The answer changes depending on what you would like to achieve.

5bb raise is a strategy with weaker hands to fold out all but the best of opponents ranges when re raised either call for a flop they don't like and bet it or fold and repeat next few hands.

The guy is trying to be unexploitable with this big raise which looks stronger than a shove is hard to call and needs a very strong hand to re raise it according to the technical game.

He will also be thinking about your stats style of play if you are passive and small ball you are easier to suck out on as your raises being smaller are easier to call etc also if you see a flop you don't like and can't stay aggressive he can exploit this.

This is why I would run an unexploitable strategy vs him and shove your good hands vs him if you think he is out of line. decent pockets are by far the best for this but I don't mind if you do it with AJ for this reason.

You show him your style has changed and you are prepared to be aggressive in tournaments, you also show by shoving that you are not prepared to be sucked out on by A5 or 65 suited and believe me if he is opening a lot this is in his range. If he is opening a lot in early you can re-exploit him and take his 5 bb raise. Aggro players are tricky and look to win chips preflop often to deal with the blows they might get dealt when they call with the worst of it their aggression fades variance. Also by shoving he probably has you on AK if he is stupid enough to call with A5 you are in great shape and you are not much of a dog against pockets up to QQ etc you also have blockers to AA KK and lessen the chance of him having it by having one A and one K

The know that your chance of having AA is 1/221 hands so you can go several sngs without seeing it they also know their big raise makes you think they may have it.

In a cash game they put me to horrible decisions I noticed a guy three betting me often and put him to the decision after he 4 bet with KQ I felt sick as I shoved all in with QQ he even called and I took down a 50 dollar pot in a stupid race.

Bottom line is in early stages you don't need to race for technical reasons but you can choose to for pyschological reasons and doing it with AJ widens your capabalities in his eyes

Dont do it everytime as he will adjust though.

Its okay to be risky in tournaments as you only lose the tourney buy in I have a youtube link you will like.

5 tips on how to win poker tournaments - YouTube

I say experment you get info on his style if he folds greatm, no showdown chips, if he calls with A5 you have a decent double up chance and you have info. As you say even KK can get sucked out by AJ 25% of time but you only get it 1/221 hands not many chances to accumulate with it.

Your lag will raise like this with good hands no doubt too but if he doesn't that's a tell if he 3bbs aces great or if he takes unusually long time to do it great.

Thanks Peter

One more thing: if you were playing a 6-player SnG and got AA on the very first hand and somebody shoves 1500 chips would you call? I never know how to answer this myself and fortunately i can't recall this happening but similar hands have played like this. Generally if I get a hand like that I can't bring myself to fold it but then I think, "why rely on chance at all even if Im favourite, when i can play the table and patiently wait until these early pushers all bust out or double up".

Even though I want to fold in that situation I think I would likely call as long as its heads up. Should I even want to fold though or is it a good SnG strategy? Either way it's not exactly how I'd like to playing it.

Thanks again

Originally Posted by Barcelonic

Thanks Peter

One more thing: if you were playing a 6-player SnG and got AA on the very first hand and somebody shoves 1500 chips would you call?

Ermmm....YESS!

Originally Posted by colinbradley7

Ermmm....YESS!

thats what i would normally think for a cash game but if you bought into a tournament would you really wanna employ risk so early when if your 80% favourite or so theres a 1 in 5 chance of losing your buyin immediately?

i don't know what the actual odds are but im thinking more about small SnG strategy rather than the odds of that one hand.

Originally Posted by Barcelonic

thats what i would normally think for a cash game but if you bought into a tournament would you really wanna employ risk so early when if your 80% favourite or so theres a 1 in 5 chance of losing your buyin immediately?

i don't know what the actual odds are but im thinking more about small SnG strategy rather than the odds of that one hand.

How much of an edge do you want to get your money in? An 80% lead is pretty big...i'd take that all day. In a lot of cases it may be as much as 90% if they call with an ace in their hand.

Now...AK is another matter! That hand does my nut!

Snap call with aces as if this happens 5 times and you lose once but double up in the other 4 tourneys greatly increasing your chances of making it to first place then its been worth it.

It becomes aggressive fast in sngs and the guys who have the chips early are the ones that can be more selective about when to become aggressive.

If you fold your aces in spots like these and avoid a bust out you may not get another decent hand until you have to shove with a crappy one because of the blinds going up its like you basically give up a chance of being very strong in four tournaments to min cash in 1 tournament by folding aces in these spots.

There are loads of spots where being aggressive in sngs is a good thing the trick is not to overdo it or become a maniac. You need credibility but you can't always wait for aces and kings. The video on my other post demonstrates that it is a good idea to be less worried about tournament life and more worried about being able to accumulate chips when you think there is a decent opportunity to hence the advise of opening on weak blinds.

Was it you Colin who had those videos done by Matt Geer they may be really good at the moment for this topic.

Need more data. Also, if they are that aggressive that they will just hang themselves, wait for great hands and let'm bet their stacks away.