How to win more chips with AA in UTG

[Mike D_]

So I have pocket aces in UTG in a tournament, personally I want to shove with this hand preflop but I found that many times my pocket aces were cracked, sometimes by opponents hitting trips and sometimes because there are too many people in the pot with all kind of hands. I found an optimal strategy imho to play this hand in this position: I limp then I wait a guy from middle position to raise then a reraise from late positions is like a perfect scenario. Now let's imagine what kind of hands can have guys from middle and late positions: I know I limped with aces and there are 2 aces left, guy from middle position can have an ace (maybe 10+ maybe not, maybe suited maybe not) but what means a reraise from a guy in late position? He is definitively on a big pair something like TT+ or even QQ+. Now it's my time to react and here I shove 100%, (guy from middle position have very low chances if he is on A10+, because he have many blockers to hit an ace, to hit a straight with 3rd guy on QQ so he basically can win only when he hits a flush or a set of not aces ). In this spot, the 3rd guy with QQ is the real danger but we are ahead, if he misses his set we win his chips and chips from the guy in the middle (no matter guy from middle position shoved or folded after ur shove - there are more chips in the pot than just shoving into QQ).
There is another situations where u can be unlucky and only u can have a pair with no raises and reraises. In this case I'm just looking to hit a set on the flop, otherwise I fold to any hard bets postflop...
Oh yes and the last thing, by limping in utg i can control the number of ppl interested in the pot if there are 4 including me and I have a feeling that nobody will fold I can even consider to fold aces preflop.

 

[vse i sra3y]

I think 2.5 bb is enough.

 

[AMTF1988]

I played a live tournament one time, shoved aces with a short stack, next guy (who has a shorter stack) fold, turns to me and says 'I was going to shove until you did'.

Is it worth shoving straight away or pretending to limp in with a shove to any raises?

 

[AlexTheOwl]

The answer to almost every general question in poker is "It Depends".

It depends on your position (you gave us this, UTG).
It depends on tournaments or cash games (you gave us this, tournament).
It depends on the players' stack sizes relative to the blinds and antes.
It depends on how many players are at the table.
It depends on how often these players raise, bet, or fold, especially the ones in late position.
It depends on how well you know these players, especially the ones in late position.
If you do not know these players well, it depends on what you estimate an average player in this tournament would do.
It depends on how these players are likely to see you.
It depends on how close you are to the money.
It depends on whether this is a satellite.

This forum is filled with general questions like this about how to play hands. I don't mean to be harsh at all. You gave more information than many people do. It is good to ask questions. And it is normal for beginners to ask questions like this.
But it is frustrating, because the only good answer is "it depends".

If you post an actual hand history in the Tournament Hand Analysis section, you will get valuable thoughts about that hand from players who take the game seriously. If they say something that is unclear, do some Googling or just ask the forum member.