NL Debate: What to do With AA in the Blinds?
Lets get a discussion started on this one. When playing NL hold'em, you'll often find yourself in the blinds with AA, KK, or QQ and be facing a large field of limpers. The standard play is to make a large raise, try and thin the field, and take the hand from there. Even if you do get just one caller however you'll often find yourself playing a big pot with one pair out of position, never a good combination. Furthermore, your hand is extremely defined to a narrow range and you'll rarely know exactly where you are.We all remember the play where I had 66 in a 5-10 game and the SB player raised five limpers to $100, everybody called, and I eventually got him off of his hand on the river. A friend of mine recently told me about a hand in a similar situation where he was in the big blind with QQ, everybody limped to him, he made a big raise, a couple players called, the SB made a big re-raise, he called, and went bust on an AQx flop against the SB's AA. He felt that the SB played the hand brilliantly for several reasons:
1. It's impossible to put the SB on AA because of his limp pre-flop.
2. The SB avoids playing a big pot with an overpair out of position.
3. If the BB decided to raise, the SB has the option to make a huge re-raise and win a bigger pot with less risk.
There are obvious flaws to the limp in this spot, most noticibly the lack of protection and value for your hand.
I'm not really sure how I feel on this train of thought, so I wanted to open it up to discussion. Click on post a comment below where you'll be routed to my private blog, and then click comment at the bottom of the page.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
posted by Devo @ 2:25 AM
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