The only exceptions to this are incredibly convoluted and unlikely tournament spots
If I may nitpick your nitpick, it’s possible to justifiably fold AA preflop in a cash game, right? Say you’re on a table full of opponents so bad that you’re almost guaranteed to win most of their money by the end of the night just by playing conservatively, but the stakes are very high and you could lose your entire bankroll by getting busted a few times. Depending on the exact details (maybe I need to go further and say your entire bankroll is on the table, or at least you have no way of accessing the rest of it tonight), I think you could legitimately nope out of a 9-way all-in pot preflop without even looking at your cards.
Or, for a case that doesn’t depend on bankroll management: let’s say you’re on the big blind (which is negligible compared to everyone’s stack size), everyone is all in by the time the action gets to you, and you have an extremely good read on every opponent: you know Andy would only ever push preflop with AA, and Brenda, Carl, Donna, and Eoin would not have called without a pocket pair. I haven’t done the exact maths, but if the others all have unique pairs (including Andy’s aces) then I think your AA has negative EV in a 6-way all in; if you can’t rely on the pairs being unique, I’m not sure whether that tips the balance, but if necessary we can work that stipulation into the story. (Let’s say Andy still definitely has the other two aces, but Brenda acted first and you know she would have slowplayed a really big pair and would have tried to see a cheap flop with a small pair, whereas Carl wouldn’t have called without Kings or better… and Donna has a tell that she only exhibits with pocket 2s...)
(I’m saying this all for the fun of nitpicking, not to make any serious point!)
edit: I guess there’s a simpler case too, if we’re talking about cash games in a casino! You just need to be playing heads up against Andy (who only ever shoves with aces), and for the rake to be high enough relative to the blinds.
(I’m saying this all for the fun of nitpicking, not to make any serious point!)
A more realistic case is that you are on a huge tournament bubble with the shortest stack and 2 players in front of you have gone all in, and although calling with AA would be +EV in a cash game, if you take into account ICM considerations, it’s no longer worth it for you personally to join them (if the bump from 3x-ing doesn’t matter that much bc maybe all other players’ stacks are bigger than yours).
If I may nitpick your nitpick, it’s possible to justifiably fold AA preflop in a cash game, right? Say you’re on a table full of opponents so bad that you’re almost guaranteed to win most of their money by the end of the night just by playing conservatively, but the stakes are very high and you could lose your entire bankroll by getting busted a few times. Depending on the exact details (maybe I need to go further and say your entire bankroll is on the table, or at least you have no way of accessing the rest of it tonight), I think you could legitimately nope out of a 9-way all-in pot preflop without even looking at your cards.
Or, for a case that doesn’t depend on bankroll management: let’s say you’re on the big blind (which is negligible compared to everyone’s stack size), everyone is all in by the time the action gets to you, and you have an extremely good read on every opponent: you know Andy would only ever push preflop with AA, and Brenda, Carl, Donna, and Eoin would not have called without a pocket pair. I haven’t done the exact maths, but if the others all have unique pairs (including Andy’s aces) then I think your AA has negative EV in a 6-way all in; if you can’t rely on the pairs being unique, I’m not sure whether that tips the balance, but if necessary we can work that stipulation into the story. (Let’s say Andy still definitely has the other two aces, but Brenda acted first and you know she would have slowplayed a really big pair and would have tried to see a cheap flop with a small pair, whereas Carl wouldn’t have called without Kings or better… and Donna has a tell that she only exhibits with pocket 2s...)
(I’m saying this all for the fun of nitpicking, not to make any serious point!)
edit: I guess there’s a simpler case too, if we’re talking about cash games in a casino! You just need to be playing heads up against Andy (who only ever shoves with aces), and for the rake to be high enough relative to the blinds.
A more realistic case is that you are on a huge tournament bubble with the shortest stack and 2 players in front of you have gone all in, and although calling with AA would be +EV in a cash game, if you take into account ICM considerations, it’s no longer worth it for you personally to join them (if the bump from 3x-ing doesn’t matter that much bc maybe all other players’ stacks are bigger than yours).