Another stud/8 3rd street question

[Nate tha' Great]

Is it ever correct to just call with a pair of aces when first to act after the bring-in?

Assume that one of your aces is showing and your hand is completely live, but your side card is >8.

[Andy B]

With a big kicker, I definitely want to thin the field, so I raise right away. With a small kicker, I don't mind a multi-way pot as much, so I might consider limping with the intention of re-raising, but I almost always raise right away in that case too.

[mmcd]

Only try the limp/reraise w low kicker if your aces are wired. After an A open limps, bigger pairs and low hands will be less likely to raise and generally opt to see 4th for just the bringin.

With a big kicker, always raise if first in. You want to try and play a 2 or 3 handed pot. If your Aces are wired (and you have something like a 9 or 10 up) then someone with KK or QQ might reraise to try and isolate you.

[Nate tha' Great]

I guess I was thinking about disguising my hand and getting to see how the boards develop on 4th street rather than making some sort of limp-reraise attempt. I think perhaps I am too reluctant to complete in EP with good low hands with an ace showing in a loose game where at least a couple of opponents will very likely call anyway.

[Andy B]

I limp and re-raise with a fair number of hands, mostly strong three-card lows, two-way hands, and rolled-up trips. If I never limp with Aces, then my observant opponents (both of them) will know that I have something other than Aces if I do limp. My default is to raise, and I do prefer that my Aces be wired for me to limp, but it isn't an absolute requirement.

[Nate tha' Great]

[ QUOTE ]
I limp and re-raise with a fair number of hands, mostly strong three-card lows, two-way hands, and rolled-up trips. If I never limp with Aces, then my observant opponents (both of them) will know that I have something other than Aces if I do limp. My default is to raise, and I do prefer that my Aces be wired for me to limp, but it isn't an absolute requirement.

[/ QUOTE ]

Andy,

When you do limp with aces, is it only when the side card is a low card? It seems like a potentially dangerous strategy to build the pot further if you have say (Ax 9x) Ax especially without a flush draw.

[Andy B]

[ QUOTE ]
When you do limp with aces, is it only when the side card is a low card?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, and I'm most likely to do it in a tight game. Even with the low kicker, the Aces play better with fewer opponents. In the tight game, there is likely to be a small number of opponents anyway. In a loose game, I'm more inclined to come in raising with my strong hands, since people will call anyway.

I am not enthusiastic about drawing to flushes when I start with a pair and am playing for half the pot. Yes, a two-flush adds value to the hand, but not nearly as much as in high-only stud, in my opinion.

[Ray Zee]

sure, if there are alot of low cards out there you are going to have to play your aces multiway. not all that bad but you will ditch them lots of times around 5th street. so you may want to invest as little as possible in some of these spots so you get out cheap and dont get pot stuck. plus many times it will fall real good for a limp raise that may make a hand that cant stand the heat to a powerhouse later on.
with more high cards out you want to play it like a seven stud hand against a high hand.