Aces UTG when short-stacked

[NYCNative]

In a home MTT last weekend, I was short-stacked and on the bubble. The blinds went up and I counted my chips and I realized that I had about 4-5BB left which left me with no options - push or fold. I even made a comment about it when the blinds went up - something like "one of you have to double me up when I push! No post-flop play for me!"

I am UTG and look down and I see the prettiest thing: Rockets. Then it occurs to me that I have no idea how to play them.

My move for any two worth playing is pushing. Anyone at the table should know that. The fact that I joked about it earlier means that even if they were stupid and didn't know, they did now.

I entertained thoughts - limp? Minraise? Then I thought that if I did get cute that people would read right through it (and we all know how Aces get cracked when playing them cute) whereas if I did the normal thing I would do with any "decent" hand (and some might suspect me of pushing any two at that point with the BB coming my way), I stand a chance to get called by someone not suspecting that I managed to hit the highest possible of my range. But I also risk just picking up the blinds and antes and that's a waste of a great hand.

The first lesson I learned was "don't make jokes about my strategy" because I think that my big mouth made the decision for me. How about the right way to play these cards?

[Rekwob]

move in, everyone knows your range is massive and if theres any sort of hand out there you're getting called. if nobody has a hand they certainly wouldnt have played back at you if you min raise, so if you moved in and didnt get called it doesnt matter

[sandrew]

Advertising you just said the obvious. Anyone with a poker mind looking at your chip stack knows you have to push.

I would push here you have AA, people are going to suspect to push with alot worse (TJs, any two paint, etc). Its an easy double up, possibly a triple up. However your aces can get cracked here to more so since you are short. I say this because the range of hands that will call you all in is huge more so than if you were pushing a larger stack or making a 3-4x raise.

The close 2nd is to get cute.. Call the BB and hope to get a few callers then push on the flop. The reason i like this play is that you have a chance to pick up some extra chips. We all know how aces can get cracked playing cute, they can get cracked if pushed too. If someone raises after you call pre-flop push all in.

[durron597]

You have AA and 5 BB. PUSH! The fact that you are UTG is better since you are likelier to get callers since there are more players to act after you.

[NYCNative]

But if I don't get any callers and just pick up the blinds and antes, didn't I just waste those aces in effect?

[Nathan183]

If you don't get callers, it just wasn't meant to be. It's only 5x BB, if they have a hand, they'll play. If everyone has rags, you're not going to get any action anyways.

I think the fact that you implied you would be going all-in soon helps you a lot as your opponents will likely put you on a broad range of hands.

[durron597]

[ QUOTE ]
But if I don't get any callers and just pick up the blinds and antes, didn't I just waste those aces in effect?

[/ QUOTE ]

You just increased your stack by nearly 40% with zero chance of busting. What do you think?