[betgo]

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I think that not raising with AK or something at a bunch of limpers from CO or button is a really bad play

[/ QUOTE ]I used to agree with you - AK and AQ suited or not should have a superior chance of winning (over the crap people like to play) and thereby of making you a bunch of chips in the long run, and not raising PF was giving up a lot of those chips. But I'm not all that sure today - when it comes to low buy-in tournaments at the early levels.

The problem is the typical scenario: 4 players limp to you for t50 each, you make a close to pot sized raise from the button for t350, and with t1,825 in the pot you, the BB and 3 of the limpers see a flop of A85 rainbow. Holding AK of course you're exhilarated, but before the action makes it to you UTG has put in t1,000 and the CO has moved all-in over the top for his remaining t2,900. You look at your remaining t3,300 and ...

Building big pots preflop with big Aces makes for really unweildy hands after the flop, when everybody is eager to "see the future" even for a substantial part of their chip stack.

So when I - in this kind of tournament and at this point in the tournament - advocate limping the big Aces, it's to make the post flop play more manageable. When you hit for real you know it (QJT boards etc.), but you're probably not going to get much action (actually AQ is much better here, since fewer people will put you on a str8 on a KJT board).

A substantial part of big slick's strengh comes from the folding equity of pushing all-in over the top of a LP raise. If that FE doesn't exist the hand is pretty much a dog until a flop has proved differently.

At these buy-ins and at these early levels small pair and suited connectors are worth gold, simply because reading the hands of a bunch of wild and crazy gamblers on a raggedy flop calls for very advanced skills. When you hit the flop with these hands it's almost always a no-brainer. Compared hereto big aces are tough to play. And I like to keep my investment in tough hands down, and my decissions simple.

Best,

McMelchior (Johan)

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I like playing speculative hands against loose fish with deep money too.

However, I think a late position raise with AK/AQ is a good play. A lot of times people will pay you off big with a Ax/Kx. Also, with position and initiative, you can sometimes take the pot when you miss. Sure you can lose a big pot against two pair or a set of something. It is trickier to play than limping with a small pair or something, but if you play well postflop, I think it is very EV+.