AA first hand... what to do?

Got this on the first hand of a tourney tonight. My main motivation for the all-in play pre-flop was the fact that it was a turbo tourney and opportunities don't come along as often as a regular tourney. Agree or disagree?



PokerStars Game #17390366057: Tournament #88152223, $11+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/05/12 - 22:02:38 (ET)
Table '88152223 18' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ygob (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: bullseyebf (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: C_Mac619 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: soldatti (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: ybbob87 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: BaLaur (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: bryan24 (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: cakbo (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: XScarfaceX69 (1500 in chips)
bullseyebf: posts small blind 10
C_Mac619: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bryan24 [As Ad]
soldatti: calls 20
ybbob87: folds
BaLaur: folds
bryan24: raises 1480 to 1500 and is all-in
cakbo: folds
XScarfaceX69: folds
ygob: folds
bullseyebf: folds
C_Mac619: folds
soldatti: folds
Uncalled bet (1480) returned to bryan24
bryan24 collected 70 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 70 | Rake 0
Seat 1: ygob (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: bullseyebf (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: C_Mac619 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: soldatti folded before Flop
Seat 5: ybbob87 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: BaLaur folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: bryan24 collected (70)
Seat 8: cakbo folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: XScarfaceX69 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

__________________
Hellmuth's Kids River D Rat / Bryan24

Sep-Oct Sunday League Champs
--------------------------------------------------
1st Place THF League March06, May06, Feb07,Sep-Oct07

2nd Place THF League April06, June06, November06, December06

Raise to 200. You still will probably get a walk, but if someone holds a pp or strong A, they may call. A stout bet on the flop would then follow.

__________________
No More Free Rides!
No Room For Dead Beats!

I agree totally with the all-in. I have had AA in the first hand of a tourney more than once. One of my most memorable bad beats came from just a preflop raise. See below. After that beat it was all-in and have doubled and tripled up.




PokerStars Game #15120732193: Tournament #76635496, $1.50+$0.25 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2008/02/07 - 10:21:11 (ET)
Table '76635496 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: CardLovinCat (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: Topdago (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: chubbies888 (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: hetbeest78 (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: live2eagle18 (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: thaterich (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Semosh (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: f1ff1kus (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: Be@m (1500 in chips)
Topdago: posts small blind 10
chubbies888: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CardLovinCat [Ah Ac]
hetbeest78: calls 20
live2eagle18: folds
thaterich: folds
Semosh: calls 20
f1ff1kus: folds
Be@m: folds
CardLovinCat: raises 80 to 100
Topdago: folds
chubbies888: folds
hetbeest78: calls 80
Semosh: calls 80
*** FLOP *** [2s 5d Ad]
hetbeest78: bets 1400 and is all-in
Semosh: calls 1400 and is all-in
CardLovinCat: calls 1400 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [2s 5d Ad] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [2s 5d Ad Ts] [7d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
hetbeest78: shows [4d 3d] (a flush, Ace high)
Semosh: shows [Kd 2d] (a flush, Ace high - King higher)
CardLovinCat: shows [Ah Ac] (three of a kind, Aces)
Semosh collected 4530 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4530 | Rake 0
Board [2s 5d Ad Ts 7d]
Seat 1: CardLovinCat (button) showed [Ah Ac] and lost with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 2: Topdago (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: chubbies888 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: hetbeest78 showed [4d 3d] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: live2eagle18 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: thaterich folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Semosh showed [Kd 2d] and won (4530) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 8: f1ff1kus folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Be@m folded before Flop (didn't bet)

__________________
Real poker players don't cry....

The FLOP determines how good your hole cards are!!

visit me at http://www.myspace.com/tzucanow

Is this an MTT or a 9-man SnG?

I push in an MTT, and use a big raise (150-200) for a SnG (followed by a push on the flop, assuming it isn't something like all hearts).

__________________
1st place, March/April 2008 Sunday League

Intelligence, lack thereof: Causing insanity to those with.

You were in 4th position from the BB and had only one limper and two folds, so you have no all-in callers there, Aces are hard to come by so you would like to pick up some decent chips when you do have them...I would have raised 100 to 120 to see if I could get a caller and then play it from there, but an all-in here is just going to give you the blinds and the one 20 chip limper. Now if there was a decent bet b4 you than yes all-in since you want to isolate or at least pick up the blinds and his raise.

The reason I say all-in is because its the start of the tourney and you are either going to get nothing or a big pot at that point. Your only chance at a big pot is getting a big risk taker to go all-in hoping to get lucky. They exist at the beginning, not toward the middle or end. You don't know the players yet so why not go all-in? If someone would call a big raise they may be the same one that will call the all-in.

__________________
Real poker players don't cry....

The FLOP determines how good your hole cards are!!

visit me at http://www.myspace.com/tzucanow

But if you isolate to one player then your a 90% favorite so why not try to be more sure of at least getting something in the pot...I know that on the first hand, fools will go all-in with nothing and other fools will call with nothing, but I would rather be sure of getting something in there.

I would have thought the same thing before. Did you see my post above. Two people called my raise..granted it was only 5 times the blind, but I thought I would just push after the flop, also. Set of A's on the flop and I get the same 2 callers all-in chasing a flush!!! And of course they hit. First hand it's all or nothing for me. Of course if it's a bigger buy-in $50 up, I would agree with you.

__________________
Real poker players don't cry....

The FLOP determines how good your hole cards are!!

visit me at http://www.myspace.com/tzucanow

Well CLC you can't cover all situations with one move...things will happen no matter what, what is important is what happens most frequently. I have had situations where under the gun I would limp with AA hoping that someone would raise so that I could re-raise all-in and if not I would go all-n on the flop...well on more than one occasion, nobody raised, the flop was low and ugly, I would then bet all-in and would be beat by somebody that limped with junk and hit two pair on the flop. You cannot cover all avenues. I also had two back to back tourney's where on the second hands I had AA, went all-in was called by 32o in one and he beat me with trip 3"s, the second one, I was called with 74s and he hit a flush. So one type of play does not work all the time.