There has been several threads here when folding AA preflop is correct, use the search feature ppl

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

I just played play money all day Tuesday with my friend Erik because I needed a more light day and we were just messing around.

I finished 3rd in a 90 person play money tournament, which was ok but it was pitiful because one player had auto-fold on the entire time and finished 10th!!! So everyone else was so freakin' bad they couldn't even beat a guy who folded literally every hand. Stupid donks.

Then I was playing on two free money tables with Erik, and the only real point was to make fun of the donks and school them, which was amusing for a while. But I had pocket kings twice when I got called, and you almost always get called, the three hands that called: 2-5 offsuit, 5-6 offsuit (same hand), and 6-7 offsuit. The 2-5 beat my pocket kings. Freakin' stupid donkey. They absolutely disrespect the game and deserve to be yelled at and verbally assaulted in my opinion. It makes it no fun for everyone and they ruin any chance ANYONE has for learning how to play poker. I mean 5-6?! 2-5?! 6-7?! Are these people RETARDED?

I love having a donk say, "BUT it's just PLAY MONEY!" Ok so if you're playing basketball with your friends you decide to spaz out and throw the ball randomly up into the air or as hard as you can off the backboard or at one of your friends, because it's not the NBA it's "just for fun"? Poker is the only thing where it has become acceptable to be a complete a-hole at the tables and disrespect the game just because "It's only play money" or "It's only a $3 buy-in." The ODDS don't change no matter WHAT the buy-in, dumb donks. Then when a guy hits a runner-runner straight on your set on the flop, it just becomes no fun. That never happens at a real money table at least with that garbage (I mean 2-4 offsuit and he hits the 3 and the 5, and he called a raise with your pocket queens, etc.).

It really put things in perspective because now when I have A-Q suited and get called by J-9 suited, although I think this player is a complete moron and a dumb donk, at least he's calling with a hand that sorta has a chance instead of freakin' 2-5 offsuit. Grrr...

I started the night with 1,000 play money chips and left with 11,000 though, so not too bad. My friend Erik got a lot luckier, he never plays for real money, but he hit quads twice, a straight flush once, and a few ace-high flushes and ended up with 20,000 chips at one table with a max buy-in of 1,000 and 12,000 at the other table. It was hilarious. I think I saw one person who took the game seriously and that was it. The others were complete losers, wasting their time away going all-in with complete garbage not learning anything about the game and just being douchebags.

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

Well, I see his point to some degree. I mean I'm not saying I'd fold pocket aces if six people raised all-in but I'll fold a lot of hands, basically anything but A-A, if there are a lot of all-ins at a sit-and-go. Then again you guys are talking about cash game strategy and you're 100% right, it doesn't matter in that case because of course you call with KK because your expected value is probably quite high if you make that call like 100 times.

I can imagine laying down kings. If I'm middle stack and before it even gets around to me there are three players all-in, screw it, I'm folding and watching this disaster unfold (I'm just saying in theory, not saying I would always do that). That's SnG strategy -- very good odds that all-in is going to change the field and give me a great chance of making the money. If I'm up against three underpairs let's say, ok maybe I take them all out. But why bother with that? Just staying on the sidelines is the correct move when the result of that hand could be me cashing without even having to play the hand. Let's say 5 players left, 3 all-in like that (I've seen it happen), one survives, yay down to 3 and I'm in the money. I can outplay my opponents at most of these tables, I don't have any use making silly calls to huge all-ins with basically any hand. I admit it would be darn near impossible in the heat of the moment to fold KK or AA. QQ? Wouldn't even think about it. I'd fold in a second. If I could count the number of times someone has raised in early position and I re-raised all-in with AA and they still called with JJ or QQ, oh man, lol.

That's probably why I'm not a cash game player, though, because when you're talking about cash games versus tournaments it's just a different ballgame entirely because chips do not equal money, they equal possible equity in the tournament's prize pool.

I think my biggest annoyance with poker in general, or I guess people in general, is how many stupid players disrespect the game and often their bad play ruins it for everyone. I can't believe how many times I've had like A-K or A-Q suited or something in a larger tournament and gotten called by like J-10 offsuit with a strong all-in by a middle stack and then the guy donks out on me and I'm like, "Really? 10-Jo? Wow dude." And I get this back: "Well it's just a $5 buy-in." Excuse me? Do the odds change because you bought in for $5 or $50 or $500 or $10,000? No. They don't. So how could you be so stupid to make lousy calls and bad mistakes just because "it's only $5." It's times like that where I honestly feel I wish I were playing better players because they would actually respect my raises, they would have been paying attention and wouldn't call with garbage. But that's only after a bad beat. Of course I understand that in the long-run you WANT bad calls and those are what makes it easier to make money in lower limit poker because people play like total morons. But at the moment you get knocked out you swear to god you wish that you were playing actual poker players who at least would call you with a good hand and knock out with a sense of dignity instead of their rags hitting and donking out on you.

Disrespecting poker, though, is what I see at the play money tables. 6, 7 people all-in pre-flop. That's not poker. That's like, "Gee let's just see what these two cards will make after the board is all up!" I tried to learn more about playing poker on free money tables. It was a complete failure. I realized quickly that what I was seeing wasn't poker and I thought it would actually make my game worse to donk it up with those guys. Playing patient, good poker was often rewarded with awful beats. I decided pretty quickly to at least play low limit games for money because while you still get donked out on, it's at least a little more like real poker. It's one thing if a new player calls a big raise with J-K offsuit or something, of course new players think any two face cards are good. But when they decide to call an all-in with 2-3 suited because "you never know," that's disrespecting the game and really ruins the value of play money poker. I think they should make a special play money poker site where if you see anything more than 40% of the flops you are banned from the site, and that is calculated after like 500 hands. You may rejoin the site after a two-week suspension and an e-mail is automatically sent to you explaining how to play good poker. Next time you get banned it's for four weeks. Then permanently. That would at least teach the donks how to play the hard way. Imagine playing at a place like that with players who were better and more serious, you'd have to hone your game more. But if a new player sees that most people call pre-flop how the heck is he supposed to know that it's wrong? "Everyone else does it..."

I have to say though in general, I mean most of the time, I just love donks. They are a huge asset at a table and a big reason I can win money on SnGs. Like yesterday, lady calls under-the-gun with J-6 offsuit. I didn't know that until later, but I call from mid-to-late position with J-K suited. I flop top pair (jacks) and four diamonds. Sweet! I bet the pot. She calls. The turn is a jack. She bets huge, I push all-in for about 25% more than her bet, not much, and I miss the flush but I see her hand, J-6, and I'm laughing and thinking to myself, "Uhh, yeah. That's why you don't call UTG with J-6, because even if you hit the set you risk losing all of your chips to someone who had a real hand and hit the set too," haha. God bless the donks. Or the guy the other day who called my 4x BB raise with Q-K offsuit and top paired the queen. Too bad for him I had A-Q and took all of his chips.

wat