of your head and play the other players.

You have a monster hand late in the tournament on a medium stack with relatively large blinds. IMHO, there should be only one thing on your mind, and that is extracting full penalty from any player(s) who want to play.

IMHO, this decision lies upon what you think the rest of the players to your left are going to do. Is there a player to your left who may push if you call but fold if you push?

If so, then I'm thinking toward cold calling and trying to trap the initial raiser for more chips than he initially bargained for.

On the other hand, I would personally want no more than three people in this hand. So I have to assess the chances of getting more than one overcall. If I think there could be more than one, then I have to think about reraising.

I don't really like the push preflop, because you risk only getting the minimum yield from this strong holding, although it is a safe increase if everyone folds. But it depends on your assessment of the rest of the field.

As I'm gradually learning and becoming a strong believer in, for the most part the real money isn't made preflop, it is made on the flop and on the turn.

What I don't want is to force people into making the right decision. I want them to make at least one and hopefully two bad decisions which should get me as close to maximum yield for minimum risk on the hand.