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Also, I would like your take on how I played the following hand in one of these tournaments. The blinds were 100/200. I had approx $4000 in chips. I was in late position with AA and raised to $600 The big blind went all in with short stack (approx $300) and one other player (chip leader at the table - a solid player) called (who had previously limped in). Flop came K,9,4 rainbow. Other player checks, I bet $600 he folds I win the pot. (including the small all in from the other player.)

I know that it's never bad to win a pot but do you think I should have checked the flop and bet the turn instead? With a drawing flop I would always bet out but with no chances for draws I may have been able to entice a bet on the turn from the other player or he might perceive weekness in me after the flop if I check after him. What is your take on that? I would like to be able to win more with my aces in those situations. I guess it is a question of how to get someone more comitted to the pot in this situation.

Answer: Maybe you could have checked the flop against the third player, since no overcards or draws scare you, but I usually don't like those types of plays. If they guy has a King or a small pocket pair, do you really want to give him any free cards? I think you played it fine. Assume that either you'll get action from a King, or the guy will fold. What would a check accomplish really? The best you could hope for is that he has something like AQ or AJ and catches a Jack or Queen on the turn. Even then though, you won't be able to win a monster pot from him. If you were to get a lot of action after checking to him, you are probably beat.

I don't like getting too fancy with AA postflop for this exact reason: It is hard to lay AA down. What if you checked the flop and then on the turn there was a Queen, a Jack, a Ten, and the guy check raised you all-in? Or what if it was just a complete blank like a 7, 8, 2, etc and he did the same? You're in a bad spot because number one, the signals you are getting back from him are mixed because he has no idea what you have since you checked the flop; it could go both ways whether he was raising because he didn't think you had the King since you checked, or because he had a big hand now. Secondly, you are in a bad spot because your hand is very hard to fold heads up, yet if you get an all-in against you it is most likely not good anymore. Because of these reasons, I think you played the hand as well as you could.

Now, how would I play in a tourney with the above structure? I would probably play really tight until I was forced to loosen up. $2000 isn't much for a tourney that starts out at $25/50 and ups every 15 minutes. The play will be fast and people will be losing chips left and right. When the blinds increase this fast, it is correct to play looser and more aggressively since you don't have time on your side. I wouldn't do that though because I'm guessing it is what a lot of the other players are going to be doing. Instead, I would sit there and consider any pot I played in to be one that could take all my chips. Let the other players burn off a fourth of their chips early on, trying to win a big pot by seeing flops. Save your chips for later when you'll go all-in and hopefully double up.

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