Strangely Played Hand in 10K at Harrahs

[JohnG]

[ QUOTE ]
"If you raise with AA here you had better raise with a lot of hands or you pummel yourself with reverse implied odds."

Paul, would you help me understand this?
Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe he means it's important not to give your hand away early against tough players when there will still be a lot of money left to be bet after you raise. This means either raising with a number of hands in this situation so it is still disguised, or raising with none.

If you raise with AA here, but not many other hands, your opponents will know what you have and will have all the options post flop. You will only win a small pot at best, but lose bigger ones when outflopped or scared out. Easy for your tough opponents to outplay you, as you are practically playing with your cards face up. How do you fancy calling big bets on the turn or river when unimproved? Your opponents cannot make big mistakes post flop. You can.

[Greeksquared]

This is exactly how I would play aces in middle position at the main event of the WSOP. I have played aces like this in ring games many times. There are many good things that can come with this limp. If you get raised pf you simply reraise(I would push here a vast majority of the time) and take a nice pot or double up. Also, you will flop top set once every 8 times. But if I don't raise pf, I have no problem letting it go on the flop when I dont flop a set. I usually will take a stab at the pot if it is checked to me on the flop. There is no reason to try and continue if 5 people are involved and the action is heavy. You have only committed one big blind to this hand. This limp may not be the best way to play, but it is by far the easist and safest way to play...especially early in a tournament. Like I said, this is likely how I would play aces during the first day of the WSOP. Easy of game play is important to me.

[That guy]

Certainly limping is fine X% of the time playing for set over set... but I think it is tougher to win a big pot with the limp re-raise technique. I like the limp-reraise better with something like AK. You would prefer not to race vs a pair so the limp re-raise scare factor might make JJ & QQ lay down. With blinds THIS low though and tough opponents, no conservative play can be that wrong.

[TransientR]

Bingo!

Sure it is early and the players are tough. Does that mean you go into a shell and meakly throw away your bullets at the first hint of resistance? I don't think so.

Plus where are all those posters who think limping in with aces is a sign of mental deficiency?

Frank

[LiquidChalance]

I could not even read through the entire thread until I ran into numerous amounts of ideas that shocked me. Allow me to apologize for not specifically quoting people but, nevertheless.

First off there is never one way to play a hand. Even the most glaring and profound hand in the game, aces, retains mutiple options of playability. A few people have said that raising preflop in this situation lets everyone know what you have and even another said by limping in this position Harmon knew that he had a big hand. If this is the case then anytime a player limps in mp she will immediately put them on aces, but if they raise she will put them on aces as well, the logic seems flawed to me.

Personally, and from what evidence I have been able to extrapolate from the information garnered, I would have raised an amount around 2.5-3XBB, which I would have done with QQ, KK and possibly AK. This would allow some flexibility in post flop action, as well as keeping my opponents guessing if they were to all fold.

Paul's rationale also makes sense and I would consider that line of playing acceptable as well, it all depends on your confidence to make the correct call post flop, as unfailingly folding to Harmon's bet as many players eagerly suggested failed to take note of the heros image, Harmon's image, hands she had shown, and the specific mannerisms of her betting.

[doggin]

I see.....but a good player will in fact be mixing it up here, would'nt he.....or she?

thx

[G. Ed Conly]

This play doesn't appear in the least bit strange to me.

[Bataglin]

I think Hero played it fine.

[OrangeCat]

Since it is very early in the tourney, Hero is not giving up that much by trying a tricky play with AA. At least hero had the good sense to fold when a favorable situation did not develop.

[knifeandfork]

once upon a time i limped after a single limper in a tournament with KK. My reasoning on this hand was that the CO and the button were definitely not the types to let a bunch of people limp if they had any reasonable hand. perhaps the tendencies of the players behind you is the most important factor in deciding whether to raise or limp. in this scenario it paid off for me as the CO called with AQ, the button raised, the limper called and i pushed. CO folds button thinks for a minute and calls and limper folds 67s. button had jacks and had apparently put me on a move with a weaker hand.

basically if you think the table will be limped 7 handed you should be raising imho small pot or not in a tournament id rather not play them 7 handed (i believe the example had 7 to the flop). Now if gus, antonio, layne, jennifer and barry are all to act behind you i think its a pretty safe bet that it will be raised often enough for you to get the chance to reraise and play heads up or take down the pot. Im just a dummy but id be curious to know what type of players were behind hero here and i think this is a rare scenario (aces seeing a flop 7 handed) if 7 really went to the flop at this level. forgive me if i misinterpreted the hand, and of course if hero is say johnny chan or erik seidel or daniel negreanu, or dewey tomko that makes a difference rather than jason smith who is a lot easier to put on a hand than those folks.
jason