All In With AA-Deceptive

Okay, I know there are at least two other threads stating that AA is not a sure thing. But I was in a decent live tournament last night and many players that were in it I played with for a while. I consider a couple of them great players but after last night I'm not so sure. They were out of the tournament within the first hour. Later I find out they lost because they went all in with Pocket Aces and they were not even the short stack. At least three players lost with AA. I thought they were smarter that that. What do you think?

Depends when they went all in. If it was preflop and they got called going all-in, then they would have lost no matter what, as the same player would have called a raise.

if they are slow playing and getting beat then its a combination of bad luck and bad play. No point slow playing aces in either limit cash games or on a low stack.

Remember AA is not unbeatable. Sure it a very nice starting hand but up again suited connectors it goes in just over a 2-1 fav

Saying that, the feeling you get when those aces are dealt and you are sitting on the button is great!!

The only sure thing in poker is that you won't win every hand you play. Poker is gambling the best you can do make you opponent get as many chips in the pot as possible when you have the best hand, or you are the favorite to win. Underdogs draw out you just have to make them spend as much as possible to beat you.

There's nothing wrong at all with going all in with AA pre-flop, its the best you can ask for as a poker player. They didn't make the wrong move, they just got unlucky.

I agree with Crippler, everytime i slow play pocket AA`s somebody catches something and i get beat out cause i let them see the flop, theres only a few times when i slow played them and they held up, so for me its all-in with pocket AA`s. Its the best starting hand so play them real strong, if some jerk calls you with 6h & 2s and he wins, he just got lucky, he shouldn`t even be it the pot, he should have folded his junk cards.
buckster436

Whenever I slow play a big hand it usually comes back to bite me. While I generally won't push allin, I will push a significant raise to make folks pay dearly to see the flop. Some people will call any bet with any hand just to see the flop and there's no protection from this kind of idiot. These people can and do catch miracle cards but in the long run it's a losing strategy. AA is the best pre-flop hand only so that's the place to make folks pay - pre-flop...

No matter what.. Pocket AA's always has and always will be best starting pre-flop hand. All-in with best starting hand is the favorite and yes it isn't guaranteed to win, but a higher % chance to win then any other starting pre-flop hand.

I'd agree in a cash game you'll generally do well to go all in with Pocket Aces, as on average it will be a winning strategy after factoring in the chance of losing the draw.
In a tournament I'm not so sure all-in before the flop is the ideal strategy - most of the time it would win, but the rest of the time you'd be out of the tournament. If you get callers, then you're favourite to significantly increase your chip stack, which would be of great value... it depends at what point in the tournament - early on, I'd possibly go for a pot-sized bet or the like... later on when the blinds are getting nastier and gambling is more warranted, then definitely all-in.

I'm not saying that making a HUGE raise by going all in pre-flop is the best move (because you usually want at least 1 caller if possible).... but if someone calls that, or if you are the one being pushed, I dont see anything wrong with it. Even in a tournament, you may get booted out on that hand, but in the long run it will be a good move.