Should you call rather than raise with ACES?

[rcrocketman]

As hard as it is, if you limp AA, you need to be prepared to muck it if you get into a multi-way pot. I don't limp AA often, but, if i believe someone is going to raise behind me and I can re-raise them, then I'll limp.

I would probably smooth call with aces if the original raiser is very tight and no one else is likely to be in the pot. I think if you re-raise a really tight player, you may get a fold (depends on your table image). Chances are they have something like KQ, JJ, QQ, maybe AK....if they hit top pair on the flop, you will make a lot more, if they don't hit you'll get the same fold anyway.

Really, for me, aces are a great weapon used for one-on-one. So, basically, the strategy, in my perspective is this: Given the the dynamics of the table and your image, whatever you feel is the correct move to isolate a another player pre-flop (and get stacks in ASAP), well, that is the correct move.

Well said sir!

To OP... you'll often see players who like to limp AA KK (& AK) in EP, especially in early levels, in hopes of getting re-raised and then 4-betting big. Personally I think aside from this being super transparent and easy for villain to get away from, it is used more by freerollers & micro buyin players.
As far as 'how often' would I raise vs limp.... umm.. probably around 99% of the time I'm raising.

 

[PattyR]

I disagree... 'it depends'.
First off.... I assumed you were referring to 'just calling a preflop raise... instead of putting in a raise w AA'. This is the question I was preparing to answer with some decent examples. But now I'm thinking you're referring to limping in preflop w AA instead of raising.
Please specify so I can adjust my answer accordingly.
incidentally..... late stages in the money in Fulltilt's $1K Monday this week, AJKHoosier1 chose to just 'flatcall' w AA to an EP raise (EP had A7s). He flopped Top Set (AAA), led out close to POT and was reraised ALLIN.. so in his case 'calling was perfect'. Hero had a stack size where he was hoping to get all of the money into the pot and probably figured he might not be able to do so by 3-betting (and because his stack size was an awkward size... ie. the 3-bet would obviously pot committ him anyways... so shoving would've been more likely/reasonable... hence the flat call & trying to trap villain on the flop).
Bad news was... villain rivered flush ftw, lol.

you can disagree all you want to, other ppl back me up on this. some ppl can flat call all they want..its not for me

with aces im often happy to take the blinds/antes...im never playing a multiway pot...im going in against ONE player with a nice raise/reraise...make them pay me off...suckouts will happen..but not as often this way

 

[thepokerkid123]

Always raise.

There are rare situations where calling will be better but that is a lot less than 1% of the time and in all of the above examples of situations where calling should be better than raising, I'm raising.

This results in your hand becoming very obvious but fortunately for us the majority of opponents are idiots who are just looking to hang themselves. Idiots will pay you off with JJ-KK, good players will pay you off with KK and you'll rake in a lot of pre-flop bets and raises that people give up without a fight. A lot of people will also try to crack your aces, make sure you give them bad implied odds to try it and let them increase your hands value.

Whatever you do, don't try to get fancy and ruin all of that by just calling and letting yourself get outdrawn. You're ahead pre-flop and a lot of weaker hands will call your raises, so raise now while you know you're ahead, not on the flop when you're guessing.

There are times when I consider just calling a raise. The other week I was playing against a guy who has a very good idea of how I play, in particular he knows that when I keep raising the pot it means big pockets and nothing less. He also knows that if I just called that I'd have less than that. I figure it's a raised pot where everyone else has folded. If I raise now he folds most of the time but if I just call he will put me on AK most likely and may be prepared to take me on post-flop with any pair (provided an A or K doesn't hit) and will probably put his entire stack behind the assumption that I don't have a made hand. I just called, flop showed an A and he ran away when I bet.
This is about the only time where I think there is value in just calling with rockets, against a skilled player it provides a lot of deception. Deception which should be used very sparingly, in the above example if I were against a weaker player who might call an all in from me there with something as low as JJ I should have just shoved pre-flop rather than gamble that overcards to his jacks don't hit on the flop.
Most of the time if I have even one weak player behind me, I'll throw out a raise which almost gaurantees a fold from the strong player(s) but I'm hoping for action from the weak one.

In addition to all of that, playing aces so predictably allows you to play your other big pockets the same way, providing them with a bit of protection and if an opponent realises that you might play jacks (in certain situations) as fast as you would aces then you might start getting them to play back at you with AK, AQ when you have aces.

 

[aseablom]

I heavy raise preflop with AA just for the plain old reason that I've been sucked out on them wayyyyy too many times. I know that i'm probably losing money in the long run but it takes a toll on my mental game when my pocket rockets get beat.

 

[luckytokenz]

I disagree... 'it depends'.
First off.... I assumed you were referring to 'just calling a preflop raise... instead of putting in a raise w AA'. This is the question I was preparing to answer with some decent examples. But now I'm thinking you're referring to limping in preflop w AA instead of raising.
Please specify so I can adjust my answer accordingly.
incidentally..... late stages in the money in Fulltilt's $1K Monday this week, AJKHoosier1 chose to just 'flatcall' w AA to an EP raise (EP had A7s). He flopped Top Set (AAA), led out close to POT and was reraised ALLIN.. so in his case 'calling was perfect'. Hero had a stack size where he was hoping to get all of the money into the pot and probably figured he might not be able to do so by 3-betting (and because his stack size was an awkward size... ie. the 3-bet would obviously pot committ him anyways... so shoving would've been more likely/reasonable... hence the flat call & trying to trap villain on the flop).
Bad news was... villain rivered flush ftw, lol.

I was actually refering to both, flat calling a raise and simply limping when first to enter the pot; sorry I was not clear.

 

[thepokerkid123]

Since you're also interested in whether or not limping with aces is good.

There I drop the belief that you should call less than 1% of the time. In an un-raised pot you should never just call, never, ever, ever.

Limp-raising is more obvious than just leading out with a raise from early position. All you're going to achieve is to get a small raise from someone else who will then hear alarm bells the instant you re-raise. The pre-flop bets aren't worth the risk, just lead out with a bet and hope for a call or a re-raise.

That applies to cash games, tournaments may be different.

 

[Bharat]

Since you're also interested in whether or not limping with aces is good.

There I drop the belief that you should call less than 1% of the time. In an un-raised pot you should never just call, never, ever, ever.

Limp-raising is more obvious than just leading out with a raise from early position. All you're going to achieve is to get a small raise from someone else who will then hear alarm bells the instant you re-raise. The pre-flop bets aren't worth the risk, just lead out with a bet and hope for a call or a re-raise.

That applies to cash games, tournaments may be different.

I agree with your thought that limp-raise will raise more doubts than a simple raise in normal conditions. But i play with very aggressive players and have an image of being more aggressive than the most. So my limp-raise are considered a cheap attempt to steal the pot and i get called more often.

I will adjust my limp or raise decision based on position, my table image and the players who are in later position.

 

[Bharat]

Full Tilt, $0.02/$0.05 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with 4

2

5 folds, CO calls $0.05, BTN folds, SB completes, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.15) 2

6

2

(3 players)
SB bets $0.10, Hero calls $0.10, CO raises to $0.30, SB folds, Hero raises to $1.18 and is all-in, CO calls $0.88

Turn: ($2.61) J

(2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($2.61) 9

(2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:
Hero showed 4h 2d (three of a kind, Twos) and won $2.44 ($1.21 net)
CO showed As Ah (two pairs, Aces and Twos) and lost (-$1.23 net)

IMO, Villain play was wrong here. There were only 3 players behind him so the chances of him getting raised were low, SB/BB could hold any kind of cards, very difficult to read if low card flop hit them.

Limp with AA is fine if 6-7 players are yet to call and the players after hero are aggressive and known to steal blinds.

 

[paumarhas]

you know probably for the most part you'll want to raise and not limp. but you want to play the hand to get the most out of it.
i've played them both ways and it just depends on your opp's and the table image you have and the table your at, etc. because it is a "blank" when you can't get any action on a potentially good hand.
as harrington has said big hand "big pot" small hand "small pot" .
so for a monster hand you want a monster pot, lol.
because i've learned especially when i need to increase my chip count i want to smooth play them and trap someone and i'll take my chances, rather then scaring them away with a huge bet. and believe me i played them hard and soft (min bet) and couldn't get any action....
and so i'll continue with "i can't get nooooooooo satisfaction" lol.
gl and peace

 

[kadafi]

It is sometimes correct, at the right kind of table, to limp with aces in early postion with the hope of someone raising behind you. But I don't think its ever correct to just limp with the intentions of seeing a flop. You let a lot of absolute crap in cheaply by doing that. And its certainly not correct to just call a raise preflop with aces, (unless maybe heads up) because preflop is where you should be looking to get the most in. (when your heavily favoured to win)

The exception, I suppose, would be if you were trying to trap someone. But you should only ever try and trap one player. Two and it gets tricky.

 

[Stu_Ungar]

In terms of range balancing, you should do everything some of the time. This includes occasionally limping with aces in order to balance your range. However, the vast majority of the time, you should still be raising your aces and you should only be attempting to balance your range against players who are making plays against your entire range.

 

[LizzyJ]

I always put in a pot sized bet with aces. I get them so infrequently, maybe once per SnG, twice at the most. There is always one super aggro fool that comes along for the ride. I am more if my raise or re-raise takes the pot without a showdown. If more than two people call, I start to worry, one of the lotto players might spike 2 pair or 3-of-a-kind.

I've been burned enough times by AA to know that slow playing is the fast track to posting in the bad beat section.

 

[spiderfish]

if you are facing a raise with aces, and you have a tight image a 3 bet is likely going to tip your hand. Or at least narrow your range. Often you will get folds and really not maximize profit. It might be useful to call instead of raise if both villian and hero are deep stacked. I know there is a possibility of going busto, but you can simply play Aces like top pair and keep the pot small. If you hit a set you may get the whole stack in the rare case they also have an ace.

THat said... I wouldn't go doing it all the time, just depends on villian

 

[Rational Madman]

DEPENDS ON OPPONENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If opponent is actually the type who, with semi good hand, will all-in your huge stack then go for it why not?! Even if you lose they will still be around to pay you off on a KQ allin against their 9Q too right?

 

[Trillian]

With 3-betting you achieve two things. 1. You narrow the field, which is important. 2. You narrow their range. When you are able to push out suited connectors and small/medium pocket pairs, your equity rises dramatically. Any Ax combo is dominated and you only have to fear sets of JJ+