AA short stacked. Do you play

[KING MOTH]

Interesting discussion, i can understand both points here.

At the end of the day, and considering i have never won a tourney, i would take my chances and play them.

[King_Groove]

there is still the chance that none of them get knocked out and your still next in the firing line. Id prefer to take a triple and get to a position where i can blind out to a points taking place rather than just sit back and hope that things fall my way.

[Gail]

My first response would be to play them, however, when you analize the situation more, they are still only ONE pair and you are reliant on the cards that play out. The other two most probably have got high cards and it would be anyones win. At No 16 I would like to say that I would fold them and wait for another chance. It would also depend on what cards have been coming out and any read you have on the other players.
Personally, I hate going all-in because it's too easy to go all-out ..... but AA's ...... such a shame.

[imre]

Interesting survey was done on a poker site i visited once

You are short stacked and in 16th position (bubble) in a tourney

2 Players have gone all in before the flop and you look at your cards and see



Do You Play or Do You Fold

Play

[xtal]

ALL IN gotta be in it to win it ... have some guts

[Possie]

I would be thinking about the Fold

Chances are one of the other two players have the Ace or big pockets. Percentage isn't as high as you would like unlike if it was heads up.

Really depends on how aggressive the players have been and if you think they are just trying to muscle up or they have the cards to play.

anyway if your only concern is to make the points then fold but if your out to push on and triple up then play it.

although I think I have condrodiced myself a little. Its poker and anything can happen

[shark]

It is way too easy to be blinded by pocket Aces. In one of my earlier tournaments I learnt this valuable lesson.

I was dealt

and slow played them with just a minimal raise to get rid of a few players which just left me and 1 other. He had position on me.

Flop came


I checked. He raised twice the blind. I figured he had a king so I called.

Turn came

This is where my brain started to be affected by the draw of the 2 cards face down in front of me. I raised thinking I had the better hand with 2 pair even though my original instinct had him with a king in his hand. He reraised. I called.

River was

I now had kings full of aces. I now convinced myself what are the chances that he has the last king. I checked. He raised. I went all in. He called.

He turned over


Lessons I hope I will never forget. If I have strong instincts on a read and then everything my opponent does confirms that read believe it no matter what the odds. This is the first and last time I have lost with pocket aces. Having said that in the hypothetical question I would go all in against the 2 other all-ins but hopefully I am never faced with that decision.

To all the people that say they would fold the pocket aces. Why bother looking at the cards at all. Just throw them in the middle and then you can't be tempted at all.

[skyhooks]

In a certain NPL torny I had pocket aces on dealer button, and folded pre-flop as 4 all in's occurred prior to me getting to the point of looking at my cards...

My thought was wait, bide my time and see who is willing to go all in on what, and verse the player that remained with what you've just learnt. (My Aces Would have been cracked too)

Oh did I mention that I ended up winning that torny in season one

I may not be the best poker player but being able to fold big hands can save you.

Another example was at pooraka when i had the under the gun go all in, the before the button go all in over the top, and me looking at pocket 9's...

I fold
under the gun = A K
before the button = pocket 10's

Flop is 9 9 and a 10.
turn (a 3 or something)
river 10

My pocket nines ==> quad 9's would have got me a brutal bashing by the pocket 10's.

Playing for points, cash, or qualifier tickets, is elimination scenario, let the others knock each other out if its all pre-flop action, wait til you know you've got the nuts!

[Michael_Whiting]

Interesting survey was done on a poker site i visited once

You are short stacked and in 16th position (bubble) in a tourney

2 Players have gone all in before the flop and you look at your cards and see



Do You Play or Do You Fold

It depends on your rationale!!!

[CommonCamel]

I think that really, it depends on the type of tourney and how short stacked you are. If you'll be blinded out in the next few hands, then you're taking a 50/50 gamble that the player with more chips who is all in will win - if he doesn't, he's left in the tourney, which means you've wasted your aces and haven't moved up a position at all. If you've got enough chips to survive another lap, and you only care about getting into that bubble, then fold them.

But unless it's a tourney where all the prizes are the same (i.e. Sat tourney) then surely you've got to play them and go for the win and the glory. You know that regardless of what the other two have, you're ahead. Unless one of them also has aces. Then it's awkward.

On a side note - I always, always hear players complaining about aces. If you don't want them, give them to me. The reason why people see aces lose more often than any other hand is because they can't bear to let them go. The other week at Savvy I saw a board 7c8c9c10c. One guy goes all in, and gets called by the aces. Guy 1 turns over KcQc (bet he hated the turn), aces didn't have the club. Neither player was playing short stacked either. If you have the aces here, unless you have an awesome read on your opponent, you MUST fold! 2c7o has you beat! But most players can't bear to throw their aces. You don't see 39o lose as often as AA because people don't hold it until the end. Throw your aces if the board turns against you