AA small blind

[jba]

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bet and raise relentlessly both preflop and flop. slow down when it starts looking bad. fold sometimes.

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really? that seems stupid, doesnt it? from the SB?

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think of it this way bro

no matter what there's not a lot you can do to "protect" your hand. It's pretty tough to pull off a check raise after raising preflop and having no idea where the bet is coming from. If the bet comes from your left all you can do now is build the pot. as someone else already pointed out you're not the favorite here -- at least you're not winning 50% of the time.

say you're only winning 30% of the time against 8 players (this will totally depend on the flop -- the nightmare JT9s that someone pointed out you're probably hella worse). In some respects it's the same position you're in with a nut flush draw on the flop - you're 2:1 to win the hand so against a bunch of players you want to ram and jam with this huge equity edge, so you bet out to get as much in the pot as possible. One signicant difference is with a nut flush draw you have high implied odds, which means you will be betting and raising liberally on the turn/river if you hit your draw and never paying off with a second best hand. your AA on the other hand has reverse implied odds; even when you have the best hand on the turn/river, you often cannot bet and raise for fear of being beat by straights, flushes, two pair, etc, and you will often make the second best hand. This is another big argument for betting and raising ASAP when you know you're best.

forget about protection. with the best dream c/r possible the button bets you raise and face the field with 19:2 which means the BB on your left can call for a gutshot! before you know it the tag in the CO is calling with ducks what are you protecting against????

bet and raise for value until it starts looking bad, it's maybe as stupid as it sounds

edit: yankees totally suck