OK, I don't know why exactly these baby-$ tournaments have tightened up, but they have. Maybe my rep is too tight too. We'll see, I guess...

Anyway, this question is about how you'd play pocket aces (or even kings, maybe) in a SnG with 8-10 players in the game. Let's say that you're still sitting around your buy-in chip amount as are most others at the table. There's maybe 1 stack with 150% of your chips and another with 50%.

You're in late middle position with a couple limpers to you.

What's your move?

I've tried everything from limp to bet the pot to bet 10-20x BB to all-in...

All-in seems to only get calls from AKs, KK, and QQ, and it's rare to see those when I have AA. So most of the time going all-in PF, I win the (low) blinds and limped calls when they all fold. Good, but there's got to be a better return, no?

Limp seems to be inviting anyone with any crap hand to draw to 2 pair or anything else equally frustrating. The last thing I want to do is give some gimp limper the chance to beat my rockets with a crap hand for next to no investment.

The best results I've seen so far are when I bet enough to charge most everyone at the table 25% of their chips to see the flop. At that point, I get 1-2 callers at most.

Unless the flop and others' actions clearly show me that I'm beaten, I'll bet enough on the flop to draw 25-50% of my opponents' stacks into the pot. If there's 2 to a straight or flush that someone seems interested in, I'm going all-in on the flop. No cheap turns if you're drawing against my aces.

If someone goes all-in before me (on the flop), I've got to consider their play and what they could have. Being early in the tournament, I usually don't have a good, logic-based read. I just go with my gut...

This has worked OK for me so far, but I'm still getting plenty of folds to my bets on the flop. I guess increasing my stack by 25-50% on pocket aces is nice, but I'd sure like to find a consistent way to double up...

I think the way you're doing it is fine. Bet around 3-5 bb, re-raise all in if you get raised back/
On a somewhat coordinated flop, charge the drawers the way you have been. The exact ammount of your raises will depend on the other players. Just pay attention to how much people are willing to call, and bet that much. Your hand is the favorite pre-flop, so the more you can get in right there, the better.

Just keep doing what you have, it sounds like it's working pretty well for ya.

Early on when the blinds are small and theres likely to be one or two goons in these low buyin tourneys, I'd advocate making it more like 5BBs to go, minimum. You desperately dont want more than one caller (two absolute max) because in these tourney structures it will be difficult to get away from the aces on the flop, so heads up offers the best chance of success. If someone has already raised I like to get all in, or at the very least severely pot committed (1/2 to 2/3 of my chips in) and hope for a call and a double thru.

Monk
xxxxx

Hi Phish,

I did an experiment about a year ago which was going all in with AA KK and sometimes AKS. Although it depends on which side you play ( party being the best result ).
It was a huge succes and I got enough callers to make it profitable.

NEVER EVER limp...never. Early in the stng and you have no read yet 5 times the BB is still not giving you much info. It will get you a big pot but it still is not very comforting if the board comes J 10 7 and there are 2 or 3 players in.

If you bet big like 10 or 20 times the BB ( let's say the BB is 20 ) then the others know you got a group 1 hand.
But strangely when you go all in some idiot ( there are lots of them in stng's ) decides that you are bluffing and thinks his KQ off will sort you out.

Another benefit to the all in strategy is that people may think you are reckless and stupid for making that move. And if you make the move again they will think twice of calling marginal hands when they are to act before you because you may go all in again. This will also allow you to see free cards when in position.

And it is not so rare to find AK KK QQ against you when you have AA.

So I am not saying you should always do this. But when you have got no reads and it is in the very early stages it has proven to be a very good option.

I play a lot of stngs and doing well. I am not a millionaire but I can support all my other hobbies with my biggest passion.

Tommyhawk.

I agree with this general advice- you must protect your hand by raising and the standard NL logic of 3 BBs just doesn't cut the fish out at this level. With a couple of limpers to you, I would be betting the pot here, as Monk says, or 5 BBs.

I don't like moving all in against only limpers- this seems to me a little wasteful, although I take the point that you can get callers and a crazy image for doing so. But, in my opinion, the value you get from table image moves at the smaller levels don't make it that worthwhile, as the players are so unobservant.