AA... 19 left out of 4800

[CorbinDallas]

$5 15k guaranteed. 4800 entrants.

i was 6th out of 40 something and in good shape. stayed 6th until 27 left with no real hands just by playing position... being aggressive in late position and getting the blinds. i never had any hands to call with if i got re-raised from players left to act after me preflop (usually the bu, SB and BB)... no big deal i just fold and keep after them the next time around. seems to work well in micro tourneys when you get this deep.

i got moved to another table with 27 left and the table dynamics totally changed. there we several short stacks and the chip leader. and i went totally card dead. couldn't really pick up any small pots and had nothing to to race with.

so i'm 15th out of 19th. haven't raised a hand in like 20 minutes. i get AQ UTG with 7 people at the table and 6 other guys super snap insta fold to me.

I wake up with AA on the BB and it fold around to the bu. here is my reads on the bu. the bu was a solid player. i think this was the 4th time he'd raised in a steal situation. he did it back to back once... the first time the SB and I folded. the second time the SB (who was meh) re-raised him 2.75x his 3x raise and then the bu shoved and the SB folded.

how do you proceed? please include your reasons, or mindset... simple or not for your suggested action(s).

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $5.00+$0.50 Tournament, 12500/25000 Blinds 2500 Ante (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t310376)
CO (t106766)
Button (t603415)
SB (t646654)
Hero (BB) (t549458)
UTG (t711481)
MP1 (t264247)

Hero's M: 9.99

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A
4 folds, Button bets t75000, 1 fold, Hero ???

[drmcboy]

I'd call, I don't think you can get him to re shove light with these stack sizes and I would almost always expect to get a c bet on the flop + chance he makes a pair.

[mcatdog]

If he's solid, and knows you're solid, just go all-in. Flatting or raising small is too suspicious, he'd know you don't need much of a hand to shove here and he'll call you often enough that shoving is the play. I wouldn't expect a decent player to fold 55 or KQ to me in this spot.

Otherwise call, bad players fall for it every time.

[chardrian]

If he's solid, and knows you're solid, just go all-in. Flatting or raising small is too suspicious, he'd know you don't need much of a hand to shove here and he'll call you often enough that shoving is the play. I wouldn't expect a decent player to fold 55 or KQ to me in this spot.

Otherwise call, bad players fall for it every time.

this - if you're unsure my fallback position is that players are bad and I call here.

[CorbinDallas]

does being 15/19 and really needing to double up (to win the thing) factor into your decision to push or call?

are you even thinking... "i really need to double up right here to win this tourney."?? i was. does this say anything about my mindset about the game in general? or late game mindset?

obviously, the play if we just flat call is to check raise the cbet from the bu. ... hoping he hit something to call us. correct?

what if we call and the flop is something like KJT all diamonds and we have no diamond? what i'm getting at is.... once we flat call.... is there any circumstance where we would NOT get all the money in either on the flop or the turn?

[dthorne04]

i'm gonna go with mcat on this one. i think you may get called with a pretty decent sized range here.

and you just need to be thinking about making the best play possible. go from that that thought process all the time. if i were to call preflop, i would probably donkbet the flop a pretty high percentage, unless it was a really innocuous flop like 223, etc. but yeah, you're never folding this ever, no matter how yucky the flop is if you flat call.

[baudib]

I think I look to check-raise the flop if I flat or reraise preflop. I think shoving over is fine, too though, he's not going to put you on a hand this strong.

[jokerjay311]

i would flat call here almost always with a solid player. hope he connects with a single pair and check raise the flop. if it was a players that is a calling station and you feel he'd call an all in here then shove. but with a solid player id flat call here.

[hitnbombs]

I like the shove. Ideally you are hoping his hand is strong enough to call or that he feels he is above your shoving range. If he folds, you get 2 things out of it:

1. Nice little increase to your stack
2. You have put it in the villain's head that you will come over the top. It may take a little pressure off your blinds from him.

[chardrian]

yes being 15/19 matters. You have the best hand possible and your goal is to get maximum value.

I do everything it takes to get that value here even at the risk of giving free cards and busting.

Think ahead about stack sizes.

If you call pre the pot will have 175k ish and you will have about 475k.

You check and he c-bets 100k and pot will have 275k, which means you and the pot will have even stacks of about 375k if you call.

Against unknown standard/bad players I just call there and give em their rope to hang themselves.

Check turn and if they check behind you jam river.

[hotkiwi27]

i'd go all in at this point in the tourny just seems like the best move to me.You could vale bet but you'll probley get called and your aces will get cracked lol

[CorbinDallas]

yes being 15/19 matters. You have the best hand possible and your goal is to get maximum value.

I do everything it takes to get that value here even at the risk of giving free cards and busting.

Think ahead about stack sizes.

If you call pre the pot will have 175k ish and you will have about 475k.

You check and he c-bets 100k and pot will have 275k, which means you and the pot will have even stacks of about 375k if you call.

Against unknown standard/bad players I just call there and give em their rope to hang themselves.

Check turn and if they check behind you jam river.

i'm glad you posted that. cuz that was my thinking exactly. 15/19... AA on the big blind. i was never folding... and i was giving free cards all day. a double up gets me to 1mil and puts me back in contention. if the bu was really tight i mighta shoved. but i just didn't feel this guy had much.

i'm dying to post the results... but see signature below.

[AFchung]

why can't we just flat and check every street until he bets then CRAI him

[CorbinDallas]

thats what i did.

[b45kal]

ill call or all in but never fold this hand