pocket aces early in tourney

[doubleatrain 0]

Just took a bad beat with pocket aces, effectively knocking me out of a tournament and it made me think. Is it a bad idea to push early on in a tournament with pocket aces? In my case, I had aces, other guy had kings, flop had a king in it, I didn't hit my nut flush draw, leaving me with 50 chips. I know survival is paramount in the early stages of a tournament, but I didn't see myself laying that down, even with a king on the flop, knowing that player could've done the same thing with AK. So my question essentially is:Early on in the tourney, should I have just called to see a flop, or should I have pushed in like I did, knowing that I was at worst a 4:1 favorite?Any insights from you tourney pros would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Guest]

Sometimes you just get unlucky. There is no hand better than yours preflop and you can't do much about losing as a 4-1 favorite. Your move was fine, shit happens, move on.Zara

[bobbywithani 0]

Yeah it sucks, I entered two touraments yesterday and lost with aces early on in both of them. It sucks, but if you play them right every time, you will win enough. Early in a tournament I push with aces every time. Usually make a big preflop raise, and as long as the board does not have 3 to a staight/ flush push in. Yesterday I raised about 6 bb and got two callers flop comes 4 6 Q . Push in, get called by 5 7 . Guy got an 8 on the river to knock me out. To me at least, early in a tournament the starting hands you play are so selective, and you can go through and get really cold cards that pushing with Aces is almost neccesarry unless you have already made a decent chip stack.

[Scott3705 0]

I think people that have been reading about how survival is key have developed a real deep misunderstanding of the idea of surviving. Surviving is avoided putting a lot of chips in when you have marginal edges in a hand. Surviving is not staying away from an all in when you're likely a large favorite. Just shit luck that you ran into a set, but you can't fold AA because you think your opponent might have a set. Like you said, he could have easily had AK. Don't be discouraged with situations like this and don't interpret surving in a tournament to mean play weak poker.

[doubleatrain 0]

Thanks for the responses!I felt fairly confident about my play and knew that there was really no way for me to get away from that hand. I'm just trying to improve my tournament play, and wanted to see if I need more discipline in that kind of situation. Though I suppose if being a 4:1 favorite when all the chips are in isn't good enough, I shouldn't be playing poker. :-) I think I was also just disappointed because it was my first tournament with a buy in of $100 (qualified for a 100k guaranteed tourney). There will be more though.

[bobbywithani 0]

Exactly, you are trying to survive to hopefully get that AA.