Folding Pocket Aces in a tournament

[HPG ADMIN]

It is the first hand of the WSOP, a player goes all-in with and 3 players call. You figure at least a couple of them have high pairs and ther other player a decent hand. Against 3 other players, AA is a slightly better than 50% favorite (54%). Do you call looking to quadruple up and take the chip lead - knowing you could also bust out on the first hand? or fold knowing that you can double up your stack anyway with less risk - knowing that having the chip lead on the first day means nothing?

[Lottery Larry]

If you won't play Aces here, why are you in the WSOP again?

[NJstomp]

Let me ask you this. How many times have you had aces cracked? In fact I think Men Nguyen got his aces cracked by going all in with them at the WSOP. In the beginning of a 10,000 buy in tourney this would really be a tough choice. I know ultimately, most likely I would call. Agaist one person with out a doubt, but with two people going all in it before it gets to you the chances of some hittin a set is for real. Odds are you'll come out ahead, but do you want to risk all your chips this early?

[WKBUCF]

you have the best possible hand and if u cant risk all your chips w/the best hand going in to the flop/turn/river then i dont think u have what it takes to win it all. granted, being the 1st hand it is kind of out of the ordinary, but id definitely call.

[JOHNNYAND]

i TOTALLY AGREE WITH WKCBUF

[nutem]

You have to play them. If you can't risk an all in on pocket Aces then you cant win the WSOP. You probably can't make it to the second day.

If you that scared of the first hand but would play normal in any other hand than fold the first hand w/out looking. Just to get rid of your superstition. That way you wouldn't know what you folded. If you folded pocket aces and would have won the first hand you would be kicking yourself "tilt" until you went out.

[jpe99]

In a recent freeroll tourney i had this problem. holding pkt aces on the button two all ins right before me with bigger stacks. knowing my aces are going to get busted I go all in(as i go all I type in the chat collum my aces are going to get busted). sure enough all in #1 pkt 8s all in #2 pkt 9s #2 flops a set.
Even knowing I was going to get busted I still went all in why? becouse I had pkt aces.

unless something has changed and a pair now beats a set, a straight, or a flush, this is the one time you can sleep good at nite knowing u did the right thing by folding. remember, if you call this is a 5-way hand to the end. in a 5-way pot, a pair, even a pair of aces, is vulnerable. think about this...you could even lose to another pair of aces if one of those four players is sitting on AK and another ace hits the board. there are entirely too many ways to lose this hand for it to be worth it.

i see a lot of posts that talk about guts and luck, but the key to playing good poker is to make decisions that take emotion and luck out of the equation. a well executed bluff doesn't take balls, it takes the intelligence to analyze the situation and determine if the bluff is playable. poker also requires patience, impatient play will get you a seat at the bar more times than it will a seat at the final table. think twice, act once, fold the aces and watch 3 people go home.

[HPG ADMIN]

Here is a new twist. Now say you are in a satellite where the Top 10 make it to the WSOP. There are 11 left. You are very high in chip count and someone with a bigger stack goes all-in. You know you are a big favorite in the hand but if you get knocked out then you don't make it. Giving up Aces here would still be a blow to the ego . . . but please tell me no one would call this.

Originally Posted by HomePokerGames Admin

Here is a new twist. Now say you are in a satellite where the Top 10 make it to the WSOP. There are 11 left. You are very high in chip count and someone with a bigger stack goes all-in. You know you are a big favorite in the hand but if you get knocked out then you don't make it. Giving up Aces here would still be a blow to the ego . . . but please tell me no one would call this.

this is a more interesting situation than the original question, becuase now you're inferring a potential one-on-one hand, in which case the aces give you much more leverage. it would be safe to assume that big stack has a high pair, or is suited, possibly with connectors (with at least one over card). the other twist is the fact that he's all in, which typically means he DOESN'T want a call, especially one seat away from the WSOP. i'm not sure...but there are some days i'd call this just because i'm feeling lucky or have a read on big stack...

Originally Posted by HomePokerGames Admin

It is the first hand of the WSOP, a player goes all-in with and 3 players call. You figure at least a couple of them have high pairs and ther other player a decent hand. Against 3 other players, AA is a slightly better than 50% favorite (54%). Do you call looking to double up and take the chip lead - knowing you could also bust out on the first hand? or fold knowing that you can double up your stack anyway with less risk - knowing that having the chip lead on the first day means nothing?

With Pocket ACES, I personally Feel you must call & go All in

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I think it makes a lot of sense to fold the Aces in a tournament game like this. While it's true that the odds are in your favor, the tournament isn't about maximizing your take from any given hand, it's about staying alive. If you're sitting on AA and two players in front of you are all-in before the flop, at least one of them is playing more aggressively than his cards warrent, and I'm happy to have one less source of unpredictability at my table. In order to advance, I want to play at a table where there are fewer people who consistantly bet big before the flop, because I want to see more flops without having to reguarly risk my stack.

Early on, I'm fine with laying low a bit and learning a bit about the other players' styles. I'm just not interested in putting my whole tournament on a coin-flip, even if by winning it, I won the table. I've got enough confidence in capacities to beat the rest of the table over time using playing and reading skill, rather than letting it all ride on the first hand.

So, in this case, I fold and let one or more of these guys bust. True, the one who wins doubles or triples up, but if he keeps playing loose, I'm not worried about him keeping all of those chips.

Dude

Originally Posted by HomePokerGames Admin

It is the first hand of the WSOP, a player goes all-in with and 3 players call. You figure at least a couple of them have high pairs and ther other player a decent hand. Against 3 other players, AA is a slightly better than 50% favorite (54%). Do you call looking to double up and take the chip lead - knowing you could also bust out on the first hand? or fold knowing that you can double up your stack anyway with less risk - knowing that having the chip lead on the first day means nothing?