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dmorris68
Legend
Loyaler
Of course you should play them. Don't focus on results though, focus on the long term. Long term, AA is a profitable hand. Short term, especially at micro stakes where donks can't laydown any pair or draw, you'll see them cracked at what seems to be an alarming rate. If AA doesn't improve by the river, especially in a multi-way pot, there's a good chance they're beaten. Statistically two pair most often take down NLHE pots at showdown. Therefore their strength is in their fold equity if unimproved.
How you play them in a given situation is of course a matter of style and sometimes a subject of debate. I'll only say that in ring games and high-blind short-stacked tourney levels, I welcome the opportunity to get raised all-in with them. However in early tourney play, if I'm deep stacked but covered by a lot of of other players, I might play them more reserved. Can't say I'd ever lay them down if shoved against, because they're obviously a preflop favorite, but I'm also not like a lot of players that just automatically open-shove with them either. I at least think twice before putting my tourney life on the line early on with ANY single hand. Therefore I tend to try and play them like any other pocket pair preflop, and depending on action and reads postflop then I'll reconsider how to proceed. OTOH if you're determined to die with your boots on, then do it early by shoving preflop or on the flop rather than on the river with them unimproved, unless of course your read puts your villain on top pair or something.
I've heard/read pros discuss when it might actually be a good idea to laydown AA preflop, but I think in reality you'll find very very few people ever have, including those same pros.
How you play them in a given situation is of course a matter of style and sometimes a subject of debate. I'll only say that in ring games and high-blind short-stacked tourney levels, I welcome the opportunity to get raised all-in with them. However in early tourney play, if I'm deep stacked but covered by a lot of of other players, I might play them more reserved. Can't say I'd ever lay them down if shoved against, because they're obviously a preflop favorite, but I'm also not like a lot of players that just automatically open-shove with them either. I at least think twice before putting my tourney life on the line early on with ANY single hand. Therefore I tend to try and play them like any other pocket pair preflop, and depending on action and reads postflop then I'll reconsider how to proceed. OTOH if you're determined to die with your boots on, then do it early by shoving preflop or on the flop rather than on the river with them unimproved, unless of course your read puts your villain on top pair or something.
I've heard/read pros discuss when it might actually be a good idea to laydown AA preflop, but I think in reality you'll find very very few people ever have, including those same pros.
Dwilius
CardsChat Regular
Silver Level
Just had a thread with the same exact title closed as spam magnet after few pages of posts, maybe you can find something useful in there https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/how-play-aa-156633/
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