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Recently ive noticed that people never push with aces or kings pre flop they just re/raise big. most of the time the opponent misses the flop and the hand is shut down, now if someone raises and you holding aces or kings suspect they have A-k jacks or such Would it be better to push pre to possibly incduce a call to give them a no time to think it through and trap them selves in a ''i cant lay this down'' situation? or would it be better to do the same old easy to read giant re raise and hope they hit the flop? out of those 2 options what would you say you think is the best option?tourney btweveryone around even stacks

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I'm not sure what blinds are in relation to stacks but if stacks are still big how about this line.Make your raises with AA and KK the same as you'd make you're raises with AK or TT. That way no one will know the difference. If you make mad pushes early, you may only win the blinds. That's a waste in my opinion. Very early in micro limits the first couple hand push with AA or KK is actually a +EV move in my opinion(although I have yet to do as an initial raise, I have many times done as a a 3 or 4 bet). Outside that, you are not getting enough chips in most scenarios to put all your money in with a push.The big raise reraise I would only go with if you always make those size raises. When you start to change them up you become more like an open book. Some people make small raisees with AA and KK and then really pump it with QQ-99. You do not want to give yourself away from your betting sizes in my opinion.I may tend to raise large when I know that hands will still be called. I usually start at 3*BB and if I go a couple hands with more than one caller, I'll start trying at 3.5 or 4* the blinds. Some games I end up making a standard raise at 8-10*. The main thing for me is that it is still standard, whether with AA KK or 72o.So my best suggestion is to raise an amount that will get you a caller most of the time. If you have experience with the players you should know right off the bat what that amount usually will be. Unknown players I go with the same size bet I made last time that got callers or possibly down by half a BB.If stacks are short, I like still a standard raise but if I reraise, it oftentimes will be a push as I am happy with what dead money is in the pot if all fold and bviously callers are even better.After saying all this this, each situation is different :club: so post some hands in tourney strat, there are a lot of great players willing to give you a hand if you are accepting of it.

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I been sucked out too much trying to slow play with aces or kings.Last week I had a few hands to prove that you should bet big. A small pot won is better than losing a big one.I had 99 and raised it to $50 preflop in a 2-5 nl game. Guy from big blind raises me back to $100, now thats a really weak hand regardless of what he has. So I called the extra lousy $50 raise. The flop comes 982 all clubs and he checks, I push all in and have him covered, he calls off all his chips which had to be like $600-800. He shows aces with the ace of club, turn blank river blank and I take his chips. Now think about this, he should of raised at least $200-300 here because I lay my hand down than. I had aces and raised it preflop $40 or so and get one caller. Flop comes 449 I check and checks, turn comes a 10 I bet $75 he calls, river comes a Q I bet $100 and he raises to $400 I call, he shows KJ for a miracle straight. So doing this hand over again I would have bet $60 on the flop and at least $140-$200 on the turn.

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It's all 100% relative to the blinds and stack sizes (as well as other factors). Smooth calling a raise with aces is a good play a lot of the time, but again it's completely situational.

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I been sucked out too much trying to slow play with aces or kings.Last week I had a few hands to prove that you should bet big. A small pot won is better than losing a big one.I had 99 and raised it to $50 preflop in a 2-5 nl game. Guy from big blind raises me back to $100, now thats a really weak hand regardless of what he has. So I called the extra lousy $50 raise. The flop comes 982 all clubs and he checks, I push all in and have him covered, he calls off all his chips which had to be like $600-800. He shows aces with the ace of club, turn blank river blank and I take his chips. Now think about this, he should of raised at least $200-300 here because I lay my hand down than. I had aces and raised it preflop $40 or so and get one caller. Flop comes 449 I check and checks, turn comes a 10 I bet $75 he calls, river comes a Q I bet $100 and he raises to $400 I call, he shows KJ for a miracle straight. So doing this hand over again I would have bet $60 on the flop and at least $140-$200 on the turn.
you raise to 50 dollars with 99 and when someone pops you, you think they are weak? That sounds like some flawed thinking. Why would you open shove 600-800 with the nuts.why not half the pot or something like that? You played this had bad all around your just lucky you flopped a set, and that he had a big hand.
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this has actually been something that has been bothering me recently as well. Ive started playing nl full ring again and it seems as though I cant win squat on my Aces and Kings, nothing but small pots pf anyway. Ive basically taken my tournament approach being better to win a small pot than to lose a big one, and just give the obv big reraise the raise and take it down right there. sometimes get the occasional call, check fold the flop. Only problem is now im getting tired of winning those small pots and I think in the long run it will pay off to get tricky with them and try to win a bigger pot post flop or shove pf in the hopes that it looks like a weak shove. Maybe even get called by something like a weaker pair or AK/AQ from the bad players who cant get away from these hands pf. Its getting to the point where online poker players in general are getting alot better postflop and are now able to lay down mid to big over pairs on small flops, even tp/tk hands. Its risky getting tricky with these hands, and will even lead you to losing some big pots here and there, but like I said I think you will make more money trapping with these hands compared to when you lose when trapping with them. obv you have to pick the right spots to trap w/them and not get too carried away trapping too many opponnents.

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I had 99 and raised it to $50 preflop in a 2-5 nl game. Guy from big blind raises me back to $100, now thats a really weak hand regardless of what he has. So I called the extra lousy $50 raise. The flop comes 982 all clubs and he checks, I push all in and have him covered, he calls off all his chips which had to be like $600-800. He shows aces with the ace of club, turn blank river blank and I take his chips. Now think about this, he should of raised at least $200-300 here because I lay my hand down than.
And why does he want you to lay your hand down? He's got frickin' Aces! He wants to play this pot for all his chips, so he'd like you to put in a little more here. The (almost) min raise practically screams "I have Aces, and I'm making a tiny raise hoping to suck you in, or maybe if you're really stupid you'll think I'm weak and raise me again". He might as well turn his cards over.Don't use hitting your 2 outer as an example of a mistake he made.
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  • 3 weeks later...
And why does he want you to lay your hand down? He's got frickin' Aces! He wants to play this pot for all his chips, so he'd like you to put in a little more here. The (almost) min raise practically screams "I have Aces, and I'm making a tiny raise hoping to suck you in, or maybe if you're really stupid you'll think I'm weak and raise me again". He might as well turn his cards over.Don't use hitting your 2 outer as an example of a mistake he made.
I agree with you Frez. His min raise in that spot is simply to juice up the pot a little more before he pops it on the flop... You were fortunate to hit your set and to dodge another club, so it's no real fault to the AA guy. I mean, say the flop came 7 8 2 instead and he bets out, you're probably going to go broke by raising since you think he's weak from the start (thinking, how could 782 flop have helped him?).
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And why does he want you to lay your hand down? He's got frickin' Aces! He wants to play this pot for all his chips, so he'd like you to put in a little more here. The (almost) min raise practically screams "I have Aces, and I'm making a tiny raise hoping to suck you in, or maybe if you're really stupid you'll think I'm weak and raise me again". He might as well turn his cards over.Don't use hitting your 2 outer as an example of a mistake he made.
It's not that he should want middle pairs to fold - it's that he wants them to commit more money preflop when it's a mistake to do so. Calling with like 2-1 and tremendous implied odds is about as standard as it gets. When given the opportunity aces need to bump it up way more so that set mining becomes a -EV play. Otherwise you're only getting 90% of your stack in when you're dead to an ace.The minraise is terrible in most situations.
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It's not that he should want middle pairs to fold - it's that he wants them to commit more money preflop when it's a mistake to do so. Calling with like 2-1 and tremendous implied odds is about as standard as it gets. When given the opportunity aces need to bump it up way more so that set mining becomes a -EV play. Otherwise you're only getting 90% of your stack in when you're dead to an ace.The minraise is terrible in most situations.
Good points. Starting stack sizes weren't given though, and implied odds are hard to figure in any case. I would readily support a $100 reraise in this case, instead of the $50 - just saying that AA is not trying to win a small preflop pot.As it was the OP with 99 was calling the preflop reraise getting 3-1 on the call when he was a 4-1 dog.
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The answer to this question really does vary because it is situational and will depend on whether you're talking about a cash game or a tournament. If it's a big tournament and you're into the money....then you would probably want to push with AA or KK just to make sure that you don't get cracked by any limpers. For example, I was playing in a qualifier for the European WSOP the other day on PokerRoom.com and I made it all the way down to the final 20. Then I was dealt AA. I decided to try to slow play and trap people (hoping someone would raise pre-flop after me)...but everyone just limped in. To make a long story short.....3 4 offsuit hit a straight on the flop and my A's were craked right away. So in a situation like that....DON'T slow play....push it in. In a cash game it is different because it depends on who your opponents are, how the action is, and whether or not the table is generally loose or tight.

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The answer to this question really does vary because it is situational and will depend on whether you're talking about a cash game or a tournament. If it's a big tournament and you're into the money....then you would probably want to push with AA or KK just to make sure that you don't get cracked by any limpers. For example, I was playing in a qualifier for the European WSOP the other day on PokerRoom.com and I made it all the way down to the final 20. Then I was dealt AA. I decided to try to slow play and trap people (hoping someone would raise pre-flop after me)...but everyone just limped in. To make a long story short.....3 4 offsuit hit a straight on the flop and my A's were craked right away. So in a situation like that....DON'T slow play....push it in. In a cash game it is different because it depends on who your opponents are, how the action is, and whether or not the table is generally loose or tight.
Or you could just make a standard raise (unless you're shortstacked).
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Recently ive noticed that people never push with aces or kings pre flop they just re/raise big. most of the time the opponent misses the flop and the hand is shut down, now if someone raises and you holding aces or kings suspect they have A-k jacks or such Would it be better to push pre to possibly incduce a call to give them a no time to think it through and trap them selves in a ''i cant lay this down'' situation? or would it be better to do the same old easy to read giant re raise and hope they hit the flop? out of those 2 options what would you say you think is the best option?tourney btweveryone around even stacks
A lot of people suck at playing AA. Once you realize that it's only a good starting hand, you start to play it a lot better.
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I find in micro NL and small buying tourneys very early on (first rotation) pushing all in with AA and KK can be extremely profitable. There are so many donks on these tables they never give you credit for anything and will call with marginal hands very often.

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Dealt to Zach6668 [Ad As]hardmann: folds ramooo9: folds RyanWalker21: calls 20gt914: folds ALLin4456: folds dearock3: folds firsline is connected Zach6668: raises 1480 to 1500 and is all-inRyanWalker21: calls 1480 and is all-induncan350 is connected *** FLOP *** [2s Jh Td]*** TURN *** [2s Jh Td] [8s]*** RIVER *** [2s Jh Td 8s] [3s]*** SHOW DOWN ***Zach6668: shows [Ad As] (a pair of Aces)RyanWalker21: shows [Ah 4d] (high card Ace)RyanWalker21 is sitting outZach6668 collected 3010 from pot$2.20 MTT, for example.

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Dealt to Zach6668 [Ad As]hardmann: folds ramooo9: folds RyanWalker21: calls 20gt914: folds ALLin4456: folds dearock3: folds firsline is connected Zach6668: raises 1480 to 1500 and is all-inRyanWalker21: calls 1480 and is all-induncan350 is connected *** FLOP *** [2s Jh Td]*** TURN *** [2s Jh Td] [8s]*** RIVER *** [2s Jh Td 8s] [3s]*** SHOW DOWN ***Zach6668: shows [Ad As] (a pair of Aces)RyanWalker21: shows [Ah 4d] (high card Ace)RyanWalker21 is sitting outZach6668 collected 3010 from pot$2.20 MTT, for example.
Hah! A4 isn't even marginal! what a donk. Maybe he thought it was AA...4s look like aces sometimes....Bwahahahahaha!
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The thing that weakens AA the most is multiple callers. You need to avoid this. Reading flop texture can be important. You don't always need to shove the flop. Evaluate the draw possibilities and proceed accordingly. Try to look weaker like u hold a middle pair and are afraid of that one overcard or AK and u missed the flop . On the turn I usually overbet a little to keep the people with drawing hands from proceeding. A lot of strategy is very read dependent. Stack size, blinds, how loose or aggressive the table or specific player is, tourney goals. table image, how much i've had to drink etc.

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The thing that weakens AA the most is multiple callers. You need to avoid this. Reading flop texture can be important. You don't always need to shove the flop. Evaluate the draw possibilities and proceed accordingly. Try to look weaker like u hold a middle pair and are afraid of that one overcard or AK and u missed the flop . On the turn I usually overbet a little to keep the people with drawing hands from proceeding. A lot of strategy is very read dependent. Stack size, blinds, how loose or aggressive the table or specific player is, tourney goals. table image, how much i've had to drink etc.
QFT.In a cash game, if there has been a raise before me and lots of folds to that raise then I will flat call (hoping to get 1 or two callers or perhaps induce a raise to push one of us out), if the raise is just to my right and the table is loose I will put in a strong reraise. I play AA a lot like that in tourneys too. It's all about keeping callers down but extracting maximum profit early.... but ISAP.
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I like to smooth call with aces or kings if someone raised. Primary reason for that is because it's hard to put me on that hand, thinking that I would've raised before the flop. I look to trap with them. If I raise pf, i win 30 or 40 in chips, (tournament) it really doesn't help my stack that much, after the flop is how i get the money from people chasing their draws to the river. Sometimes it doesn't work out just as it not working out when you shove pf, you'll get an all in call from Jacks or Queens and they hit a queen on the flop. By not reraising, you can get away from the hand in someone hits their draw.

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I agree with you Frez. His min raise in that spot is simply to juice up the pot a little more before he pops it on the flop... You were fortunate to hit your set and to dodge another club, so it's no real fault to the AA guy. I mean, say the flop came 7 8 2 instead and he bets out, you're probably going to go broke by raising since you think he's weak from the start (thinking, how could 782 flop have helped him?).
The small raise is perfect for the guy with 99. It tells him that he is beat and that if a 9 doesn't hit the flop, he's folding. If a 9 hits, he is stacking the guy. A flat call with AA could have potentially saved the other guy a lot of money.
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