50NL: The 'Shoving |t All In With AA' Preflop Play!

[Al Mirpuri]

Every now and again, when I am dealt pocket rockets I just shove it all in and see if anyone will call. Every now and then someone with KK may do so. I have seen this play work. The desire to make a quick score is so great that anyone looking at KK will convince themselves it is QQ that have gone crazy putting all their chips in.

It is the 'calling reflex' that Mike Caro talked about.

This is not my standard play but I think it does have a lot to recommend it. After all, you are not giving up much equity. A standard raise and call will generate a $5 pot tops and if you get any play on the flop you are never really sure whether you are going to win the pot or lose your buy in.

Any thoughts?

[jhill3535]

If you are doing this and only hoping that KK "might" call, then it is terrible. The odds of someone having KK are so low that you are giving up alot of money IMO.

Basically, it may not be a bad play if you are sitting around 25bb or so, but for full 100bb stacks it doesn't make much sense.

[questions]

I will do this under a couple conditions:

1) there are maniacs at the table;

2) there has been a raise ahead of me;

3) a shortstack is at the table who may be looking to double up.

[Panthro]

IIRC, myturn2raise(?) experimented with this type of strategy while messing around at 50NL. I remember someone saying they used to get looked up by all sorts of midpairs and Ax hands thinking hero was on a play.

[TehPokarKing]

It's something I'll do when I'm playing a lot of pots or if one opponent just lost a big pot or whatever (or I just lost one). In general I feel like you should raise, get heads up, and try to squeeze people since you're going to win most of the time. With deeper stacks you're obviously less likely to get called as well and I feel like w/ AA I like to see flops against someone who's got a lot behind.

Plus, if you open push w/ AA preflop you're only gonna get called by a hand that beats you.

EDIT: Also, a lot of people will tell you that open pushing PF will force your opponents to make a correct decision against you according to the FTOP, but I think varying your play with AA from time to time is important.

[Bang584]

Open-shove pre-flop? Maybe if I had 10bb's.

[Albert Moulton]

This used to be called the "Move of Honor," or MOH.

The lower the stakes, the better this works.

The shallower the stacks (or at least YOUR stack) relative to the blinds, the better this works.

I generally like to try for a limp/rr to open. Sometimes I standard open. Rarely I make a larger-than-usual open raise. Live, I think a slightly larger-than-usual raise is good, since people will call to chase a set or 2-pair, then frequently pay you off post flop if they hit TP or a draw. On-line, I like limp/rr.

But, like I said, the open push MOH does nicely at low stakes (generally 25NL and lower).

[Mr_Donktastic]

A better play is the fake misclick...at 1/2nl that means opening for $88 instead of the usual $8. You'd be surprised how often it works.

[pterodactyl_]

If youre doing this with just AA players will eventually notice. If its something you want to do youve gotta throw in the same move with AK etc as well.

[King Spew]

[ QUOTE ]
I will do this under a couple conditions:

1) there are maniacs at the table;

2) there has been a raise ahead of me;

3) a shortstack is at the table who may be looking to double up.

[/ QUOTE ]

We are letting villain off easy if he has less than KK and has no investment in the pot... even a blind can let go easier.

I don't often PUSH preflop but I will. I need to see villain or me "on tilt" or villain has an investment first.