AA in cash games

Hi, I'm a new member but I have been having a real problem in cash games in the past few days. About four out of that last 5 pocket AA's I have had has been cracked. When I re raise pre flop I never get any action. When I slow play or just call a raise someone hits a 2 otter on me and I go broke. Other cases and seeming safe flop I bet and over commit myself and a guy shows pocket 2's "trips". Am I over playing this hand or should I bet more preflop to get these suck out kings out? Any help would be much appreiched thanks.

Btw I play .25-.50 and .50-1 on NL cash pokerstars.

Well, i think that you are doing nothing wrong, you should just keep up with the same strategy, AA is the best hand to start, but if you let too much ppl hit the flop, someone will hit a better hand then a pair, raising in the pre-flop against many opponents is to take them away. If after the flop there's still too many players, you have to analyze the flop and their actions, and you should not get blind because you have a pair of aces...

i play em hard here pre flop no matter what...i would rather take down a few limpers than lose to a runner runner gut shot...

AA is just one pair.

Heads up ...over the long haul...you should win about 4/5 times.

But, as with any other hand if you are not seeing your hand improve and the possibility that your opponent may be improving beyond your one pair, it might be time to slow down and reassess the situation.

thanks for the advice, i think i have played .10-.25 too long where I would get doubled up to much with aces. I probably should bet the flop strong and if I get further resistance I should contimplate where I should go from there.

If you don't get any action when you raise, too bad, you'll just have to wait until you get them again. Personally I never ever ever limp pre-flop with AA, slow-playing can be your biggest detriment.

Don't be discouraged and remember that it's better to win a small pot than lose a big one

First thing I'm going to ask is are you rolled for the limits you are playing? If you are playing 100nl (.50/1) you should have $2,000 at the bare minimum in your poker bankroll, either on the account or readily available from your bank or w/e to deposit.

Now you can obviously see why that's so important, because stretches like this will happen. They suck, but in the short run you will have short streaks of bad luck.



I know it's just for effect but in general if preflop raises are not getting action you should be raising more hands, not limping/slowplaying the big hands. If they fold to all your raises, start raising a lot more, especially in late position.


If you are playing cash 100 BBs deep at 50-100nl you should NOT be limping or just calling a raise with AA. You have the nuts, and you want as much money in the pot.


Mistake #2. Generally in an unraised or once raised pot preflop you do not want to be going broke with AA unimproved. Obviously it's all board and opponent dependent though. If you'd like to get some AA hands reviewed take a look at our hand analysis section.
Obviously without a specific hand it's hard to address, but just remember what a "safe flop" is to you. It means there are almost no draws generally right? That means if your opponent is playing back at you, he probably has an overpair beat, whether it's a set or 2 pair.

Again, this is just so broad and you'd get much more helpful responses if you post specific hands in the hand analysis section.

Welcome to cardschat and hopefully you enjoy it here and can improve .

the worst thing about slowplaying AA imo is that unless an A hits the flop, you never truly know where you're at. there's always the set possibilities, there's usually a draw completed by the river, etc.
when you isolate one or two people and have position in a decent sized pot, you have alot more information to work with.

i like to get heads-up preflop. If you raise everyone out, then no big deal. But to get value, you need to raise. After that, just play the board.

Like Zach said, if people are folding routinely to your pre-flop raises then make more of them!

As for AA.. its only a pair!!

The thing with that is this.

Preflop it is the nuts.. so get lots of money in here.

Post flop its unlikely to improve.

With your strong preflop play (im assuming you are making big raises with AA) its not that great a hand post flop, because you will win lots of small pots with it and loose big ones..

Why? well think about what it takes for a big pot.. it requires 2 big hands (or an idiot bluffer!!) what hands smaller than the AA are going to want to play for stacks in cash games.. OK short stacks.. but deep stacks .. which is what cash games are all about.

3 yrs later and I finally sealed up the leak of slowplaying aa and kk.....it's a terrible move, especially at a full table. Even if you're sure someone will raise. I'm just pi**ed it's taken me this long to realize it!

personally it is the players you r playing. No matter what you bet and no matter what the board you will find some won't fold for nothing. you need to change you betting styles with these people. Raising preflop with The AA is always your first move because if you limp or slowplay then when they get cracked it all on you ( any pocket pair you dont want several people in pot less likely they would hold) But when you have bad players that will call down you want to extract chips or cash as much as possible without going broke there fore you do not want to push allin or make a large bet ubtil you are sure the hand is going to hold. If they push that is one thing but a smart player can out play a bad player or call station.

Too many over play top pair ( I have done it myself at times) Learn from your mistakes and you will over come the loss

If they always fold your raises with big hands, you probably should raise more pots when in position and open your range a little more, making raises with connectors, middle pairs, etc. Sorry for the poor english.

when you hold the strongest starting hand in holdem,i think it deserves some respect...i think raising 4-8 blinds minimum..depending on raises in front of you position of play ect...is the standard...this to me is the hand to bet and call preflop anything...yes we,ve all had our rockets cracked...you,ll read many post about it,but that because noone is whining about winning with AA.And to answer your other part...you bet they fold..you take blinds...wheres the problem?anytime i can get the blinds without seeing a flop i view as a sucess,you got something for nothing....this is a good thing hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice guys, I have been opening with a lot more hands on very tight tables. This worked well because I was stealing blinds and a few times when encountered a re raise I ended up having a real hand. This also helped me get action when I did have AA's. I think part of my problem was being on a few tables where people will play pocket pairs for almost any size raise.

I did lose again with them last night when a guy raise with 3-6 of clubs and I just called. I re raised him all-in on a board with 4-5-q rainbow. He hit running clubs for the win. I could have re raised him pre flop but he had been firing at every flop. I guess that's the breaks of poker .

P.S I have a small bankroll but prefer higher stakes games because I can't seem to bluff ever on micro tables and I can't seem to put people on hands as well as I can in higher stakes.

Thanks Begley01

Sounds to me like you are just on a streak of bad beats. Hopefully it will pass soon and the pocket A's will pay off. They have been cracked on me too often lately as well, so don't feel too special in your losing with a good hand. lol

I don't try to slow play or tray with AA's because often I find the only person getting trapped is me. I play them hard to push smaller hand out of my pot. It is better for me to win a small pot then to lose a big pot as the saying goes. Go hard and sending and limpers home. If need be push all in and let one of two callers try to catch up to you.

if you are too worried with AA, then just go all in pre flop. If no one calls you, big deal, you take some blinds/calls that other people have made. I am basically saying, do not slow play them if you feel uncomfortable doing so. A lot of the time they are just a pair of aces in the end. Going back to what I said earlier, if someone does call your all in preflop, they most likely have a very good hand, and a lot of times a not very good hand has a better chance of beating pocket rockets than a very good hand that is not pocket rockets, which increases your chances of winning(pocket ks, qs, js, etc). Apparently 8 9 suited has a better chance of beating pocket rockets than those hands.

AA preflop is an 81% favorate against any two cards.

Against something like 89s this drops to 77%

Regardless playing any hand against an AA all in preflop is a loosing play.

Right you are. And that 56, 67, 89, 9Ts have the best shot.

I also agree with a raise in any position. Early position, I tend to take a risk and just do a standard raise to discourage KT or 89s. Late position, and 3 or 4 limpers, they'll will see a more substantial raise.

Attached Images

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With 3 or 4 limpers you want a very substantial raise.. You dont want AA in a multiway pot beccause with 3 people in the pot AA drops to about 60%, at the same time pot odds are correct for much weaker hands.

Get the money in pre-flop with AA. There is really no reason to ever limp with that hand.

I never open-limp with anything - I don't even call limps that often. If you've got a hand that's good enough to play, it's good enough to raise, and this gives less info to the other players at the table.

This means that you certainly don't want to ever limp with AA, for two reasons -

- You don't need to worry about mixing up your open-limping range
- If you've been playing against the same oppo for a while and then they see you open-limp for the first time, you might set off alarm bells.

[BTW, does anyone know of trackers that will give ranges for open-limps, min-raises, etc? IMO this would be just about the most useful info to have. Similarly, whether AA tends to raise more than other starting hands]

I know it's frustrating to just pick up the blinds when you have the best starting hand, but bear in mind that -

- It's better to pick up the blinds than to get stacked
- Giving anyone a free flop is too risky, especially when you have 100 blinds each, even 92o in the big blind can make two-pair and you'll have no way to know where you are.
- If they are letting you take the blinds down a lot when you have AA, then they'll be letting you take them with other hands too. Maybe next time you raise 55 or 87s you'll take the blinds down as well, which will be a rather more pleasant result.

BTW, I disagree with

I'd say that I'd be prepared to stack myself on AA a fair proportion of the time. This could be for a number of reasons -

- My games may be weaker than Zach's.
- My game may be weaker than Zach's
- My post-flop style is high risk. Some bet for information, trying to get the other guy to fold hands weaker than theirs and to keep playing hands stronger than theirs so they know where they are. I tend to do the opposite - I try to give my oppo some rope to hang themselves with and to not tell them when they are beaten. This means I have to then call when they still think they have the best hand or when they think they can bluff me off my hand!

BTW, if I decide to raise, I tend to raise to 3.5xBB no matter what my hand, for fear that it will be noticed if I bet differently with stronger hands. It's possible I'm being paranoid.

one thing i like to do is when you get aces under the gun or middle position is just to limp in with your aces then when some raises in late position just push it all in and you are almost called everytime.

Zach summed it up best here(shocking I know) but if nobody is calling raises then you just need to to raise more hands. It is never really a big mistake to just keep raising preflop every chance with AA. The more raises pre flop the less mistakes you can make post flop so if you are in a 3 or 4 bet pot with AA then its usually correct(and rarely a huge mistake) to get it in with AA on pretty much any flop.

As for your stakes, this is a big problem. If you are playing underrolled because you want your bluffs to work more often then you will almost certainly go bust. Instead of playing up so you can bluff more, focus on how to beat the lower levels(which is much easier btw) by value betting more. Dont try elaborate bluffs as you have noticed people call down with third pair. This means you can value bet more hands and get a lot more value. If you are getting bored just add a table.

Thanks for advice everyone
I have moved down to .10-.25 due to lack of bank roll and I have been playing better on 6 tables instead of one or two. My winning consistency has increased so I guess that's a good thing. Still not getting much action with aces lately but winning the blinds beats losing a huge sum of money.

That's too high. As has been stated above, against ATC, it's 81%.

No, 85% is right. AA vs underpair is 81%ish

I fell your pain buddy this happens to me alot too my AA always get cracked you played them well but just was unlucky you had the best hand at the start but then again that's poker you win some and lose some.Many people say you would win with AA more than you would lose with them I don't believe that's true well for me.

Glad you made this move - it's the single best piece of advice in this thread!

Glad also that you're winning at this level, hope you have continued success, look forward to seeing at the tables, and welcome to CC!

I would say to play them hard, but you must always remember that AA is really only AA, sure it is the top hand to play, but...........

If you don't feel right about the hand. Don't play it. Fold out.
( It's really only AA, who's to say that your next hand isn't KK that has way better odds because it "tripped up" ).

Sooner to not win than to lose, beacuse that sux.

Play them hard, but don't play every AA that's in the barrell. Be careful, and be wise.

Good luck.

ICU is OUT.

You are only 60% to win, but to win 3-1 on your money, for an expected return of 180%. With 4 callers, you are only 45% to win, at 4-1, also 180% return. With 1 caller, you are 85% to win 2-1, which is only 170% retrurn. So which one is really better?

All these answers, and the key phrase "bet-sizing" never comes up. Bet-sizing is the key to playing AA. You have to size your bet, for your position and your table, to get the amount of callers you want.

If you want to take a chance and go for a big pot, you want to size your bet to get 3-4 callers. You want to win a pot and go on, you want to size your bet to get 0-1 callers.

The other way to play it is to try and size your bet to get somebody to reraise, so you can come over the top. This is more likely to work when you are in early position.

If I am in first position, I will often min-raise. If the table is tight, this will still fold most people, and if it is a loose table, somebody will reraise and I can come over the top. And I can min-raise in first position with any hand I am willing to play, so I'm not giving away any info.

In late position, or on the blinds, a min-raise isn't going to fold anybody who is already in. So, if you have 2-3 callers, a min raise is good. If you have more, then you need to bet more.

5x the BB usually folds everybody, 4x folds everybody most of the time, 3x usually gets somebody to call, Negraneau's favorite 2.5x usually folds half the players.

So, the amount to raise varies by your position, stack sizes, and the nature of the table. But winning with AA is always about sizing your bet, based on those variables, to get the amount of callers you want.

The problem here is that you are assuming that you will be all-in preflop.. which is a great situation for AA. I said that you wanted to make a substantial raise with AA to avoid a multiway pot because AA does not play well post flop in a multiway pot.

The more people you get in the pot, the more people will have chance to out draw you. If the preflop round indicated real strength from you then others should not continue unless they have AA beaten.

AA poses a balancing act. Preflop it dominates, but will rarely get the oppertunity to call an all in, or to have an opponent call if you push all in.. so shoving preflop is not usually a good move.

Post flop it is likely to be the best hand, yet will struggle to build a big pot unless it is beaten.

AA does not improve very well post flop.. it has two outs (both aces and both potential scare cards to your opponent)

So AA tends to win many small pots and loose big ones.

You will generate more profit if you play post flop than if you kill the betting preflop, postflop big pairs (AA included) benifit from heads up play rather than multiway pots.

I did say in my post that you quoted that you wanted a substantial raise (thats an indication of bet sizing!!!)

I think it was Doyle Brunson who said something like " with AA you are either going to win a small pot or lose a big pot"

Like all others have said-raise raise raise! Let me tell you about a hand I had live a few months ago: I was in big blind(30/60) with 5 7 offsuit. Two limped in and I checked.the flop came out 5 7 3. Two pair for me,so I made a bet of about 150. Both called. The turn was another 7. At this point I have the nuts. I bet 350 i think and the first guy called. The second folded. The turn was a 6. I thought he might be playing the straight and I figured he would fold to the all in so I wanted to get max value out of him. I bet 700 ( more than half his stack) and he flat called. He had bullets (which yes,he held on to way too long,but it makes my point) and ended up going out 2 hands after that. If he had bet them I would have folded. So to beat a dead horse, hit em hard early.