Back when I was new to poker I played in a live game and shoved with A/A. I had one caller, who had K/J and despite me turning a set he rivered a straight. I kept questioning my decision. But it really and it ate me up inside. All the "Should I have's?" and "What if's?" plagued me for a day or two afterward. I had a hard time sleeping htat night because I kept replaying the hand in my head.
That goes away after it happens again... and again.
What it comes down to is, if you could see his hand would you have made the same decision to go all-in? The answer to that should usuaully be "YES! YES! YES! IN A HEARTBEAT!"
You got your money in in the best possible situation. The results were unfortunate, but fairly common. Poker is a game of unfortunate outcomes. A/A is *supposed* to lose to J/J about 1 out of 5 times.
I mean, come on. How big of advantage do you want before you're winning to go all-in? You got all of your money in in the best possible pre-flop situation. Second guessing that is futile.
Exceptions to the rule: If you are on the bubble, with just a few chips, and several people go all-in ahead of you. Then yeah, fold A/A. Tripling up a tiny stack doesn't do you much good, and hopefully one of the shorties will bust to put you in the money.
Also of you're short, on the bubble, and one or two people at the table is likely to be blinded out before the blinds hit you again, then you can fold A/A. Again, doubling/tripling is meaningless and it's likely they'll go out before you.
But with just one person all-in, easy call.
A pocket pair will be A/A only 1 out of 5 times.
Let's say you're in a $3.40 16 player game. 4 players left. 4th pays $4.80 and 3rd pays $9.60.
Dude shoves, and you look down to see A/A. Do you call? Of course.
Let's pretend that he has one of the hands most likely to beat A/A (6/7s, 7/8s, or 8/9s with suits that don't match you). You'll win 76.83% of the time.
There's a $4.80 difference between 4th and 3rd, so on average this call will make you $3.69.
Even if this was early in the match, hours away from cashing, you can't turn down that big of an advantage. With A/A, I'm ecstatic to see one or two people go all-in. (Now, when I get several callers I get nervous because they I become less than a coin flip to survive).
So to sum it up, don't worry about making the best possible decision and having it not work out.
Nothing is guaranteed. The flop is the best predictor of winning a hand. AA is the best there is preflop and you always have the advantage preflop especially if you are headsup going into the flop. I don't like betting first in-all in with AA preflop in a tourney. I usually bet enough so that I can isolate one player, especially one with a lower stack. You are always going to call preflop with AA thought. But I have no trouble tossing AA after the flop if I get a huge raise with some quality cards showing on the flop and I don't improve. After the flop, AA is not much of a hand unimproved. It is only a pair, the best pair, but still a pair and usually you are going to be second best if others are raising.
That goes away after it happens again... and again.
What it comes down to is, if you could see his hand would you have made the same decision to go all-in? The answer to that should usuaully be "YES! YES! YES! IN A HEARTBEAT!"
You got your money in in the best possible situation. The results were unfortunate, but fairly common. Poker is a game of unfortunate outcomes. A/A is *supposed* to lose to J/J about 1 out of 5 times.
I mean, come on. How big of advantage do you want before you're winning to go all-in? You got all of your money in in the best possible pre-flop situation. Second guessing that is futile.
Exceptions to the rule: If you are on the bubble, with just a few chips, and several people go all-in ahead of you. Then yeah, fold A/A. Tripling up a tiny stack doesn't do you much good, and hopefully one of the shorties will bust to put you in the money.
Also of you're short, on the bubble, and one or two people at the table is likely to be blinded out before the blinds hit you again, then you can fold A/A. Again, doubling/tripling is meaningless and it's likely they'll go out before you.
But with just one person all-in, easy call.
A pocket pair will be A/A only 1 out of 5 times.
Let's say you're in a $3.40 16 player game. 4 players left. 4th pays $4.80 and 3rd pays $9.60.
Dude shoves, and you look down to see A/A. Do you call? Of course.
Let's pretend that he has one of the hands most likely to beat A/A (6/7s, 7/8s, or 8/9s with suits that don't match you). You'll win 76.83% of the time.
There's a $4.80 difference between 4th and 3rd, so on average this call will make you $3.69.
Even if this was early in the match, hours away from cashing, you can't turn down that big of an advantage. With A/A, I'm ecstatic to see one or two people go all-in. (Now, when I get several callers I get nervous because they I become less than a coin flip to survive).
So to sum it up, don't worry about making the best possible decision and having it not work out.
Nothing is guaranteed. The flop is the best predictor of winning a hand. AA is the best there is preflop and you always have the advantage preflop especially if you are headsup going into the flop. I don't like betting first in-all in with AA preflop in a tourney. I usually bet enough so that I can isolate one player, especially one with a lower stack. You are always going to call preflop with AA thought. But I have no trouble tossing AA after the flop if I get a huge raise with some quality cards showing on the flop and I don't improve. After the flop, AA is not much of a hand unimproved. It is only a pair, the best pair, but still a pair and usually you are going to be second best if others are raising.