Learn Texas Holdem

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

• $10 bonus at Colt Poker Free $10
• $10 bonus at Cake Poker Free $10
• $400 bonus at Minted Poker

So did I do something wrong? I have been asking myself for 3 days after this how I could have gotten away from AA. I started thinking about this a lot and suddenly a light bulb went off. I am starting to think in these situations where your tournament life is at risk there is no reason to get to heavily involved. The problem is that there is a small chance that they may out draw you and you are left packing.

I am starting to think that, unless you have them covered you lay the hand down. Not because you are beat, but because you are not ready to gamble yet. After you build a little and you have them covered where you are not out of the tournament if they get lucky you make the call. I realize in a ring game this is a totally different story and you have to move in, but I am specifically talking about tournaments here where it is more of a survival game then it is a chip collecting game and you can not reload.

I play in these home tournaments a couple times a week and I am starting to find that people are more likely to call with just about any 2 big cards or a pair on just about any bet where there are 5 cards to come. After the flop it is a different story. They will lay it down if they think they are beat then with only 2 cards to come.

I would love to hear your take on this. How do you get away from AA in a tournament? Do you see the flop and then if someone moves in or check raises you post flop then put them on a set or 2 pair? Also, if you could take my situation here and let me know how I could have survived this that would be great.

Thanks,

Tom

Answer: Thanks for the question Tom.

You correctly made the insight that the game of holdem is one of small edges. Even when you have your opponent beat preflop, with 5 cards to come, things can change a good percentage of the time. With that said though, the only way to beat the game is to get your money in there when you do have the best hand. And as far as good opportunities, you can't find one much better than having AA versus KK. That is even a little better than having AA against 88 or 77. Two points on this: Number one is that you shouldn't reevaluate your strategy every time you lose. All day long I make correct decisions that don't work out.

That doesn't mean they are based on a flawed strategy. It is important to base the merit of your decisions on a larger range of hands, not just the short term where any and everything can happen. You have a hand here that wins 80% of the time. That is as sound as you can get. 80% of the time you'll have doubled your chip stack. Secondly, sometimes there is nothing you can do to win. People have a hard time dealing with this. There are many days where it just wasn't possible for me to win. I don't fault myself at all for those days. I expect them. It is part of this. My goal on those days is just not to lose my head and give back a bunch of money, trying to create opportunities that aren't there. I go in, play the best poker with the cards given to me, and go home.

Nothing scares me because I know what to expect. I feel very stable and in control even on days when it seems as though the poker gods are having their way with me, because I know based on experience that it will turn around. So in no way do I think you played the hand wrong. You wanted to get every dime you had in the pot before the flop. But are there times when you might fold AA preflop in a tournament? I can think of one off the top of my head. Say you were four handed at the final table with a small stack and the other three players went all-in. I'm not sure if I would call.

The difference between prizes is hundreds of thousands of dollars. So I guess there are times when you would fold AA preflop, but they are very few. Now post flop is completely different. There are plenty of flops that are so coordinated that calling with your one pair would be a bad move. What if you raised, got three callers and the flop was J-T-9 all one suite and you didn't have one? Lastly, when you get raised on the flop in a tourney and you have AA, the first thing you think about is if you are beat. What do you think your opponent has? Does he put you on AA?

Then if you come to the conclusion that you are beat, the next question is if you can call. You call if the amount you put in isn't more than your chances of catching. If it is a huge pot and all but a few of your chips are in already, you are committed, but if you have a lot of chips left, you have more options. Last but not least, don't ever get married to hands post flop. AA isn't a death sentence and you don't have to pay off every hand with it.

Your rating:

User Rating: (7 Votes)

• Share on Facebook
• Print
• Digg
• Del.icio.us