AK or AQ in the blinds with lots of limpers

[mcatdog]

Seat 1: MP2 ($1,500 in chips)
Seat 2: MP3 ($1,500 in chips)
Seat 3: CO ($1,500 in chips)
Seat 4: Button ($1,490 in chips)
Seat 5: Hero [A,Q] ($1,480 in chips)
Seat 6: BB ($1,500 in chips)
Seat 7: UTG ($1,500 in chips)
Seat 8: UTG+1 ($1,500 in chips)
Seat 9: UTG+2 ($1,530 in chips)
Seat 10: MP1 ($1,500 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS (10/20)

PRE-FLOP
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $20, UTG+2 calls $20, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, CO calls $20, Button folds , Hero bets $140, BB folds, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls $130, CO folds.

FLOP [board cards 4,5,9 ]
Hero bets $200, UTG+2 bets $400, Hero folds.

If there are three or more limpers, I like to raise from the blinds with these hands to thin the field. Is this a dumb play?

[WildBobAA]

This early, I'll just check. A raise this early won't get everyone out and you'll be out of position the whole hand. I might raise AK but AQ, I just check.

[Robert]

With small blinds, bad position and so many ppl in the pot already, this is a clear check for me with AQo. I 'm not sure I would even raise AKo in the same situation that early in a sng

[mcatdog]

So what range of hands should I raise with here, just QQ-AA, play any other pair for set value, and unpaired hands for 2-pair or better?

If I know that someone is going to be coming along with his weak ace, don't I want the pot to be big, so that I can take his stack if an ace flops?

[aislephive]

Getting any solid unpaired hand early in a tournament is a tricky situation. I have been just checking it and folding if I don't hit. Later on in a tournament it's an obvious raise, but early on it's best not to get involved unless you have a big hand.

[Robert]

So what range of hands should I raise with here, just QQ-AA, play any other pair for set value, and unpaired hands for 2-pair or better?

If I know that someone is going to be coming along with his weak ace, don't I want the pot to be big, so that I can take his stack if an ace flops?

I play weak tight early on, so yeah, thats basicly what I do in the early stages of a sng. I will also play AK, AQ and AJ for toppair value, but you have to be cautious when an ace flops, because the fish likes to play ace-rag, and could have flopped a sneaky 2-pair.
It might be more +EV to raise with a hand like AQ even early on - I value my chips too much at this stage though and because I will only hit the flop around 33% of the time, I dont want to waste too many chips under these circumstances. I will raise it early on though with fewer limpers and if I have position.
BTW, athough you will run into the occasional fish who will push into you on the flop with toppair-weakkicker, most players wont pay you off big with a weak ace.

[mcatdog]

I will also play AK, AQ and AJ for toppair value, but you have to be cautious when an ace flops, because the fish likes to play ace-rag, and could have flopped a sneaky 2-pair.

BTW, athough you will run into the occasional fish who will push into you on the flop with toppair-weakkicker, most players wont pay you off big with a weak ace.

You must play against different fish than me. In my experience, the ace chasers are usually willing to put their chips in the middle when an ace flops? Otherwise, why would they be playing ace-rag in the first place?

[Scuba Chuck]

If there are three or more limpers, I like to raise from the blinds with these hands to thin the field. Is this a dumb play?

No

[mcatdog]

If there are three or more limpers, I like to raise from the blinds with these hands to thin the field. Is this a dumb play?

No

Could you expand on that a little bit more? As in, what's your range for raising from the blinds against so many limpers, what should the amount of the raise be, and why?

I'm just not sure how I feel about isolating with AK and AQ. Do I really want at most one caller? If three or four players see the flop, I'm getting the right odds to hit the flop, even if I always check-fold when I miss. If only two of us see the flop, I'm only getting a little better than 1:1 odds on my money, which is bad, because I'll miss the flop two-thirds of the time. On the other hand, if I only have one opponent, a continuation bet is more likely to work, which is good. But given that it's the second hand of the SnG, this opponent limped preflop, and called a raise, he might be a calling station, so my continuation bet will simply waste chips, which is bad.

I wish I had a better way to quantify all of these factors.

[Scuba Chuck]

No

Could you expand on that a little bit more?

No, trying to isolate with a powerful drawing hand is not dumb. If three or four players are seeing a flop, then you must tread water lightly. When raising the pot preflop, you're not thinking about odds on your money, you're trying to build a pot. Furthermore, even if you only hit 1/3 of the time, you don't just get the money in the pot preflop, there is other streets to try and garner chips.