AA UTG early in a live STT

[mowgli77]

I'd like comments on a hand I played other night at Birmingham (Barrys), preferably serious ones but I'm sure Bri will have a sarcastic one to throw in. We sat down for that sit n go and it was first hand, I got dealt aces.
I was under the gun - first of all what would you do in that situation?
Is it an automatic raise straight away?
Are you trying to build the pot or just take the hand down?
I called (trying to look like I was limping in) as I fully expected someone else to raise (possibly Bri or Paul Ross), as it was Gazza raised to 200 (blinds were 25/50), I think all others folded and when it came back to me I re-raised an extra 500 and Gazza folded.
At this point should I have waited to see the flop or was I right to re-raise? Would I have made more money seeing a flop or would that have been dangerous?
I think Gaz had AK or KJ, something like that (He'll be able to confirm) so was he right to fold also?
I wasn't quite sure if I'd done the right thing re-raising regardless of winning the pot. I'm trying to learn all the time so your opinions are appreciated.

[SteveO]

I assume Mowgli you started with 100bbs. I think you played the hand perfectly well. I'd limp with aces in that position a large % of the time hoping for any raise to then reraise which you did and took it down.

Ideally you would have wanted someone to overplay a hand like AK or JJ and then reshove allin which happens quite a lot in STT situations.

Had everyone else limped behind you would be in a bad situation being out of position and it's likely that many will have connected with the flop so you would have to then tread carefully.

Unlikely you could have gained many more chips from the hand above unless u flat called Gaz's raise and he has a hand like AK AQ and hits the flop.

[ubermonkey1]

Originally Posted by mowgli77

I'd like comments on a hand I played other night at Birmingham (Barrys), preferably serious ones but I'm sure Bri will have a sarcastic one to throw in. We sat down for that sit n go and it was first hand, I got dealt aces.
I was under the gun - first of all what would you do in that situation?
Is it an automatic raise straight away?
Are you trying to build the pot or just take the hand down?
I called (trying to look like I was limping in) as I fully expected someone else to raise (possibly Bri or Paul Ross), as it was Gazza raised to 200 (blinds were 25/50), I think all others folded and when it came back to me I re-raised an extra 500 and Gazza folded.
At this point should I have waited to see the flop or was I right to re-raise? Would I have made more money seeing a flop or would that have been dangerous?
I think Gaz had AK or KJ, something like that (He'll be able to confirm) so was he right to fold also?
I wasn't quite sure if I'd done the right thing re-raising regardless of winning the pot. I'm trying to learn all the time so your opinions are appreciated.

nothing wrong with your play on this one, but i think i might have played it slightly differently for a couple of reasons.
if its first hand you have no table image as such. i'm all for disguising pocket aces by calling, but with no image maybe you can get away with a raise anyway.

once gaz raised and everyone else was out ,then i would call not raise.
if there were others in the pot then you do need to raise really ,against one player i would let them catch up a bit

its pretty unlikely gaz would have you beat on the flop, but he might hit a decent pair that will make it tricky to put down.
by check raising pre flop you are screaming strength as very few people do it without a very big hand,maybe gaz picked up on that and folded

[WASP]

Originally Posted by mowgli77

I'd like comments on a hand I played other night at Birmingham (Barrys), preferably serious ones but I'm sure Bri will have a sarcastic one to throw in. We sat down for that sit n go and it was first hand, I got dealt aces.
I was under the gun - first of all what would you do in that situation?
Is it an automatic raise straight away?
Are you trying to build the pot or just take the hand down?
I called (trying to look like I was limping in) as I fully expected someone else to raise (possibly Bri or Paul Ross), as it was Gazza raised to 200 (blinds were 25/50), I think all others folded and when it came back to me I re-raised an extra 500 and Gazza folded.
At this point should I have waited to see the flop or was I right to re-raise? Would I have made more money seeing a flop or would that have been dangerous?
I think Gaz had AK or KJ, something like that (He'll be able to confirm) so was he right to fold also?
I wasn't quite sure if I'd done the right thing re-raising regardless of winning the pot. I'm trying to learn all the time so your opinions are appreciated.

Was that the game I won Phil

Nothing wrong with what you did, you were playing the situation and that is good . When you know the players (and Ross is sat there) you always have to expect a raise, maybe when you got a fish, I may have called to see if he hits and then check raise but nothing wrong with either way in the early stages.

[mowgli77]

if its first hand you have no table image as such. i'm all for disguising pocket aces by calling, but with no image maybe you can get away with a raise anyway.

It was 1st hand of STT, but we had all just played one STT and then went straight into another with the same players so everyone sat there had a table image as such. I think you were on the same table and it might be the one Brian won, it was in the main room with the pool table/bar etc.

When you know the players (and Ross is sat there) you always have to expect a raise

Paul had been raising all the time so I was hoping he'd raise again. I was wondering if i'd raised too much against Gaz (he raised 200, I raised extra 500) and considered calling to see the flop. It was good to test my poker against better players. I enjoy the live games more than online.

[ubermonkey1]

ah thought it was the first one
i have to admit ,having paul acting after me might well make me more tempted to flat call pre flop


like i said above ,the raise is maybe not the best idea here.i would have give it a bit of a think and then called to carry on the illusion of weakness.
you need to make the max out of hands like this and although you dont want to get donked ,you do want to run the hand into the flop hu unless you can get an opponent all in or pot commited preflop.

the only way you will get more money out of the pot by raiseing that much is if gaz has at least qs or ks,even then i would seriously consider folding qsbe interesting to know what gaz folded.


now if i had a raise to 200 and a call after my initial flat call then i would be reraiseing enough to get 1 caller hopefully, so probably up to 500-600 to get 1 player pot commited.
if they then hit top pair on the flop then happy days,with that much in the pot they will struggle to fold it

[stooo V2]

I'd have done the same in a live situation i believe.

I'd have done it differently if it was online though, I've always found that for some reason online people seem to see an overbet as serious weakness and always fancy a gamble at it.

So I'd have come out betting knowing full well that someone will think I've got junk and I'm a weak and end up calling me.