novi49
Joined: 14 May 2007
Posts: 19
Location: England
|
 Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 2:31 pm Post subject: Playing Pocket Aces |
 |
|
Pocket Aces Strategy
Despite what most people think, pocket aces is not the easiest hand to play. Some of the limit cash games are so tight that AA will simply win you the blinds.
In limit, betting it pre-flop is almost always the right move. For no-limit, card play is much more situational. However, it's seldom a good idea to slow play AA at a full table. This applies in either tournaments or cash games especially in cash games.
When shorthanded, and especially when shorthanded with a high blind stack ratio , slow play AA because you will likely sucker in some action without much risk of being beat. This usually happens at the end of a sit-and-go tournament when players have few chips to spare.
For any table of five or more people, slow playing is not usually your best option. You want to raise pre-flop just like you would any other decent hand: make a standard 3x or 4x raise, or raise the most you expect will be called by your opponent. Occasionally, it is beneficial to slow play after someone else has raised. But this is only the case if you expect the pot to be contested either heads-up or three-way, because the last thing you want is to pick up AA and end up in an 8-way pot with it. Playing AA into an 8-way pot in no-limit can often lead to problems.
Also, you don't want to shut out all of your action pre-flop. Winning the blinds with AA is never much of a thrill. Therefore, avoid going " guns blazing " into a dry pot. The only time to go in "guns blazing" is when there's already action, which is why many people will slow play AA in early position pre-flop. You can employ this move as well, but many players know that people love to slow play AA up front. If you do slow play it up front, and you find an opening raiser behind you, do not mini-raise (mini-raising is raising the least amount possible) with AA because this is a dead giveaway about the strength of your hand. Depending on your opponents and what you feel will get the most chips now or later, either call or make a 3x to 4x raise. Quite often, just calling a single raise with your aces will disguise your hand, and that was the purpose of slow playing in the first place.
In heads up, it's a good idea to call if someone raises behind you because then you can check to them and play back at them when they make a continuation bet on the flop. It's rarely advisable to slow play aces past the turn. River check/raises are far too tricky to use on a regular basis, and besides, you'll often feel the need to protect your aces with a solid raise by the flop or turn.
|
|
