AA...limp or raise late in a MTT on PP?
 

First post...be gentle. Been playing on PP for 6 months and have recently discovered the charm of MTT. I'm learning to be more cerebral with my play instead of chunking chips around when I catch something.

$30+$3 NL MTT on PP - 550 entrants - 60 paid

There are 76 left and the blinds are at 300/600. I have 5k chips (the average stack) and the leaders have close to 20k. Close to the money so table is tight, but aggressive. Blinds are being stolen on almost every hand with all-in bets (usually from the middle position). I've been playing very tight because I'm realistic and will be happy with my first money finish.

I'm 2 spots off the blinds (UTG +2, right?) when I catch my first big wired pair of the tourny (AA). UTG checks and I raise to 1200. Everyone folds around to me.

I'm looking for advice on how you would have played this. Should I have limped and tried to catch someone on a steal? Or was my raise the right play? I'm curious because at the time I was furious that I raised the pot so high. My thinking was that if I doubled up (or took a big pot) right there I could have been in position to make a run at winning the thing (funny how AA can change your mindset from wanting to finish in the money to wanting to be the last one at the table, huh?). Am I being too greedy?? There are some very smart players on here so I'm looking forward to what you have to say.

Re: AA...limp or raise late in a MTT on PP?
 

I limp. People on $30+3 are stupid and are willing to raise all in with AJ type of hand if no previous agression has been shown.

Re: AA...limp or raise late in a MTT on PP?
 

I think you did just the right thing in this situation. I know it's tough waiting and waiting for a hand to double up on and then get no action from it, but just remember that's it's better than letting one of the blinds catch trips on the flop with J [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Winning 900 chips is better than losing more to a very weak hand. I like the minimum raise here and it's exactly how I would play it since it gives one of the other short stacks the opportunity to go for the 2100 chips in the middle with hands such as J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] or K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Unless the table has been raising and reraising every hand pre-flop and you can count on someone doing it this hand, you can't afford to risk a limp.

Re: AA...limp or raise late in a MTT on PP?
 

Another thing you might try is to go all-in PF. This makes it look like you have a med pp and really don't want any callers. Makes the pot look real tempting to Ax types. Sort of reverse psychology that works depending on the table.