AA early in tourney question....

[digitaldoc]

I know this has been asked many times before but I would like to hear some opinions on aces early in a tourney.

Specifically:

Middle or Early position with pocket aces.
Table that tends to have multiple limpers if pot is unraised.
Limpers that tend to call 3 or 4xBB raises preflop.
Table will see flops with 3-4 people in it routinely.
Blinds are about 15/30 with and average stack size around 1500.

The question I would like some advice is on is:

Do you raise to isolate a single player risking getting no callers? And if so how much to raise?

OR

Do you standard raise about 3-4xBB and run the risk of getting multile callers?

[drmcboy]

EP on this type of table I'll probably toss in 5x to open, and with one limp in front take to 6.

MP... boy I hate these tables. If I'm opening, probably 4x and hope for the best. With blinds this small I think 4x is the minimum, people will call 3x with anything. If there are already 2-3 limps in, I think it's a good spot for an over raise, 9-10xish. Some players who have been sitting there watching people limp and thinking "man, I can't wait to raise these morons first chance I get" may think you had the same thought and call with a weak holding.

[BreakfastMan]

You want to get as much money in the pot as possible and narrow the opposition to one, maybe two at most. If you feel a raise of 3x is going to get called by many, make a larger raise. Raise what you think you need to get only one caller.

If you are in early position, you might consider limping, if you think you will get many calls and one person might try to raise to steel. If someone after you raises, re-raise, maybe even all-in depending on the pot size. If no one rerasies you, it's not the end of the world, you just may not win this hand. Look at the flop and decide what you are going to do from there.

[mgobluefb]

Try to isolate only ONE other person preflop. With a third player in the pot, you are no longer a favorite to win the hand.

[Eric]

You want to get as much money in the pot as possible and narrow the opposition to one, maybe two at most. If you feel a raise of 3x is going to get called by many, make a larger raise. Raise what you think you need to get only one caller.

Agreed, the amount of the raise depends on the other players at the table.

[ADWCTA]

my favorite move at this point is to look at my table raise %. If there is a preflop raise at least 70% of the time by any player at the table (Poker Office tracks this, but you can easily do it from memory), I would just call, wait for a raise (and hopefully re-raise).

If there is no raise, I cut my losses and play AA aggro only if I hit a set or overpair + straight draw/flush draw. It's early in the torny, I'm still fine if I fold, it only costed me 30 chips.

If there is one 3x raise and limpers behind me who might call, I will call and hope they call as well. Then, I will play the flop aggresively regardless. I rarely bust out here (on the flop, AA is still a favorite even against 2 players), and I'm smart enough to know when someone's hit his straight/flush. Can't read sets or two pairs, but chances of those are small enough that in this situation I'd take my chances.

If there is a raise and a re-raise, or a raise and a call, I will re-raise an amount that I think will keep at least one of them in, then play HU.

Early in the MTT torny, if I triple up, then I can afford to hit a cold streak or a bad beat and still survive. It allows me to play my good hands more aggresively and semi-bluff more. Simply doubling up is usually a waste of pocket As... exception may be in a really good torny, but even at teh 200+15 level, early game, there's a good number of players who would play top pair ace kicker to the all in level if you cold call.

[drmcboy]

Simply doubling up is usually a waste of pocket As

I'm sticking with Dolye - more likely to win small pots and lose big ones with AA. Are you saying that if there is no flush/str8 draw out you will not fold the AA?

[ADWCTA]

yeah... how many times have you seen someone flop a straight or flush after there's been a preflop raise. (% wise to the amount of multi-way pots you've seen). Just come out agressive once the flop hits, you'll be screwed every now and then but early on in a torny (at least from my experience on Party Poker 5+1, 15+1, 20+2 buy ins) players are more likely to show you down with TPTK than actrually hitting anything. Later on in the torny, doubling up with pocket rockets is nice because you already have a relatively large stack, but in the beginning, many people are looking for a spot to double up on, which makes downplaying monster hands highly effective. Sure you don't want to give up a free card, but 3 other players being in the pot with you isn't horrible if you push on the flop. (Assuming that 3 other players are in this pot, and 75% preflop raise, which were the conditions I outlined... that would be 75% of the time a pot worth 400 chips... if a K comes out, downplay it, you're not scared, if low rags that'll give a straight/flush draw comes out... put in a 250 chip bet to drive out players and based on your reads and thier actions, play from there. (i.e. if a player who's never shown any aggresive action re-raises you all in with a straight on the board, a straight that he could possibly have, lets say T98 comes out... then you cut your losses.. on the other hand if a tight player who's made the preflop raise re-raises you all in and the flop is 4,5,6, I would put him on overpair instead of a straight and call). Getting your Aces cracked really sucks, but it's very rare that your aces will be cracked at the flop. As long as you're not giving them enough implied odds to chase the striaght/flush, you can usually isolate TPTK or take the pot right there.

just my two cents.