Depends of the table and your opponents style, but usually I raise pre flop and I try to play against only one (or maximum 2 players). There are days that I'm so tired of losing with AA, that I just go all in pre flop..lol
I play freerolls, so going all-in pre-flop is the optimal decision for me.
Because players usually limp a lot, so getting folds isn't so bad if I can collect the dead chips in the middle.
But of course, possibly winning with AA is also a plus 😌
People lose with pocket Aces in poker for several reasons :
Over confidence : Playing Too Aggressively
Multi-Way Pots : Aces perform best in heads-up situations. In multi-way pots, the chances of someone outdrawing AA increase significantly because more players have the opportunity to hit strong combinations.
Bad Board Textures : Boards with coordinated cards (like straight or flush possibilities) can be dangerous. If the flop comes something like 9♠ 8♠ 7♣, AA is vulnerable to straights, two pairs, or big draws.
AA is a lucky card, but I realized for myself that you need to play aggressively and if your opponent goes all against your 3BB on the flop, then fold your cards.
In fact, pocket aces are an 80% favorite to win the pot against all pocket pairs.Pocket aces won't lose very often, but it will happen from time to time.And this does not mean at all that the poker room you are playing at is a scam.The best strategy for playing AA is to play them aggressively and quickly. This means raising or re-raising preflop and then betting big on the flop, turn, and river.
It depends where your seated. How much has been bet and who are you sitting with as well as chip stack. obviously if I'm short stack or chip leader by a very large amount I will shove, Or if it's folded all the way to me and just trying to get a call from sb or something like that. Maybe if there is an aggressive player who I think might call with crap. Other than that I'll probably try not to go all in and see flop. Just to make sure, if someone else does shove I will have to call. I might fold if it's a 2-3 way all in.
Just because it's the strongest starting hand doesn't mean it will remain strong after the flop/turn/river, in fact. You have to read the game and the table/people correct. You can go all the way with it, but then you shouldn't be surprised that you'll flop if you don't pay attention to the circumstances, just because "Oh, but it's good, I have AA in my hand, everyone can go to ...". This is just a card combination that will be valuable or worthless depending on the cards on the table.