AA in early tournament

[djshawk]

There are already two people in the pot, raising to T100 still pretty much guarantees you a caller.

[Black Aces 518]

I'm a complete moran and missed the two limpers, I thought it was folded to Hero. DERP. Never mind, I endorse a raise to 100-125 as well.

So, besides raising preflop to 100-120 and perhaps checking on the flop, was there anything I could do to play this hand better? By the way, Villain had KJ and his 3 Jacks held up. Was I just screwed no matter how I played it?

[Scooterdoo]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you guys really opening to 7xBB in the CO with AA when it's folded around to you? Why? Are you opening the same amount with any other raising hand?

[/ QUOTE ]

I know this is a much different situation, but when playing in a WSOP $2.5k event with Eric Siedel he made a huge bet from UTG with AA. The blinds were something like 25/25 and he bet 200 or so. I'm sure his logic was that any regular opening bet, 3-4x, would not scare anyone away at these levels and he didn't want to invite multi-way action. Also, his big bet looks like a TT-JJ type hand so if he was lucky enough to be facing AK, AQ, QQ, KK, etc., his hand would be disguised. I wouldn't have thought about this play, but after seeing it I really liked it. He ended up getting called by TT and QQ, a T hit the flop and he lost most of his money!

At the Legends on Monday I saw a guy make a big prelop raise from early to mid position with AA. He had a caller and the flop came with an A and Q. The AA guy raised the flop and was called and then pushed the turn and the other guy agonized. I think he deduced that the other guy couldn't have AA or QQ if he made such a big preflop bet so the guy calls (I think he had AQ). Anyway, I was playing out the hand in my head and also could not put the guy on AA given his big preflop raise -- it was like 5-6x BB. Anyway, the point is that this type of unusual play sometimes really pays off since it's very hard to read.

* Note: I realize that you are suggesting not to make a big preflop raise with AA from the CO and I agree.

[Black Aces 518]

Yeah, I like it in situations where you're in EP and/or against thinking opponents. I think the problem with using this idea even here, is at low levels (like Party $2) people bet in proportion to the strength of their hand. Blinds are 25/50, they raise QJ to 100, 77 to 150, TT to 250, AK to 300 and AA to 500. So they may assume you're doing the same.

But against thinking players, making a move that doesn't seem to be the best can disguise your hand well, as you mentioned.