I play 0.10/0.25 NL on Party.

Over the past few days I have had my pocket Aces busted 3 times. Now I know this isnt unusual so Im not trying to complain or anything I just have a question.

My usual raise with Aces is 4X the BB and each time I have lost I have followed this pattern. On two of the occaisons that I lost I was beaten by an 85 suited and a 45 suited. Each time when I question the persons decision to call my raise they both accused me of not pushing my Aces hard enough.

Is that the case? I've always though that by raising it that amount its enough to push out the junk hands. Obviously its not. I know there is no set answer here and that it depends on many things such as stack size, position, read etc etc. I just wanted to clarify whether or not my 4x BB raise was good enough or not because right now I find myself questioning it.

I'd be interested to see how you played the flops.

The other way to play aces is to push allin and make a bundle on the calls

some tables require a larger raise than others. 4x the big blind every time is a bad ammount for several reasons

-at some tables, 4x the big blind will get called by 3-5 players, not good
-at other tables, 4x will steal the blinds nearly every time, not good
-by raising the same ammount each time, players can put you on AA easier and get crazy implied odds for lots of speculative hands.

for instance, most live 1-2 and 2/4 games require at least a 5x the big blind raise to weed out players. yesterady at my casinos 1/2 game, 5x the big blind was a suitable ammount. usually got at least 1 caller. however ive been there where 10-15x the bb has been a neccesary raise to not get over 5 callers.

just feel out the table, and dont be afraid to mix it up. poker is a game of situations. every situation needs to be played accordingly. im not saying you are playing aces wrong, im just saying it would probably help to observe the type of preflop raises that seems to work at your table.

edit: oh yes, irexes reminded me, how is your postflop play?
eric lindgren said one of the smartest things ive ever heard. "an overpair to a flop is a good hand, but not a great hand"

what were their betting patterns like? mayb you should've folded before river or something.

I think this raise is fine and would usually kick out most junk hands unless there is someone calling planning to bluff you out on flop or whatever.

Suited cards that are connected (or close) are the worst hands for someone with AA so ur odds wern't to win wernt as good as QK or JK or something

Originally Posted by Gryff

If you feel you play aces badly, just push all in preflop and hope some donkey calls with KK/QQ/JJ/TT. You'd be surprised at how many still do at that level, especially if you're in late pos.

You're saying it's a donk move to call an all in with KK....

Originally Posted by Irexes

I'd be interested to see how you played the flops.

The other way to play aces is to push allin and make a bundle on the calls

seriously, 50% of the time I push allin with AA.

Well I looked up the HH of the most recent one although the converter doesnt seem to like it so its in its raw form

***** Hand History for Game 4058523657 *****
$25 NL Texas Hold’em - Saturday, April 22, 14:45:51 ET 2006
Table Table 95425 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Waazaah ( $23.40 )
Seat 2: john10704 ( $29.40 )
Seat 3: GMSmoothie ( $8.32 )
Seat 5: jimhoe69 ( $27.65 )
Seat 6: mrHysteria ( $19.17 )
Seat 7: crhoads13 ( $48 )
Seat 8: trustcobrent ( $40.49 )
Seat 9: Youxi1 ( $32.53 )
Seat 10: LCFC_2005 ( $24.15 )
Seat 4: Bluff829 ( $24.25 )
Bluff829 posts small blind [$0.10].
jimhoe69 posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LCFC_2005 [ Ad Ah ]
mrHysteria folds.
crhoads13 calls [$0.25].
trustcobrent calls [$0.25].
Youxi1 folds.
LCFC_2005 raises [$1].
Waazaah folds.
john10704 calls [$1].
GMSmoothie folds.
Bluff829 folds.
jimhoe69 folds.
crhoads13 calls [$0.75].
trustcobrent calls [$0.75].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, 5h, 8h ]
crhoads13 checks.
trustcobrent checks.
LCFC_2005 bets [$3].
john10704 folds.
crhoads13 folds.
trustcobrent raises [$6].
LCFC_2005 calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]
trustcobrent bets [$6].
LCFC_2005 calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ 3s ]
trustcobrent bets [$16.68].
LCFC_2005 is all-In [$11.15]
trustcobrent shows [ 5d, 8d ] a full house, Eights full of fives.
LCFC_2005 shows [ Ad, Ah ] two pairs, aces and eights.
trustcobrent wins $5.53 from side pot #1 with a full house, Eights full of fives.
trustcobrent wins $48.15 from the main pot with a full house, Eights full of fives.

Actually......looking back over it........it was horrible play from me

Although I did just have this one which went better

***** Hand History for Game 4061279000 *****
$25 NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, April 22, 20:02:02 ET 2006
Table Shuffle Up (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 2: jimmy1961 ( $0 )
Seat 3: CTCOLLINS ( $35.60 )
Seat 6: TexasStrange ( $17.25 )
Seat 8: Uinhr ( $32.17 )
Seat 9: BluHorseshu1 ( $5.40 )
Seat 10: Nun4U24Me ( $16.35 )
Seat 5: LCFC_2005 ( $23.65 )
Seat 1: TREVKILD ( $16.15 )
Seat 4: No_Love_Tang ( $34.63 )
BluHorseshu1 posts small blind [$0.10].
Nun4U24Me posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to LCFC_2005 [ Ah Ad ]
TREVKILD raises [$0.50].
CTCOLLINS folds.
No_Love_Tang calls [$0.50].
LCFC_2005 raises [$2].
TexasStrange folds.
Uinhr folds.
BluHorseshu1 folds.
Nun4U24Me folds.
TREVKILD calls [$1.50].
No_Love_Tang calls [$1.50].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, 8s, 4h ]
TREVKILD checks.
No_Love_Tang checks.
LCFC_2005 bets [$4].
jimmy1961: what are you doing playing those rags
No_Love_Tang: they were suited
TREVKILD calls [$4].
No_Love_Tang folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Kh ]
No_Love_Tang: lol
TREVKILD checks.
No_Love_Tang: i play those from time to time
LCFC_2005 bets [$10].
TREVKILD folds.