I guess I should've folded my AA

[richie]

$25K NLHE at Empire, 54 players left, pays top 50 ($125 for 50th). I have $6350T, post BB of 800T. I am Dealt A /images/graemlins/club.gif A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif /images/graemlins/cool.gif All fold and SB raises 5564 all-in. I call. Board comes 6 /images/graemlins/spade.gif 8 /images/graemlins/spade.gif Q /images/graemlins/spade.gif 7 /images/graemlins/spade.gif Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif /images/graemlins/frown.gif SB all-in shows A /images/graemlins/spade.gif 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif for winner. /images/graemlins/crazy.gif I subsequently lose the rest of my chips next hand and finish 54th @###$$$$!!!! Question is, would you have played this hand?? I almost certainly make 50th by folding all hands while waiting for 4 people to bust. BTW, I don't have alot of experience in NL so I was faking it the whole way so I don't know how far I could have made in this tourney anyway. Thanks for all input in advance. /images/graemlins/smile.gif
P.S. God I felt sick after this hand

[krazyace5]

I would always go for it, the other guy cant have you beat, but then again being so close to the money you might want to play it safe, but that would be hard to do with pocket aces, the other guy is an idiot and got extremely lucky. You definitely shoulda had this one. IMO

[banditbdl]

Yeah, I was at that table, capnphoenix is the name, that was a tough beat man. You gotta play that hand though. Sadly I did the same thing to a guy earlier in the tourney. Blinds were at 200/400 and I opened raise from the CO with A9s, small blind went all in for 1053, I obviously called the extra 53 and turned the flush to beat his AA. I finished 35th, funnily enough losing to a slowplayed AA.

By the way if the two of you were at say 2000 and 2200 chips I might think about folding, as your still gonna be relatively shortstacked if you win. If you had taken this one down you would have been one of the bigger stacks at the table and an easier call. I would pretty much call no matter what, but I wouldn't even think about a fold here, whereas sometimes I might hesitate more.

[chesspain]

I would play this hand in your shoes every single time. You had a chance to double-up and likely move well into the top 40 places, if not higher. So you got outdrawn...that's why they call it gambling!

With respect to not playing your aces:

1) There was no guarantee that you would have gotten into the money by just folding every hand and waiting for others to bust, since you still had four other players in front of you at this time. The only way I would fold AA is if at least three of these players were at your table and had all just gone all-in on this hand immediately before it was your turn to act.

2) Let yourself have a good cry...but just don't spend the next week bemoaning the money that you almost won. For if you become the type of poker player who would fold aces in this situation the next time around, you will have become someone who will truly be an object of pity.

[richie]

Strange game, huh? Thanks for the reply, I remember you at the table. Just second-guessing myself, as I had already convinced myself not to piss away any chips unnecessarily until making the money. Ironically enough, this was probably the worst hand I could've been dealt. /images/graemlins/blush.gif Congrats on your nice finish /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[richie]

You're right, and I'm sure I would have done the same thing every time. It's just nice to have some support (or criticism) as the case may be. I'm a total virgin when it comes to NL, and multi-tourneys in general. Time to get back on the horse /images/graemlins/grin.gif Thanks for the reply

[CrisBrown]

richie,

Whether you fold here depends on whether you're playing for 50th (any payout) or 1st. I play for 1st, so I'm moving in with AA every time in this situation. If I get oudrawn, so be it.

Cris

[richie]

Hi Chris, I have played a total of 4 or 5 NL tourneys. I had no aspirations of making final table, 50th would've been fine to me. The deck would've had to continuously hit me in the face for me to make the final table, as my NL skills are definitely weak. Thus the question of my play. How does one find the inner strength to lay down AA? Or should they? I only played this tourney because of the great overlay (plus to gain some experience). $25 entry, 488 entries, 25K guaranteed prize fund. 50th place paid $125.
PS I've been reading all your posts and trying to learn from them. The posts are greatly appreciated.

[James Boston]

Did you want to make finish in the money, or make big money. Big money demands that you go all in with AA. Waiting for a guaranteed payout is different. It's really up to you. Even if I was trying to just finish in the money, I would have a hard time folding AA pre-flop.

[Bozeman]

"Whether you fold here depends on whether you're playing for 50th (any payout) or 1st"

More accurately, whether you call or not here depends on whether you are playing to make money or lose money over the course of several tournaments.

Craig

[CrisBrown]

Hi richie,

Thanks for the kind words.

Craig may have said what he thought I meant better than I did, although I'm not sure if I meant what he thought I meant ... or something else.

What I did mean, though, is that I don't want to just finish 50th. (Nor do I think folding AA here is the right recipe even for that.) I want to make the final table, then take 1st place and a big payday. With that in mind, there is absolutely no way I muck AA pre-flop, as I've just been given what is -- far more often than not -- a ticket to leap into serious contention.

You've read my posts so you're familiar with my preference for "small bet" tournament poker, but KK and especially AA are exceptions to that rule. They comprise less than 1% of the possible deals, so it's not as if you're likely to be too often exposed on AA and KK. If I can get an opponent all-in pre-flop when I have AA or KK, I'm going to do it.

You did, and you got outdrawn. Okay. Outdraws happen. But you got an ideal situation and the cards just went the other way. Oh well.

Cris

[Bozeman]

My point was only that if you fold AA preflop at any time (even on the bubble) during a standard tournament, you are costing yourself a lot of money. You will get fewer just out of the money finishes, but you will also get fewer big money payoffs and probably be an overall loser.

Craig