AA bust

[punkass]

$20+2 Pokerstars NLHE multi. Top 45 cash, top 9 get most money. I am in 7th place of 10.

I get AA UTG. Blinds and antes are big. Do you raise all in, or less? Obviously the reason I am posting is that I lost with this hand and bubbled to the last table.

Raise all in and be content in buying the blinds/antes, which isn't all bad?

[MikeyEdge]

Move alls ins son. Do you want to go to town with the best hand, or do you want to limp and let somebody catch with their J-10 because you tried to get fancy?

Be happy to take the blinds, but if you get a caller or two its just gravy. Now, obviously your Aces got cracked, but it happens, don't be scurred to bet those bad boys.

[alieneyes]

The answer really depends on your stack size as well as the other stack sizes and the blinds and antes at the level you are at.

[Maroon]

Re: "Move alls ins son."

For the luvva Pete, NO! You do not want to go all-in here unless your stack is so small that you have to. If you go all-in with a medium or large-sized stack you'll just scare away all your potential customers.

What you DO want to do depends upon the competition. Remember "Rounders": 'Against your average player I'd set a bear-trap, hardly bet at all, but KGB is too smart for that.'

Against bad players, make a small bet, enough for them to call with crap hands. I like to double the big blind, but that's just me. If they raise you, THEN come over the top all-in. Otherwise, wait for the flop and try to figure out if they got hit or not.

Against good players, you might either a) limp, and wait for one of them to try and steal on the flop; or b) make a big bet, say 3 x the big blind, as though you're trying to steal. Then one of them might come over top of you in an attempt to force you out, and you get paid.

The important thing is that your Aces get more than just the blinds. You don't get Aces that often, especially in a time-restricted event like a tournament. You must get the maximum you can with them.

As for the risk of getting cracked by someone who drew out with JT, well, them's the breaks. That's whay tournaments suck; because the nature of hold 'em is such that if you have Aces or a set, you could win a lot, or you could lose a lot. In a ring game, you can always go back into your roll for more dough if you lose a lot. In a tournament, you have to take the cracking and like it.

[Poker Jon]

I think we would need to see stack sizes at this point.

It just depends on what you want from the tournament.

Some players just want to make the final table, whereas others would prefer to go out on the bubble knowing that if their play had worked they would have been in a strong chip position at the final table. You have to decided which you are!

If you have anything less than 10x BB, I raise all in here, as a small raise is pointless.

If I have a large stack, I still make a large bet making sure that only decent hands will come with me.

As for Maroon's response, why the hell would you double the big blind, allowing some hands like KQ, 77 etc to play?? Even worse is the call the bet and hope for a raise. That is a valid play but only (IMO) when you have a larger chip stack (3rd or 4th place maybe) when you can 'look like' you are trying to bully other stacks out post flop when you fly at the flop with a large bet.

[Daithi]

We really do need to know the size of the blinds and relative stack sizes. I'm also a bit confused about the original post as it it says he is in 7th out of 10, but then says he bubbles out to the final table?

However, if this is a final table with really high blinds then I agree with Maroon. When the blinds get really high most people either limp or raise 2xBB. This sized raise will either steal the blinds or put the other players on notice that if they call or raise, all their money may be going in to the middle of the pot.

[cferejohn]

If you have less than 10x the BB, raise all-in. Either you will buy the blinds and antes or you will get lucky and someone else will have a big hand and call you.

[cferejohn]

[ QUOTE ]
Against bad players, make a small bet, enough for them to call with crap hands. I like to double the big blind, but that's just me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ick. I hate hate hate this move, unless you minimum raise alot (and I don't really like that either). If you only minimum raise with AA/KK, you are announcing to any resonably observant player "hey, I've got AA or KK, but herre, try to draw out on me."

[punkass]

Let me clarify more. This is a PokerStars tourney, so they put 9 to a table. I got kicked out at #10, so after my death, everyone else went to the final table.

I had more than 10xBB. I don't know for sure, but I had more than 20BB, I would say. (ball park, 500/1k blinds, I think I had about a stack of 40k). Chip leader had ridiculous amount, over 200k.

I raised preflop to 5k. Chip leader called. K92 flopped, rainbow. He checked, I go all in, he calls quickly. He shows me 22.

I play the tournaments not to just get in the money. But even if you were playing tournaments just to make it to the final table, I don't think you can walk away from this hand at all.

I'll chalk it up to bad luck that my AA lost to 22.

My question was whether people liked 1) laying a trap and limping or doubling the blinds, hoping to be called or raised (I don't like this at all), 2) laying a standard size raise (which I did) and play from there, or 3) going all in, hoping to buy the blinds, assuring no suckouts, and if someone calls, it was meant to be.

I'm more leaning towards 3 now, even though I think 2 isn't bad either. I am totally against 1. Thanks for your opinions.

Jlee

[jon_1van]

You said you are in 7th comfortably.

Does this mean the the lower guys are getting ready to bust?

If so I might be more inclined to make just a 3x BB bet preflop. So that if I do get lots of aggression from the monster leader I don't cripple myself by folding.

I know that this is a little timid but if you want to outlast the 8th, 9th, and 10th guys it might require this.

I would try the more timid (on this hand) route if I believed that I could avoid confrontation with the chip leader and get some action from the other players.

If the chip leader is playing so much that avoiding him is impossible then these are the exact set of circumstances I would want to take him on.

So I guess my decision hinges on how close to busting 8-10 are and how many hands the chip leader is involved in.

Jon