Folding AA on the bubble

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300HPGOD

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I am going to assume we are not in a satellite here. In a satellite here I would be folding as 27th is just as good as 1st. For a normal tournament though if you are thinking of folding you need to ask yourself what are you afraid of in this spot? If you are afraid that the villain could have KK or and a hand like J10 suited and will beat you 18% or 21% of the time then I am not sure how you could make any bet in poker unless you have the nuts. You need to be able to shove in these spots and not worry about the few amount of times you lose. Notice how this is very different than if you said I have QQ here. I am not advocating folding QQ in this spot either but at least you could say well he could have AA or KK which crushes me and AK which I basically flip with. Here with AA you flip with nothing. The closest villain could be minus the other AA combo would be if they have 65 suited. Even then they are only winning 22 ish% of the time. AA should give you no fear in a regular MTT and is a hand that you should be jamming every time someone goes all in before your action.
 
SightUnseen

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There is no decision here, you call. You even call with multiple players all in. You play to win, not to min cash.
 
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topcatbrazil

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Acceptance

Yes, there is this problem. I think this is not exactly poker, actually this is life. We have to face the fact that there is such a thing as acceptance, and we will need some of it if we are supposed to go through life. If you think about what you point out with this example is basically another way of saying that poker is a game of chance. You can lose with aces against 2 7 unsuited, the only thing we can possibly do is to play as well as we can, and than face the fact that life isn't fair. In the long run it is, the effort that you put in, you end up reaping its fruits. But one hand is still one hand, and there is nothing we can do about it. For instance if instead of folding in the bubble it was the first hand of the wsop live and you have aces you 3-bet and only one player raises all-in, are you not going to call it? You may not, for personal reasons, but the right thing to do is to call it.
 
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popstani

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This question is asked many times on every poker site. Question is what it means to you? Are you satisfied with cashing or you play for win? Dose your bankroll allows to be bubble boy or not? Having aces is always the best thing, but they can be cracked easily if variance not going in your way. For myself I always go all in with AA, no matter if it’s bubble or not.
 
Dkerridge14

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Hi guys, tournament play can influence the decision-making process so I wanted to know your play in this type of situation:
You're holding AA on the BB with 30BB / 28 players remains and only 27 get paid. you're in 16th position and the CO who got you covered moves all in. action fold to you.
what's your decision ?


Get it in, rather than go for a min cash get that double up and get at least a double on your money. At the end of the day if you buy in and cash just over your buy in then variance is going to wipe you out in other tourneys for you not taking the max value spots. Don’t forget, in tournaments you are playing for the big win. Not the little, if you’re playing for the little win then I think you need to re asses your bankroll management and strategy
 
xccp

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AA is the best starting hand. There's no situation where you drop AA even on a bubble. Just think what your opponent might have if he goes all-in on the bubble: AK? KK? QQ? In this situation he made a mistake, and you are far ahead, so go all-in!
 
rastapapolos

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In my opinion there is only one solution,to call.
AA is starting hand with best odds,so just call and don't regret.
With this cards you have chance to fight for better place,not pnly for 27.

Yeah definitely this is a call, but not on pokerstars (logo: We break your Aces)
Yesterday 2 players get busted with AA
Today i had it on Button, raise it x3, BB calls. i played it cautiously. final board: 586 8 4
BB has pocket 7s.
 
Debi

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AA is the best starting hand. There's no situation where you drop AA even on a bubble. Just think what your opponent might have if he goes all-in on the bubble: AK? KK? QQ? In this situation he made a mistake, and you are far ahead, so go all-in!

Agree - but there is one situation to fold AA on the bubble and that is if it is a satellite.
 
BriceNice

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It would take an act of God to get me to fold AA in that situation.
 
JoseFerreras

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Never folding ... unless is a 10k + buy in and the min cash is a pile of money!
 
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freeisfun

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You never ever fold AA in this scenario. Only spot that you fold AA is in satellites.
 
BustyBusters

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I remember Pokerstars show where the contestant folded Aces because he only got to keep what he won over a certain amount and folding the Aces preflop ended up being the right play.
 
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HerbPuffer

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NEVER EVER EVER folding AA PF on the bubble or any other time in a tournament. Unless, like stated a few times above, it is in a satty. 1st or last(27th) in this case pays all the same.
 
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63burner

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If you're a gambler, go for it..

You caught enough cards to be close to the bubble, if you made it far by gambling, I'd shove, it's your day, continue as before. But if you played it tighter, stay consistent, stick with the strategy that worked this far.
 
Leon Lafferty

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If I knew, making it through that hand I would be in the money, I would fold, but if I wasn't sure I would play them as I always do, which depends on how the other players play and position (anywhere from checking in the big blind to 4 to 6 times the big blind.
 
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Hi guys, tournament play can influence the decision-making process so I wanted to know your play in this type of situation:
You're holding AA on the BB with 30BB / 28 players remains and only 27 get paid. you're in 16th position and the CO who got you covered moves all in. action fold to you.
what's your decision ?
CALL. CALL. CALL. You are 80% to win the hand. The odds are all yours to take advantages of. NO FEAR, CALL. :)
 
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acemenow

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Snap call. No ICM implications here unless its a satty. Just my opinion. But I am not playing to ITM I am playing to win.
 
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Steve Deeble

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I would really have a hard time folding AA’s at this point. The payouts may be the only determining factor that would prevent me from calling.
 
perrypip

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Hi guys, tournament play can influence the decision-making process so I wanted to know your play in this type of situation:
You're holding AA on the BB with 30BB / 28 players remains and only 27 get paid. you're in 16th position and the CO who got you covered moves all in. action fold to you.
what's your decision ?

Well...you didn't say whether its a satellite or not. If its a satellite the answer is obvious, fold and get your entry into the target tournament.

If its not, then you have to ask whether you just want a small cash or are you willing to take a risk to make a bigger cash, and which is higher EV.

In the case of Aces, the answer is still obvious. You dominate every hand by 80% or more, with the exception of the other two Aces which is a chop except in rare instances when one of you gets a flush. So you got an 80+% chance you get deeper in and less 20% you will bust. Unless the prize structure is extremely flat and the extra chips won't even get you 20% more then you should call.

With other hands it becomes a much tougher question to answer whether its a +EV play or not. Its hard not to let emotions come into play as well i.e fear of busting versus greed for a bigger prize.
 
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How is this even a question? Obviously AA is a favorite. It's the most +EV possible. I don't care if this is the stone bubble in the One Drop for a min cash of 1 million dollars. If you're not calling all in with aces pre flop, then why are you playing poker? What happens if he min raised, you call and the flop came KJ2 rainbow? You check and he goes All In? Are you folding then? He might have KJ... You might as well fold aces to a min raise. This is the most absurd thread I've seen. If you're playing MTTs to min cash, then you are going to be a losing player in the long run, but folding Aces pre flop is the most ridiculous mistake I can imagine. I'm not trying to be rude, but this question just blows my mind.
 
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vittopio

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For me personally, this is an easy fold (having a straight stack, I will fold 100% of my hands)
 
Poker Orifice

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How is this even a question? Obviously AA is a favorite. It's the most +EV possible. I don't care if this is the stone bubble in the One Drop for a min cash of 1 million dollars. If you're not calling all in with aces pre flop, then why are you playing poker? What happens if he min raised, you call and the flop came KJ2 rainbow? You check and he goes All In? Are you folding then? He might have KJ... You might as well fold aces to a min raise. This is the most absurd thread I've seen. If you're playing MTTs to min cash, then you are going to be a losing player in the long run, but folding Aces pre flop is the most ridiculous mistake I can imagine. I'm not trying to be rude, but this question just blows my mind.


Isn't it fun though? Knowing that some players actually think like this. :D
 
vokrugdookola

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depending on your opponent, how often does he open
 
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I'm definitely used to playing AA, I can't throw it away, it's independent of the tournament stage or the size of the chip. Maybe I'd consider throwing against multiple opponents, otherwise i wouldn't.
 
Gah_JEC_13_Joi

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How is this even a question? Obviously AA is a favorite. It's the most +EV possible. I don't care if this is the stone bubble in the One Drop for a min cash of 1 million dollars. If you're not calling all in with aces pre flop, then why are you playing poker? What happens if he min raised, you call and the flop came KJ2 rainbow? You check and he goes All In? Are you folding then? He might have KJ... You might as well fold aces to a min raise. This is the most absurd thread I've seen. If you're playing MTTs to min cash, then you are going to be a losing player in the long run, but folding Aces pre flop is the most ridiculous mistake I can imagine. I'm not trying to be rude, but this question just blows my mind.


You nailed it
 
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