Should I raise AA in late position?

Hey,

I've been raising pocket AA in late position, and everytime I feel like there's no point to raise because everyone folds so I get no action...just wasted my best opportunity.

The one time I remember not raising I was playing on Poker Syndicate, and made a fortune. Flop came A 7 Q. The BB had AQ and just called, and obviously I took a fortune from him.

What's your thoughts, raise AA in late position?

Raise. More often than not, AA is only a great hand pre flop. Too much can happen with AA that make it a losing hand, so you want to give yourself every advantage possible. If people fold around you, then you still won the hand, which is the main objective. Sometimes you will profit, sometimes you won't, but you live to fight another battle.

Well, I guess your always supposed to play your hands differently. So raising with AA preflop ALL the time is probably not correct. But thats what I do. I just can't limp with them. You say every time, I'm wondering how many times that is? One of our superior members (FP) here wrote this in the blog about limping with AA. Check it out:

http://www.cardschat.com/blog/05/16/...-with-rockets/

I agree with sammy. There's no rule set in stone that applies to raising AA in LP, or to any other situation for that matter.
I think it depends on who's in the blinds, what your table image is, what the stack sizes are, etc. (i'm also assuming that the table has folded to you; i don't think there's ever a situation that you should limp behind someone in LP unless you're %100 sure that someone after you will raise)
If your opponents are crazy re-raising maniacs, then a button raise is perfect. He'll probably put you on a steal, and re-raise you if he's that type of player.
If the blinds are tight passive players, then maybe a PF limp would work better, though i really don't like limping with aces.
Your table image is also a factor; if you've been stealing alot of pots, then again a raise would be perfect. People will probably put you on another steal.
If you've been really tight, then a raise would probably set alarm bells of in their head, so they prob. won't call.

yes-but try to hold back on goin all in

You don`t want to be playing with AA in an unraised pot, and therefore limping is usually poor play.

However, it is acceptable if there is an aggressive player to act after you, and you can have high confidence that he will raise. In that case, you can achieve the primary aims of building the pot, driving out limpers and simplifying to one (or at most two) opponents whilst also disguising the strength of your hand.

Definitely raise. It's better to win a small pot then to lose a big one, and it is rare that AA will win you a big pot if you don't raise preflop. Allowing the blinds to see a cheap flop gives them a chance to make a better hand than yours, and if they don't, it is unlikely that they will pay you off.

Depends on the situation, the table, your chip stack, cash game v. tourney play, agression factor at the table, ect, ect, ect.

There is no specific way to play AA preflop, even from late position. There are just too many factors that will play into the decision of just exactly how to play AA in any given situation, so, there is no way to answer this question.

Post some HHs with specific situations, it will be easier to give you an idea of how to play AA for those given situations.

gotta mix it up, but when you do slowplay them, you have to carefully gauge what the blinds might hold, and be ready to fold if you've got a good read. most times, people play them like the nuts all the way to the river while slowplaying and that'll kill ya. i did it last night and let KJ bust me out on the river with a third jack.

I''ll always raise AA preflop, too much can happen as the cards come out to hurt the hand.

I like this answer the best................

If there were a few limpers before you I might raise to double the BB, but if there was only 1 limper I will usually call and hope he pairs on the flop.

depends. more than one other person in to see the flop, id raise atleast 5x the blind in online poker. if only one other giuy...trap him (: but dont be stubborn and call something stupid

i always want to at least isolate one player when having pocket aces.. too many in the pot means too many ways to lose with them.

try raising one and a half times the big blind that works more often then not

Limping gives you no read on the other players hand. I would rather win a small pot with everyone folding than lose a big pot because the big blind flopped 2 pair on his unraised rags.

Sorry i do not care to read the thread, but to answer the original question

Q: Should I raise AA in late position?
A: No, you should FOLD AA, especially in late position.

I'm of the opinion you should always raise AA unless you have the ability to fold it, which most players don't. It's always better to get no action than to get the action that will beat you.

Especially when I'm playing at the same table.

if they always fold, its cos you dont raise enough hands. theres a deeper underlying reason why u arent making money and to get better u need to think why

^^

Raising light helps you get paid big time with monster hands. (I learned this from playing 6max/heads-up and watching some good players).

i would raise if there were already two or more players in but if there is no one in i would just call.

With AA in late position, I like to either raise 2x BB or limp. With kings I would usually raise 3x bb. If one of the blinds is a very aggressive player, limp with AA because there is a good chance he will raise you. The other day, I had AA in the small blind, and the big blind was an aggressive player. I limped in, and sure enough he raised. I made a small reraise, and he reraised all in, I called, and he had 10 6 offsuit. Had I raised first preflop he would have folded.

The reason I raise 2x the BB in late position is because its a much easier bet for the players to call. Say I'm on the button and I raise 2x bb in a no ante game. The big blind would be getting 3.5:1 pot odds, but for any hand he has, he will be a worse than 3.5:1 underdog. 2 undercards is a 4.9:1 dog and a lower pair is a 4.5:1 dog.

The problem with this strategy is that you will almost never be able to put your opponent on a hand (minraise gives BB good enough odds to call any two cards - he obviously doesn't know you have AA), and you could stack off easily after his trash hand hits a big flop and you have no idea what he has. (ie: you min-raise, he calls, from comes 942, he check-raises you all-in, does he have you beat? tough decision).

AS the saying goes win a small pot with aces or lose a big one if u dont raise and the big blind checks his options with some crap like 26 off and flop comes 2 q 6 u lose a hefty amount so i guess u sacrafice the big pots to win small ones never could be too safe

naw dont raise AA ITS NOT WORTH IT IT SOMETIMES GET BEAT

"The problem with this strategy is that you will almost never be able to put your opponent on a hand (minraise gives BB good enough odds to call any two cards - he obviously doesn't know you have AA), and you could stack off easily after his trash hand hits a big flop and you have no idea what he has. (ie: you min-raise, he calls, from comes 942, he check-raises you all-in, does he have you beat? tough decision)."

True, most players would call with anything reasonable with 3.5:1 pot odds and its hard to put the opponent on a hand. But at least you will have position on him. And you are saying its a bad strategy because he might flop two pair or something to beat me. That's always a risk, but the flop might as well come J 5 2 when he has QJ, and he will be ready to lose all of his chips.

I would rather raise and push everyone out and win the blinds. Because ending up in a multi-way pot with AA is not where you want to be.

plain and simple, ALWAYS raise with AA. whether in early or late.

some tricky players will limp with AA in early position which is a great way to take alot of money from someone, but its also a great way to lose alot of money to someone. (you gotta hope someone will raise so you can reraise) but thats a pretty advanced play that you should only pull off if you know your opponents well enough. which, at this point, most players are not good enough at reading their opponents to keep from losing to much money to trips, two pair or whatever. You also have to be able to fold it (which, virtually no beginning players can) Just stay away from that play until later.

The main problem here is a pretty common one. Doyle said the problem with Aces is you either win alittle, or lose alot. This is pretty accurate. Alot of players think that because they have a good hand, they have to win alot of money but the truth is, alot of good hands won't win you very much. In order for you to win alot of money in hand, your opponent has to have something also. this is the case with hands like full boats or quads.

ie:

your hole cards are 55
flop is 55A

do you really expect to win alot here? you're not. you have great hand, but you're not. you have all four 5's, so noone has trip 5s. The more likely chance is that your opponent has an A, but even he will be scared of the pair on the board. your best hope is to try and convince him you are trying to steal, which is a very fragile play. your other hope, is the off chance that they have AA.

the fact is, AA (and other big hands) isn't as an exciting hand as people think. it is really strong, but hands like this aren't the most profitable. AA is and pretty cut and dry. Always raise and don't expect to win alot.

one thing about players that like to limp in late with AA is that in the long they are going to lose money because of this. of course, there are those times when they win good sized pots by conceiling their hand, but they are giving you a chance to catch a better hand. so, if they are agressive (which they usually are because they have to be) they will push you out most of the time, and they will win just as much money as they would have normally (perhaps alittle bit more). If you do catch something, better than an AA (not uncommon) than they will lose alot of money to you thinking what they have is so well hidden. Their best bet is that they either flop an Ace (remote possiblility at best) or their opponent will flop top pair. the problem with this is, any decent player can fold top pair, so they will still not win alot of money. So, effectively, they are hiding there hand from opponents that may have lost a good amount of money to them anyways (because they're not good players) and risking losing alot of money to opponents who know better.

maybe its just that everyone is folding because they know you only raise with AA's. raise alot more and i guarantee you youll get alot more action when you hit AA.

This is really poor thinking. This can also be said about any other pairs and hands like AK, so do you not raise these hands either? You may have lost with AA before, but that will happen. I lost a hand while holding AcAs vs AdKs, I was a dominating lead and my opponent beat me with trip Kings. Its sucks, but it happens.

AA, like any other hand, is not a guaranteed winner but AA will win majority of the time against 1 or 2 players. However, the more players AA has to go against the lower the chance it has of winning. Thats where raising comes in. This (usually) will accomplish 2 things: The weaker hands will fold and you will isolate the field and it also builds the pot. Not only do you want to win with AA, but you want to win big and you're not going get that big pot if you build it up with a raise.

Lets look at a couple of scenarios:

A) Its the start of an SnG and everyone has a 1500 stack. Blinds are 15/30. You're in Mid position with AsAd and everyone limps before you, you limp, and the whole table sees the flop.

It comes Kh 5h 5d

You have an over pair, but how are you going to play this hand? You can bet out, but any one of your opponents can have a 5 and if you are reraise, you might have to fold. Or you can call but you probably wont have a lot of confidence in your hand, right?

B) Now, say its the same scenario but you raise it 4x the BB and you only have 3 callers.

The flop is Kh 5h 5d

Now, this flop isnt as hard to play because you know there is very little chance any of your opponents is holding a 5. And an even smaller chance of any of them holding quads. You probably have the best hand, and if an opponent is holding a K, you can expect a lot action from them.

So, you actually benefit more raising with AA and taking down a small pot than you do with not raising and having to fold/losing a big pot with AA.

As for the OPs question:

Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss.

Lots of good advice on this thread. I am quite aggressive with pocket aces but if after the flop my agresiveness is chalenged I have no problem dumping them.............

Learned my lesson with limping decent pock pairs late in a tourney. Had pock jacks and limped. Board came out 10 high with no pairs so I figured I was in decent shape. BB had flopped 2 pair with his offsuited nonconsecutives and slow played them heavily. Cost me a run at the Final Table, was sittin in 5th on final 2 tables, and wound up 17th. Sucked not making FT but atleast I learned a valuable lesson from the experience. Dont limp decent range to hi range pocket pairs.

If you don't get action with your monsters maybe you should try also raising with your worse hands. If you're playing 6 handed you can go down to raising KQo from UTG but no hands worse. I'm surprised only Goron and me brought this up...

Personally I raise AA from every position 99% of the time and 3bet 95% of the time. Only time I can think of limping AA is from UTG when there's a maniac acting after me 'n raising every hand. Even then I 3bet his arse off.

pocket AA in late position if there is no one to bet then you can bet to 1/3 to double check other player had pair or not .If there is a reraise you can played save just make call . Never put all in in late position you might get trouble other players with two small pairs or three of kind .