Hand Analysis

Playing Aces

However, most players, especially new ones, do not maximise their winnings with this hand. So many people just move all in from whatever position they pick them up and often just end up winning the blinds. The other problem people have with Aces is not being able to let them go after the flop, even when they have a strong feeling they are beat.

So how do you get the most out of the most powerful hand in poker? There are many ways and many different opinions but here a few good ones to get you started.

Unless you are a short stack and therefore likely to get called by a wider range of hands, do not be the first to move all in.

In early position try limping every now and then, if you get a raiser you have an opportunity to re-raise, or even more deceptively just flat call and play a flop.

When raising do not over-bet. Why scare everyone off? 3* the blinds or the last bet should be more than enough.

Do not limp from late position, if you let the blinds see a flop un-raised you could find your Aces cracked by 7 2 off suit!

Minimum raising is also a dangerous play as you are giving the blinds odds to call you with almost any hand. Once again you could find yourself losing a big pot to a weak hand unless you are prepared to give them up after the flop.

Be aware of the flops/boards that contain danger for you. Any flop with 3 suited cards, 3 connected cards – 8 9 10 for example, any flop with 2 or more face cards and any flop with mid to high paired cards. These flops should be played conservatively. If you have position then put out a half size pot bet. If you are raised then release.

Conversely be aware of boards that if you are re-raised on you are likely to be ahead. Any all rag flop, any flop that has one high card and two low cards, any flop that has an Ace without two face cards or 3 to a flush and any flops with a low pair. These flops you should be betting heavy and if necessary committing all your chips. There will be times you run into a set but this will occur very rarely in the long run.

Ace high flops with scare cards can win you a big pot but can also lose you a lot too. Flops with an Ace plus two suited cards or two connecting cards should be bet very strong, do not give someone the odds to call with their draw. If they don't know about odds and call anyway you will lose about 35% of the time so forget the losses and carry on as it is profitable in the long run. Also don't forget to mark these players in your notes – this is one of the times the word ‘fish' can be used! If you give someone a free or cheap card on a flop like this and they clean you out then do not berate them – you are the sucker here.

When you are facing a flop that has an Ace but also might give someone a made straight or flush then tread very carefully. If given the opportunity to see a free card the take it. If the board pairs the sucker who is trying to trap you is about to give you a lot of chips. If facing a big bet on a board like this you must be getting the right odds to call otherwise release the hand unless you are very sure they are bluffing. The odds of you filling up on the turn or river are much the same as making a flush when you have four suited cards or an up and down straight draw. That means you should only be calling if the money in the middle is more than double the amount you have to put in to call. Remember also that if you miss on the turn then you may have to call another large bet on the river. You must take this into account when deciding whether to call or not. Most times it is not worth calling, wait for a better spot. The only times you may want to call is if you have a lot of chips and your opponent faces elimination if he loses. The other is if you and your opponent have big stacks of chips and the bet is small, say 10-15%, of your stack. You then have huge implied odds if you hit. That is, you can take most of his stack if you hit.

To sum it all up, do not be so afraid of a bad beat that you just move in all the time with this hand. You will lose 25% of the time you are called doing this. If you play a flop you can get way from the hand if necessary and still also bust someone on the right flop. Also do not go the other way and get clever with it, if you are up against a good player he may just bust you like you deserve!

Like AA, AK can win or lose you a big pot and sometimes you will have to make do with the blinds. One difference with AK is that it is much easier to lay down after a bad flop, or at least you would think so. There are still plenty of players who will happily call or bluff off all their chips with it after a decidedly scary flop.

It is a hand that plays similarly to AA when deep-stacked or early in a tournament, with the exception that you are not going to put all your chips in pre-flop unless you are confident that you are facing a weaker Ace. So how do you maximise your winnings and minimise your losses with this hand?

As with most hands, position makes a big difference how you are going to play this. Let's take a look at pre-flop actions in different positions. Based on a 9-10 handed game.

• UTG – UTG +2. You need to base any plays on the make up of the table. If you have aggressive players they are likely to raise if you limp. This is good if you know they will do this with weaker hands, which is the case with most aggressive players. In this case a re-raise pre-flop is likely to win you the pot uncontested as they don't like it when you play back at them. If someone else has already called the raise before you then a flat call and check out the flop is the best option. If you are at a tight table then a standard 3* blind raise here will give you an idea where you stand and may get you just the blinds. You are out of position post-flop here so you want to win a good percentage of these hands pre-flop as you will only hit an Ace or a King one in three times.
• Mid-Position – Late Position. Raising is the only option here, unless the pot has previously been opened with a raise. If previously opened a flat call is a good option. As long as no-one else comes into the pot you have position and the ammo to back it up. With any opening raise try to stick the same amount whatever hand you have, it gives your opposition less to work with. Three times the big blind plus whatever has been called already is a good calculation to use when raising pre-flop.
• The Button – Raise, Raise, always Raise! Unless the pot has previously been raised of course, then you flat call with guaranteed position on the flop. You should be raising on the Button a good percentage of the time when no one has yet entered the pot regardless of your hand strength. Most of the time you will win the blinds, the times you have to fold to a re-raise sets you up for a potential big pay off when you actually have a big hand on the Button. If you have been raising a good amount of time on the button and find yourself re-raised holding a hand like AK, this is the time to push all in. Once you have folded to a re-raise from the blinds, you will find that the standard hand strength that they re-raise you with drops. Of course sometimes they will have AA or KK and you will need to get lucky. Most times though they will fold or call if pot-committed with a weaker Ace or a pair less than KK.
• Small and Big Blind – Post flop you are going to be out of position. As with all hands bar big pairs this hand does not play well post-flop out of position unless you have hit. If the pot has been raised then a re-raise here is in order. The amount you re-raise should be 3 times the initial raise plus any previously called amounts. For example, UTG +1 limps for 100, MP raises to 300, your re-raise is ((3*300) +100) = 1000. If this amount is half your stack or more then there is a good case for moving all in as you are pot committed if raised back. If raised back and you are not pot committed then you are likely up against a genuine hand such as AA or KK, this is when it is down to your knowledge of your opponents play. If you don't know the player you should most likely fold. If it is a player you have notes on then you can make a more informed decision. Anytime someone re-re-raises you should be taking a note of what hand they have done it with, that way if they do it to you then you have a range of hands on which to base your decision. One other thing before you re-raise everybody from the blinds with AK. If some one has raised a third of their stack or more without moving in then they probably are looking for a re-raise and have AA or KK. Unless you are really short stacked then you should think long and hard about folding here.

To conclude, AK is a raising hand not a re-raising hand unless you are pot committed calling the raise. It is OK to pass this hand pre-flop if the circumstances dictate, ie: you can smell the Aces from another continent! It is almost without exception NOT a hand that you put in a third raise with. In fact, if the pot has already been raised twice it another good case to throw them away and hope you are up against less next time you get dealt them.

Post flop play with AK – not enough space! This will be covered in a later article.

So why, if you have one of only 4 of the top cards in the deck is it a bad hand? Now, firstly, let me set the situation, I'm talking about tournament play at a table with 6+ players. When playing heads-up, A6 is a monster!

My general point is that you should be able to "see" where the hand is going and more importantly where you are going to make lots of chips from it! What are your hopes and aspirations for A6? How is this hand going to garner you lots of your opponent's chips? Don't dream of AA6 flops, dreams are for losers who chase everything to the last card because there is still a card left in the deck that can make them winners. So, realistically, what are you hoping to see on the flop? An Ace? Ok, let's look at a few simple scenarios.

1. An ace flops, no one bets, you bet out and everyone leaves. You win a small pot there and then.

2. An ace flops, no one bets, you bet out and someone calls. Now you don't know what is going on. Perhaps he has a weak ace also. Perhaps he has AK. Perhaps he's drawing to that straight or flush draw on board. You are going to have difficulty with this hand as you barely have better than a bluff and anyone who calls your bets on the turn and river will certainly beat you. You might as well have J2 and be bluffing here! What are you going to do if he re-raises you on the river?

3. An ace flops, no one bets, you bet out and someone re-raises you. Now you are in trouble. Saving a bluff, he has you beat for certain. You should drop the hand unless you STRONGLY think he is bluffing. You've lost your call and your raise.

More likely no ace will flop, so what happens then?

4. No ace flops. It's checked around and again on the turn and again on the river. Your ace might be good but probably someone will have hit something with one of their kickers. You certainly aren't going to take down a big pot with this hand.

5. No Ace Flops and a player before you bets. You should probably fold.

6. No Ace flops, no one bets and you bet representing a hand, you are hoping everyone folds. Even if they do, you only win the blinds.

However there are a few hands that I see regularly misplayed and I‘ll try to explain why I think that here.

"55" Ok, I mean any pair lower then 9's. New students of the game will realise that by the odds they are roughly even with AK. Certainly pairs are good hands heads up but you shouldn't go wild with them! The problem with them is the downside. Many people want to get heads up with one opponent and take a coinflip (or simply take the blinds) but if that opponent wakes up with 66 or JJ your fives are now only 20% likely to win. Conversely AK only truly fears AA and KK.

In tournaments, during the early to mid stages I will limp in with these cards, hoping for as many fellow limpers as possible. If I hit a set I will come out betting strongly and if I don't I will simply dump the hand unless it has made something freakish, like 4 to a straight. You are likely to hit trips a little more often then 1 time in 8 on the flop. This means that you waste 7 "calls" (the times you don't get three of a kind,) the one time you do hit, you will get paid off as no one can honestly see it coming.

Since you should make considerably more then the 7 calls you wasted with other pairs, this is a long term winning approach to small pairs. Conversely if you push all-in with them you will win the blinds or be called and have at best a 50-50 shot to double your money. If you are called you may well be facing a bigger pair in which case you are only 20% likely to win the hand. That's not good! So, ignore the people who tell you that you're ahead of AK and go for the big win by seeing flops cheaply and nailing your opponents who have paired the top card on the flop or better still, have hit two pair!

Tom Murphy.

The problem with AJ is its beauty. Like the Sirens it looks so pretty it lures unsuspecting players onto the rocks where they crash and burn. So why play it at all? Well, it’s still a good hand and played correctly with some thought, it is a decent hand. My point is that it’s overrated by most players and not nearly as strong as they seem to think.

AJ is a “glass cannon”. It’s either a huge favourite, a huge underdog or 50/50.

It’s a huge favourite against the likes of A9, a huge underdog to the likes of AQ/AK, JJ-AA and a coin flip against under pairs. With AJ, your read on the table and your opponents in that hand is crucial. You can’t complain “I was on a loose table” when you called the only rock at the table! Raising with AJ is a question of taste and position but it’s rare to find a table where AJ can stand a re-raise.

If you are facing a re-raise, what cards would you expect to see your opponent hold that you will be happy to see when holding AJ yourself? List them out. Now list out the hands that you could find him with that dominate AJ. List them too. Now compare lists and I think you’ll see my point!

In a re-raised pot, an Ace high flop may be the WORST thing that comes! Obviously a Jack high flop suits you, provided your opponent isn’t holding JJ-AA. I hope you can see now that careful consideration needs to be given to AJ. It’s a good hand but given its location at the top of the deck and yet a relatively weak kicker, it’s a hand that cannot withstand a great deal of action. You have been warned….

Read Commonly Misplayed Hands Part I

Writing about poker is a job fraught with danger. People often ask “did I play this badly?” or “how should I play this hand?” There is no such thing as "correct" in poker, but there are accepted strategies and there are certainly things a writer can say are "wrong". Calling for all of your chips preflop with 7,2o for example is wrong! I don’t want to say that playing AA a certain way is definitely wrong but I’ll give you my view on the hand.

There is a seemingly recent trend to limp with big pairs, ostensibly to trap an opponent by disguising the strength of your hand. On the surface this seems like a decent advanced play but not only is it a high risk, high reward strategy (nothing wrong with that), its often executed by players who simply do not have the skill to read the texture of a flop and realise they need to hit the big red eject button. Some players simply cannot accept that they have gambled and lost.

The standard way I would play Aces would be to try and get heads up in a raised pot with a player. Usually that means a 3-4 times the blinds raise but on some tables that might be only a 2 times the blinds raise while on other tables that might be all-in (and even then you may get 2-3 callers!). I’ll only limp with Aces when I’m in early position and the table is stacked deep enough compared to the blinds, and is aggressive. The idea then is to be raised, called in a few spots and then hugely reraised by me. The objective is either to take what’s in the pot, right there and then or to get heads up with one player.

In the next article on this subject I’ll try and cover post flop play with Aces…

Read Commonly Misplayed Hands Part II "AJ"