[Buzz]

Truthiness - I didn't write what you quoted in your reply posted as a response to me. Rob wrote that. While I don't disagree with what Rob wrote regarding the difficulty of pushing opponents off hands in a loose game, I don't think of that as the problem with "overplaying aces."

Let me explain what I think the problem is:

Things change going from one betting round to the next when you play in a full loose game. A hand containing a pair of aces may start out as the favorite before the flop. And if you can manage to get into a heads-up confrontation, the pair of aces has a good chance to remain the favorite.

But as Rob implies, it's rare when you manage to get heads-up before the flop in a full loose game. And when you don't get heads-up, (or maybe even when you do), the lead often changes depending on how well various particular two-card combinations within everyone's hands fit with the flop, then the flop+turn and finally the flop+turn+river. Unless you specifically see an ace on the flop (and maybe even if you do), your pair of aces is simply probably not the best possible two card holding after the flop.

Does an opponent actually have a two card combination that fits with an ace-less flop better than your pair of aces? That's hard to know. The likelihood depends on the actual flop cards and the range of hands everybody is playing.

Aces fit well with more cards than any other rank. If there is no ace on the flop, do the other two cards in your hand fit well with the flop? Or does one of the other cards plus an ace fit well with the flop? If so, then you're not continuing because of the pair of aces, but rather because of some other two card combination within your hand.

However, if nothing else fits well with the flop, if all you have is that pair of aces - and if you continue, then you're probably "overplaying aces."

[ QUOTE ]
Optimizing AA play is probably the difference between making a little bit of money and a whole lot of money.

[/ QUOTE ]You only get dealt a hand with a pair of aces about once every forty deals!

I think the main thing is not to fall in love with your starting hand.

Buzz

(Now that damned song "It's So Easy To Fall In Love" has started rattling around in my brain).