What would you do?

[allenciox]

you are dealt AA on the button in a NLHE SNG on Party. It is Round III (25/50 blinds), eight players are left, you are second lowest remaining stack with about $475.

You are dismayed when it gets folded all the way around to you. What do you do?



My answer: I limped. I wanted to win more than the blinds here. The SB calls, and the BB checks. Then the flop comes down: 245 rainbow. It's checked to you. What do you do now?

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

First of all, don't limp with AA, especially on the button. The first thought I have when I see an open-limp on the button is "TRAP!!!"

Raise to 150. An aggressive player in the blinds who thinks you're stealing will call or reraise. If you're lucky, a medium pair or a big A may reraise all-in.

OK, now that that's out of the way. Your opponent now has any two cards. His check can mean anything. Bet the pot.

[eMarkM]

Raise preflop!

Sure you may just win the blinds, but you should be raising on the button with all kinds of crap on steals. An aggressive player in the blinds is very apt to play back at you. Limping on the button screams Big Hand in most cases and you also let the guy in the BB with 32o hit a miracle flop.

[allenciox]

Thanks for the advice. By the way, the low cards on the flop spooked me, so I bet the pot and won it --- total win $100 --- big deal. Ironically, the very next game, I had almost exactly the same situation! I had AA on the button, it was all folded to me, I raised double the blind (on 15/30), SB called, BB folded --- flop came A 7 3 rainbow, he checked, I checked to trap, next card he bet 30, I raised him 60 and he folded. Suggestions?

[DaNoob]

be happy with whatever amount you win with Aces. too many ways to get that hand cracked when you slowplay trying to get some extra chips in the pot. slow play a flopped boat. always play top pair fast.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

In both cases you won the pot. That's a good thing. In both cases you probably won as much as you possibly could. You can't make something happen when it isn't there.

Two suggestions: Avoid limit raises. Always raise a pre-set multiple of the big blind (3-4x). Don't change this based upon your cards. Good players will see through that. Also, if you check after raising preflop, that sends up a red flag to your opponent.

Don't get impatient when you get aces and win a small pot. You may try to get tricky and trap yourself.

[allenciox]

Thanks to everyone. I am just learning the game. About two months ago, I was watching World Poker Tour on Travel Channel and thought "I could do that!" So I have bought some books and studied them, bought Turbo Texas Hold 'Em and practiced, and decided to try playing online at Party Poker. I found quickly that I enjoy the excitement of the NL SNGs much better than the Real Money tables. What's neat is that I got a $50 bonus for signing up, and have never deposited a cent in the account, but it is already up over a thousand dollars! But I still have a lot to learn, my ROI is only about 20% not nearly as good as some of you on here have had.

I have never read the two tournament books that people talk about on here, but have been playing by some of Phil Helmuth's advice in his new book, what do people think of his new book?

[eMarkM]

I enjoy the excitement of the NL SNGs much better than the Real Money tables

Yes, they give you good bang for your buck, and they're excellent money makers for good players. There's a lot in the archives here on what proper SNG strategy is. Do some searching.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

With the exception of the section on limit hold'em tournaments, Hellmuth's book will do nothing but help you lose money.