AA from early position

Is it safe to limp with pocket aces in early position or is it better to fire a 2.5-4 bb raise? Sometimes limping for me works anf sometimes raising works...I was just unsure on what the best play is with aces from early position

Raise, limping is terrible if no one raises and lots call behind. (Which will happen a lot)

Raising is fun

This has been gone over quite a few times, and just about everyone is going to tell you to raise it up. Is there a special occasion that limping in may be a good play? Sure there is. But those are so few and far between that it's not really even worth bringing up. The fact is raising a premium hand like that in early position will ALWAYS be a good play.

In general you will want to lean more towards and aggressive move then a passive one. Pretty much anytime you are on the fence about doing something and there is a weak option (limping, checking, etc) and there is a strong option (raise, re-raise, etc) and they are pretty close in your mind, pick the aggressive one. It will usually pay off more in the long run.

I think people bring this up, because sometimes when you 3x raise from early position with Aces everyone folds. The problem is that you need to realize that this doesn't happen everytime. You WILL NOT get paid off big with aces everytime you get them. In fact I would say about 50% of the time I get aces I end up just collecting the blinds.

limping is a terrible idea.

always raise.

If you don't raise and have 4 or 5 limpers follow you into the pot you risk any of them potentially hitting trips, flush, draws etc. that would have you crushed. It's just not worth the risk to "slow play" aces and possibly be crushed after the flop. Raising every time, even if you don't get any callers, you still come up on the positive side of things winning the blinds.

i agree to raise,id rather win the blinds than lose on the flop.

If they're playing micros, this ^ is a very rare occurrence... much more likely is, HERO raises 4x(< adjusting for micros & early levles) in EP & gets 4 or 5 callers.. and some fish with J3s flops 2pr & it holds when HERO can't get away from their AA on a J-6-3 flop.

It depends on the table you're on. I can't recall the last time I ever limped w AA in EP in early levels but there's probably been times that I probably should've.
Also, limp-reraise in EP is pretty transparent.... unless of course you're doing that with other shyte besides just 'AA'.

I have learned the hard way never limp with aces this invites to many peeps into the pot. The only time I might try this is in late position with a very aggressive ater me that I can reraise.

Always min-raise at least...u get reraised u reraise big...u get re-raised again u re-raise all in and crush the JJ+ guy.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that it is sometimes fine to limp, IF you are on an aggressive table and you can be reasonably sure that someone behind will raise it up. It really depends on your table makeup.

Yea, I dont think there can be any absolute in most situations. It will always be dependent on the dynamics, stakes, players, blind level (I am speaking strictly tourney play here) etc.

No matter what you do - other than fold - you always want to consider how the table is going to react. Sometimes a limp can be OK. But it will "depend". Many times it will be wrong. Limping just cause you are afraid of folds to your raise is a bad reason to limp. On that type of table, you really should raise. As stated above, on a table where you are fairly certain your limp will be punished by an aggressive player, that is a different story.

There are many things to consider, but a raise is never wrong if you dont have any info on the table.

+1 to fletchdad. I think limping can be ok if there's maniac at the table who loves to raise but hates 3betting people. In that situation we can limp raise. That's about the only time id ever limp with aces though

I AGREE

EP with Aces is always a raise. Like several mentioned before you could get in trouble if the players decide to limp, therefore making your big pocket pair very vulnerable and sometimes that'll make you lose more money at the end.

There will be situations like the ones fletchdad mentioned, but in the game of poker you need to take everything into account

Depends, there are lots of good reasons to open limp AA early. Like in a tournament where we have a very short stack, or perhaps it's early game, and the table is super raise happy/aggro.

I agree, it is allways better to win the blinds than to get your AA cracked.
Well said Elie.

Ussually at tables ful with loose agressive donks you can limp. But this is an exception and tou will not learn anything from this because it happens only at the beginners lvl.
Advanced players will raise, limp to set mine if they have something but they will pay you off after the flop only when they hit the flop hard and they will check fold at the first sign of ressistance from you. You have to have a verry fishy image to make somebody belive you have garbage limping from UTG. Not to say that if 3-4 ppl limp after, you will curse your life when you'll see them dancing with you on a flop ful of draws.

It really depends on the aggression and players at your table and the stakes you are playing. If you are playing low stakes I generally tend to see more people limping behind you, whereas if you are playing higher stakes you may get raised more often. Generally I open raise in lower stakes, and VERY rarely limp then 3bet to a preflop raise in higher stakes. For a safe rule of thumb thought, open raise if you are unsure.

i think it mostly depends on the feel u have for the table...i've played at a lot of tables where theres one or 2 ppl who u can be sure will raise the pot if theres any limpers in it before them...if thats the case, i would limp in then reraise them wen they make their standard raise...if i think there will be a few limpers in the pot i'll make the standard raise from EP...more often than not tho i have to admit i would make the raise, just to play it safe..

I will actually limp in heads up to an overly aggressive player who raises every hand or even at a full ring cash table to really aggressive players. I know that may be wrong but it works sometimes in making some rather huge pots. But beware!

If its an aggressive table I might limp, nothing is set in stone, but generally raising is the best idea.

At very low stakes or freerolls, I see people limping all the time with AA. They usually get 2 or 3 callers and a raise. AA then goes all-in, usualy taking the raiser with them into a very advantageous race. It annoys the hell out of me when I'm caught like that! :-)
In the early stages of a freeroll, no raise is likely to win the blinds outright, not even pushing - someone with connectors OR suited OR pictures OR any pair will call.

Steve

I raise in early position 4xBB because I lost a few times when I raised only 2.5xBB, and I lost against 78 and 68 suited.

I just hate when you raise and only 1 or 2 call and the flop comes something like 10 9 J all clubs and you don't have a club the person raises a bunch. I usually just fold them.

I would say raising is better and that is the advice given by a lot of pros as well, specially in the early position. If you don't raise and every limps behind you (let's say 9 table game), then it would atleast sometime some with a draw and two pair. I have heard a pro say (Howard Lederer) that the chances on winning with pocket As with 2players headsup to 3 players go down about 20-30%. Also, the amount of raise has to be consideration too as well. If you hit your set, then TRAP the fish!!!

We have all seen guys limping with A's and cleaning up but it is a bad play. Raise, raise, raise all day long with A's and hope you get one or two callers but do not let guys see the flop cheaply and then get lucky.

I've played pocket A's every which way u can think of and lost, now I figure I'm gonna either win the hand or lose it no matter how I play it, so I just raise 2xbb that generally knocks 1 or 2 players off the hand and I'm hoping their folding a card another player needs, see the flop then keep raising,and only foldem if I see something obvious

On a very agressive table maybe a limp can be an option, but you have to be sure nearly 100% that someone else will raise. Otherwise a raise is standard

i know right cuz that happens all the time!

Tell me about it, the worst thing about poker is that you always remember the worst times like with sick rivers, turns and what not. But you never the times you got unbelievably lucky lol

No problem with that here; I never get unbelievably lucky -not that I can remember, anyway.

Steve

Aces loveem or hateem, I got broken off being put all in yesterday on the FIRST hand in back to back MTT....

I've already put my 2 cents in this thread. Limping is fine depending on your table make up. I will add another 5 cents though that whatever you do, make sure you either mix up your play, or keep it exactly the same. If you raise UTG with every playable hand BUT AA, then limping just signals I have AA. I guess my point is that no matter what you choose to do, make sure you are not signalling your hand.