I just found it surprising that after seeing aces or kings 20X I didn't seem to get much out of it. Not exaggerating, 2 6Max tables with two zoom tables can get you results like that.
OK, you're not exaggerating. In my previous two sessions, I had pocket kings seven times. Session before last,I hit them pre three times in a row. I won once with them.
Last session, I had KK twice, won one by picking up the blinds uncontested. Second time, i stacked off against a fish who binked a gut shot on the river with a hand he had no business playing: an off suit, two-gapper, in a 3! pot pre. Yes, he actually called a 9XBB 3-bet to draw to garbage. I also had a pair of bullets against pocket kings. I put him all-in pre. The vill had the Kd, three diamonds hit the board, then a black card, then a river diamond. To add insult to injury, the river was the Ad.
Yeah, that is just sofa king much better than winning the blinds 20X uncontested. The world's smallest violin is playing you a sad song.
Believe it or not, I think limping aces or kings from utg or early position, is always a good play in a full ring game.
Here is why:
#1 Nobody will be able to put you on KK or AA unless you make a 3bet.
#2 You can 3bet if there is a raise from late position
#3 A standard 3xBB raise from EP is still likely to get two or three callers. Aces are only going to be good there 60% of the time. Against three it is probably about 50% chance.
#4 When you make a 6x or 7xBB raise from EP it is sort of a giveaway that you have AA or KK. In these situations people are reluctant to call you.
If you were talking about fixed limit, you might have a point. Pick up pocket rockets or cowboys UTG at fixed limit, pop it, the next guy folds, the guy after him calls cold and sets of a chain reaction of calls, and you're five ways to the flop with a very vulnerable hand OOP. There may be merit to the notion that you should save a bet in case you have to fold. Or you can win a monster pot if you hit gin after letting them come in for the price of a BB.
No limit is a whole 'nother animal. If you get aces beat at limit, it just costs you a few bets. At no-limit, it can cost you your entire stack. If you go very multiway to the flop from an early position, then it's your own damn fault: you should have raised bigger.
Open limping aces from up front is bad for another reason: you give up the chance to stack off pre, while your hand is the stone cold Brazils. The absolute worst thing that can happen pre is your opponent calls your all-in with the other two aces, and the only winner of that hand is the rat hole.
Limp/3! is a
hideous play at no-limit that announces you have aces or kings. It's something I do very seldom, and only when it's favourable: I have an absolute maniac behind me, and I know he'll pay off regardless of the fact that I've announced my hand by limp/jamming.
"When you make a 6x or 7xBB raise from EP it is sort of a giveaway that you have AA or KK. In these situations people are reluctant to call you".
Does it really? In some games, 6X or 7X or more are game standard raises. If a 3X open is game standard, I wouldn't worry too much about a 7X open with pocket rockets. Fishy players aren't thinking along those lines, and if they have a hand they think is good enough to call cold, they're just as likely to call for 7X as 3X. That's what makes them fish: they think only in terms of their own two cards. They think "range" is an appliance you cook on or where cowboys work and "
equity" has something to do with real estate. Bet sizing, SPR, relative hand value are completely foreign concepts to them.
Otters think, and fish react. Guess who eats whom?
If you're giving away your hand strength, then you're not balancing your range (is this really necessary, are you up against thinking players?) Get that 6X early position open in with hands that aren't aces or kings. Do it with mid-suited connectors, small pocket pairs, or even trash hands like Q2-off. You just might pick up the blinds -- always a good result. (This is one mistake nitty players make: they never take advantage of their nitty table image by putting one over.) On your really good days, you flop something like QQ2 and stack someone. The next time you come over the top for 7XBB, they'll either give it to you, or look you up light, either way is just fine.