Playing AA on the deal

I need ideas on how to play AA dealt to you. Can anyone tell me how they play them?

1Birddog

Just keep in mind that AA can be "broken." Much depends on my position. I often will limp in with them to see the flop, then raise against any other raises. If there appears to be a straight, flush, or full house building, I'll smooth call to the river. More often than not, though, I'll be very aggressive at either preflop or the flop, as I don't like to float to the river with just a pair.

AA seems to get cracked often online especially in the freerolls because so many people call with mid to low level hands almost always in the begining stages of a tournyment not saying dont play it just be carefull and play cautius

I always play them hard in tourneys but only 80% that way in cash games. Price the donks out before the flop.

I gennerally try to raise on third of my stack with them. Followed by an allin unless the board flops a pair. Then I will call any bettors.

In a freeroll or low buy-in you're gonna get cracked a lot.
In a decent buy in then my impression has been to push the heck out of them. If you don't, you're only letting your opposition catch up cheap. And we all know, if you let htem, they will. 10x's BB Period!!
Get your money in that pot and make them pay to play.
Again, free roll or very low buy-in, they're calling regardless.

iveyrocks21 said:

In a freeroll or low buy-in you're gonna get cracked a lot.
In a decent buy in then my impression has been to push the heck out of them. If you don't, you're only letting your opposition catch up cheap. And we all know, if you let htem, they will. 10x's BB Period!!
Get your money in that pot and make them pay to play.
Again, free roll or very low buy-in, they're calling regardless.

Click to expand...

10x BB. Omg you thing someone would call you.
I prefer to raise a little just to cleanse some of the limpers. Then depending on the action on the flop i would most likely jam the pot, and if the board is scary and I got reraised i would most likely fold. The reason is because I am most likely beaten and that I can hardly can fold pocket AA's after the flop. I try to discipline myself. Just get in mind AAs can be cracked som be careful with em.

The more people in the pot, the bigger chances for aces to get cracked, I guess preflot play is crucial here. Only blinds is not enough with such a hand, I find best to have 2 - 3 opponents on the flop. And then it all depends, sometimes (if flop comes small) I would let someone else lead, sometimes even all-in.

Thanks to all for the info. I will try harder when I get AA again to adhere to your replies.

Birddog

itlegacy said:

Just keep in mind that AA can be "broken." Much depends on my position. I often will limp in with them to see the flop, then raise against any other raises. If there appears to be a straight, flush, or full house building, I'll smooth call to the river. More often than not, though, I'll be very aggressive at either preflop or the flop, as I don't like to float to the river with just a pair.

Click to expand...

Are you crazy?!?! never EVER limp with ACES!!!! imagine you get dealt AA limp in with 3 others and flop comes 9 T 3. Someone could've easily limped in with 9 T and flopped two pair and you have no way of knowing that! Raise it up PF EVERY time with ANY big PP. Theres no need to go crazy with 10xBB raises either. A little over the standard PF raise should do. Maybe 5x or 6x depending on how many other limpers there are. That way you can start putting your opponents on a hand, and watching the board closely. Make em PAY for the cards son!!!

limp in then push is another viable strategy

I always like to see the flop if I am holding AA. I sit back to see how others are betting then after the turn I will bet hard if I see alot of checks which means to me that they have nothing.
Again its luck and to me a gut feeling.

There are many ways to play pocket aces, but the best way (in my opinion) is to get all of your money in pre-flop. That way the chance of people donking out on you is slim. Hopefully at least one person commits with you. No more than two people though because that can be risky.

Why I hate AA and KK

full tilt poker Game #26164160527: $1 + $0.20 Sit & Go (Turbo) (202994008), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 03:04:47 ET - 2010/12/06
Seat 2: Squidward T (1,800)
Seat 3: cicciosf (180)
Seat 6: chemicall77 (4,560)
Seat 7: KupiKirpish (3,405)
Seat 8: dreddnoch (2,090)
Seat 9: okeedokalee (1,465)
chemicall77 posts the small blind of 40
KupiKirpish posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to okeedokalee [Ad Ac]
dreddnoch folds
okeedokalee has 15 seconds left to act
okeedokalee raises to 360
Squidward T folds
cicciosf folds
chemicall77 folds
KupiKirpish calls 280
*** FLOP *** [Th 3d 3h]
KupiKirpish bets 3,045, and is all in
okeedokalee calls 1,105, and is all in
KupiKirpish shows [8h 7h]
okeedokalee shows [Ad Ac]
Uncalled bet of 1,940 returned to KupiKirpish
*** TURN *** [Th 3d 3h] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [Th 3d 3h 9c] [6s]
KupiKirpish shows a straight, Ten high
okeedokalee shows two pair, Aces and Threes
KupiKirpish wins the pot (2,970) with a straight, Ten high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,970 | Rake 0
Board: [Th 3d 3h 9c 6s]
Seat 2: Squidward T didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: cicciosf (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: chemicall77 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 7: KupiKirpish (big blind) showed [8h 7h] and won (2,970) with a straight, Ten high
Seat 8: dreddnoch didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: okeedokalee showed [Ad Ac] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes

robrtp said:

limp in then push is another viable strategy

Click to expand...

No, it's not.

Use the search function on this forum, this question has been asked and answered ad nausium.

Please, if you value your bankroll, do not listen to any of the previous suggestions in this thread. As a full time player, I can assure you that though some of these will work once in a while, they are all genrally bad ideas for so many reasons I don't have enough time nor patience to explain why.

AA should be played just like any other premium pair, and there are so many factors to consider (your stack, opponent's stack, blinds, tourney level/stage, aggresion of you/opponents, number of players in the pot, etc, etc...) that this question is virtually impossible to answer with any real certainty.

Just to show my point, here is my PT3 chart for AA over my last 5K hands in $1-$5 MTT and SNG:

Damn thing is not uploading properly so I'll just type it out...

HAND TIMES WIN% BB/HAND BLIND VPIP PFR WTSD WSD

AA 24 95.83 5.10 5 100 100 71.43 90.00

Basically this means that I have won 95.83% of times I was dealt AA. I always played them, I always raised preflop, I went to showdown only 70% of the time (meaning I didn't always go all in preflop) and I won at showdown 90% of the time with them.

In summary, I'm ahead of the variance curve with AA, and I assure you, I didn't ever do anything that was previously suggested above as hard and fast rules. Each situation varied and I took all variables into account before making a decision on how to play them.

My typical play is a 3x BB or check. Depending on the flop, I then bet aggresively hoping to make someone call with nothing.

It all depends. If you are in the early stages of a freeroll or a tourney with a lot people and a small buy in then just go ahead and go all in, you will usually get a call by at least one person if not two or three.

If your are playing live or in the middle/late stages of a tourney then I would double the BB or triple the BB preflop. If the flop was a rainbow with no big straight draws then bet anywhere from half the pot to the pot. If you see flush and straight draws then bet the pot or more.

thebigdawg said:

It all depends. If you are in the early stages of a freeroll or a tourney with a lot people and a small buy in then just go ahead and go all in, you will usually get a call by at least one person if not two or three.

If your are playing live or in the middle/late stages of a tourney then I would double the BB or triple the BB preflop. If the flop was a rainbow with no big straight draws then bet anywhere from half the pot to the pot. If you see flush and straight draws then bet the pot or more.

Click to expand...

Why on earth would you bet enough to kill your action? Are you that scared of the posibility of getting drawn out on that you would happily lose two more streets of value on the off chance you could get beat out?

If this is at the micro's, your pot bet will probably get called by a strong srtaight draw anyways, and you've just bloated the pot and lost more chips.

Keep your bets consistant. If you bet lots more with AA your telling people you have a monster. Preflop you want to cut down the competition to reduce the chances of them getting cracked. If your getting lots of action pf you wanna get all your money in.

From the flop onwards you want to extract value if your ahead on a safe board, or be more aggressive on a dangerous board. Don't be too cautious unless you have a good reason to be, given by your opponents actions.

Grunching. This is how I assume this thread has gone so far. A bunch of people give the most ridiculous advice about how to play AA. **** comes in and says no, you suck, your logic is horrible because XXX.

Again, I have no ready any posts but I agree with the KAAHK

AA is Top Pair

AA is TOP PAIR "before" flop so they are strongest pre-flop so "play them that way" with a 3-5 BB raise .... cause, after the flop, AA is "only" a pair and, after the flop, they will usually only become "weaker".

Depending on the flop and your "position", play them more normally now. But, remember that other players are probably remembering your 3-5 BB raise as strength pre-flop and are "expecting" a continuation bet.

GL, Wally

1Birddog said:

I need ideas on how to play AA dealt to you. Can anyone tell me how they play them?

1Birddog

Click to expand...

marginal said:

Grunching. This is how I assume this thread has gone so far. A bunch of people give the most ridiculous advice about how to play AA. **** comes in and says no, you suck, your logic is horrible because XXX.

Again, I have no ready any posts but I agree with the KAAHK

Click to expand...

I'm amazed this thread went this long too. Must be a case of nobody actually bothering to read past the OP.

Though I do like the insight into the mind of the bad plater

ryanmccauley211 said:

Keep your bets consistant. If you bet lots more with AA your telling people you have a monster. Preflop you want to cut down the competition to reduce the chances of them getting cracked. If your getting lots of action pf you wanna get all your money in.

From the flop onwards you want to extract value if your ahead on a safe board, or be more aggressive on a dangerous board. Don't be too cautious unless you have a good reason to be, given by your opponents actions.

Click to expand...

I gotta say, this is the best one so far. Well put sir.

TheKAAHK said:

I gotta say, this is the best one so far. Well put sir.

Click to expand...

Enlighten me, why do we want to be more aggressive on a dangerous board? We pot control in those situations.