Playing Aces

Let's start with No Limit Holdem and see what could happen with certain situations. Let's say you go all-in with your rockets. Here is what could happen. Everyone could fold, meaning all you do is pick up the blinds with your Aces. Let's say you get called with your Aces. That is a good thing most of the time since you are a favorite over every other hand, but you are not invincible. Your aces could get cracked and when they do, you go broke. It is basically all or nothing when you go all-in with aces. Either you get no action or you get one caller.

What other choices do we have besides going all-in? If we raise the pot a reasonable amount our opponents are not necessarily going to put us on Aces and we still can drive out all the garbage drawing hands that could beat us. With a reasonable raise we put ourselves against a hand like KQ, 10-10, etc. We are a huge favorite over those hands. If we happen to catch a hand like AK, AQ, AJ, or A10, we are monumental favorites. More likely we are probably going to be up against small pairs or maybe suited connectors. Those are hands we can handle by putting pressure on our opponents and raising the pot.

Let's look at the next option when we have Aces, calling. I am not a proponent of just calling with Aces. This is called slow-playing and I think the risks outweigh the rewards. You are inviting everyone to stay in the hand when you don't raise. This can invite disaster if someone hits a flop. When you have Aces you want callers, but you don't want everyone calling. Against one or two opponents your Aces are heavy favorites, but against a full table they are not a guarantee. You don't want to be going against drawing hands when you have Aces. You would prefer to face smaller pairs like Kings, Jacks, etc. Remember that if you let people stay in the hand they may decide to try for straights and flushes that will beat you.

Although most people play No-Limit Texas Holdem, I want to briefly talk about playing Aces in Limit Holdem. Aces are not as powerful in Limit Holdem because you can't drive people out of the pot. No matter how much you raise people are still going to chase. This is good news if they miss, but bad news when they hit. You want money in the pot, but in Limit Holdem those increased pot odds are appealing and you just get more people chasing everything in Limit. You still have to raise in Limit Holdem, but you have to be careful on the Turn and the River because your Aces could easily be no good if someone hit their draw. Remember in Limit Holdem that Aces are still a great hand, but you don't have the power to drive people out of the pot as you do in No-Limit Holdem.