Playing AA

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Running Nose II

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Tired of losing with the top pair? I'm trying out a new strategy and wondered what others thought about it. Rather than a simple raise pre flop, I calculate the amount in the pot and raise it, by an amount that any player thinking of coming in with a drawing hand finds the pot odds too much to give them a value bet. With the connectors and suited hands out, it only leaves the pairs, and since you are the top dog you have nothing to fear. Somebody might flop a set you may say. True but the odds of making a set are 15/2, and you have the same odds anyway.
 
starting_at_the_bottom

starting_at_the_bottom

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You never know what other players are going to call with pre.

The reason a lot of microstakes players lose, is inability to hand read. Work on that, rather than debating in fine detail how to play AA.
 
MattRyder

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The big bet strategy should do what you want it to do, depending on the type of game and players that you are working with. My biggest annoyance is that more often than not I don't get to play my AA hands at all because I'm in the blinds and everyone folds to me.

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Poker247

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Top hands like AA and KK often play well after the flop, so you may be losing $ by pushing everyone out preflop. Standard preflop raise is more likely to get you at least a little action. Sometimes you will get out-flopped, but stats exist for a reason. You need to weigh how much you can make from action versus just picking up the blinds. Gl!
 
quick

quick

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If you have AA pre flop and raise it up and get callers , put out a C bet. If someone acts before you consider a call or re-raise depending on the board. If you act and open the flop and someone re-pops you like 5x your bet or shoves, def consider folding because there's a set or 2 pair hiding in there often.
 
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tcdukesdood

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Yeah winning blinds is not so good with AA, dont bet too much but just the right amount.
 
Vitaliy Popik

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AA is a very strong hand. You must make reise on pre-flop. Because some of players make fold. Only pictures are will plays with you.
 
payck007

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If you constantly do a raise and a reraise, it is unlikely to see a lot of chips in the pot. But if you choose the slow-play (play slowly and carefully), then the flop can spoil everything. Some players believe that to start the game with a pair of aces is easy. Others hold the opposite opinion.
 
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Outlawluck

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Lately I've been playing Zone poker on Bovada (their version of Rush or Zoom) and I tend to 3 or 4 bet aces in every spot. Honestly by the time the river hits there's a good chance those bad boys are cracked. I'd rather take it down pre flop then loose it all with aces and go on tilt. Sometimes though, it plays to your advantage. Last time I had aces I did a 3xbb raise, followed by someon 3 betting me, I 4 bet, he 5 bet, I 6 bet shoved (honestly what could else did he think Ihad at that point) he calls with JJ. AA held and I doubled up (sadly I was already about 35% down for the session so I only netted me about 20% profit)
 
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KALUGAJ

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My experience with AA is when fold super post-flop on my re-Reis, holds a set or two par. AA often loss
 
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GeorgeF1234

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I always make a standard pre-flop raise and after the flop try to see where you are. It's almost always ahead, in which case go full steam ahead. The problem with AA is that at the end of the day it's only a pair. Don't get greedy post-flop, this is when it can turn on you. GL
 
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Sidetracked

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Bad players don't really know when they're being 'priced out' of their draws.

Go through your data base and see what your biggest winning hands are. Probably AA, then KK etc. It can seem like you're constantly losing with the big overpairs, but in the long run, they will be your biggest winners.
 
sCATpoker

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Bet alot pre and get ready to fold when the str8 , flush , set or two pair hit. If your at a table where alot of people have called or raised , reraised pre , ship em and pray
 
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GeorgeF1234

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Bet alot pre and get ready to fold when the str8 , flush , set or two pair hit. If your at a table where alot of people have called or raised , reraised pre , ship em and pray

Pretty much exactly this. Although it's pretty difficult to tell when you're beaten by a marginally better hand like a 2 pair
 
EXTREMUM

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Bet alot pre and get ready to fold when the str8 , flush , set or two pair hit. If your at a table where alot of people have called or raised , reraised pre , ship em and pray

Yep, it's the only way. I got someone immediately off his AK, when he raised 10x immediately to my left, by reraising 145BBs in his face, with AA. The table was like "oh shit!". Of course it wasnt very profitable, but I've gotten my ace's cracked a lot, trying to squeeze value out of larger stacked opponents, as they've hit massive draws, in the past. I proved that theory in another instance, when I cracked someone else's ace's as they naturally raised £10, and I cold called with pocket 7s and nailed a set on the flop. I'm not saying I'd cold call 10x every time with 77, but he was merely committed with under 20bb behind, so busting him was no sweat.
 
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franbx3

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you never gonna know what villan got preflop, i think you have to study much more, depends on the tendences bet , etc.
 
orsino12

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Last week while playing .01/.02 Snap on 888 I decided to see what would happen if I simply shoved the next 10 AA I was dealt regardless of position or any action in front of me. Interesting results, I was called 6 times and won 4 (one of which was a 4 way pot), chopped 1 (board straight against a dominated AQ) and lost 1 against 10-10.
I guess at that level there are a lot of people that will play any 2 "pretty" cards.
 
vinnie

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I remember back when I could play Rush on Full Tilt. I was playing $10nl 6-max and had built up my stack to about $120, which is important. We get moved to a new table, and the UTG player (with a stack of something like $135) opens to around ~$50 (yes, he opened to around 500 times the big bling). My stacks might be a little wrong, but I remember being very, very deep and he had me covered. We were both very deep and a min-raise wasn't enough for either of us to be all-in, but it would be very close.

I was sitting on the Button with AA. I min-raised and he snap-folded. Honestly, I don't know if he should have folded. He could assume that the remaining stacks were going in. So he was being offered around 3.4-1 or better on the call. Granted, if I always have aces (which is a good assumption), he can only call with aces. He needs 22.7% equity or better, only aces has better. BUT, all the middle suited connectors (T9s-65s) have 22%, so basically there. Most other pairs, even loosely suited connectors, and even some offsuit connectors have 18% or more equity. If I am doing this with kings, he can call with nearly any ace (as well as KK and AA).

Basically, the pot is so huge that he probably made a mistake by folding or it would have only been a small mistake (relatively) to call. Still, probably the happiest I've ever been to see a fold. I don't mind playing a $240 pot (2400 x bb) with an 80% lead, but I still lose one out of five. That can hurt.

I will never know what happened in that hand. I have no idea why the huge raise, maybe he mistyped it. Maybe he was just going table to table putting everyone in (basically flipping with whomever would call) and didn't notice how deep I was. Maybe he hated money. LOL, I don't know. But, it was the easiest 5 buy-ins that I ever made with Aces.
 
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jwlaw35

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I guess it all depends on position.. a lot of times I will make a call from early position in hopes that someone will try to raise.. then I can re raise them
 
GuiWah

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These hands like AA and KK are good hands to play after the pre-flop. So, may you be losing your money when you shove.
 
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Is it better to play poket AA or KK in a aggressive way or slowplayed?
 
luiaguila

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the problem is not how to play couple of AA the problem is how to read your opponent and if you put one allin preflop is impossible to fold a hand like that
 
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If you are playing at a table where you have someone calling with a huge range definitely get as much as you can in pre-flop, tighter playing table obviously would require a smaller pre-flop bet.
 
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AcesDJD

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Your raise for AA should be designed to get two or three callers. If you are getting more than that increase the raise until you get two or three. That's the optimum number of people that are unlikely to outflop you. Ideally I try to get 50% of my stack in preflop if someone else is raising. Even 25% is okay though. On the flop, I'm looking to get the rest of my money in.

In deepstack cash, it would be difficult to play this way, but at standard buy ins this usually works.
 
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Pavel Davydov

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The freeroll is almost always Аll in preflop, the cache depends on the position
 
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