How to Play of Pocket Aces
Pre-Flop
Pocket aces are a commodity in
Texas Holdem Poker as
they are the strongest starting hand. The holder
of pocket aces are at a distinct preflop
advantage. The odds of being dealt pocket aces
are 220 to 1, which is less than one-half of one
percent. Because pocket aces occur so
infrequently, it is important to play them
properly and profitably to best take advantage
of their strength.
The style of play that I
recommend for playing Texas Holdem is
tight-aggressive. By that I mean, playing good
solid starting hands and playing them
aggressively. It does not mean playing all hands
aggressively, just good starting hands.
However, if you start out with
a great starting hand but feel that at some
point in the hand that an opponent has a better
hand and you have little chance to improve to a
winning hand you should fold. Playing smart
poker is just as important as playing tight and
aggressive poker. Playing a pair of aces in a
tight aggressive manner, you will find this
powerful starting hand to be the dangerous
weapon it should be.
Deciding Whether to Raise
Pre-flop with Pocket Aces
Because you have the strongest
hand pre-flop, as a general rule you should
raise preflop when you have pocket aces. This
should not be misinterpreted to suggest you
should always play a hand the same way or that
there is only one way to play a pair of aces.
Simply stated, more often than not you should
raise with pocket aces. You should raise for
several reasons, you have the best hand, you
want to narrow the field, to begin the process
of building the pot, to make your job of
building a pot easier, and to help get yourself
and your opposition committed to the pot as
early as possible. In most cases, raising
pre-flop with pocket aces is correct from a
tight-aggressive standpoint.
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Deciding How Much to Raise
Pre-flop with Pocket Aces
There are several factors up
for consideration when deciding how much to
raise with pocket rockets.
- Position
- The size of your stack
- How many people have already
entered the pot
- How the players before you
have entered the pot
- What kind of players have
entered the pot
- How many players you expect to
get a call from
These are all important
factors to consider when deciding how much to
raise with your pair of aces. Generally, you
want to raise as much as possible while still
getting callers preflop with pocket aces. Let's
take a look at an example:
To keep it simple, we will
assume you are playing $1/$2 no limit Texas
Holdem Poker and have the maximum buy-in in
front of you of $200. Take into consideration
what the average raise preflop at this table is.
Also, call to mind what your average raise looks
like. If the average raise of the table is 4-6
times the blinds and your average raise tends to
look similar, then try to target the higher end
of the raising spectrum. In this case, you will
want to make a pre-flop raise of anywhere from
$10 to $12 preflop. This will leave you the task
of figuring out how to get the remaining
$188-190 into the center of the pot before the
river.
If the average raise is higher
and still gets action, upsize the size of your
raise accordingly. Additionally, in the event
that a player who loves to call off all his
chips enters the pot before you and will likely
call your raise, size the raise to target this
player.
In an ideal set of
circumstances, because your table image is that
of a tight aggressive player, it is expected
that you will bet on the flop. Most players will
have considered this when choosing to call you.
Your goal, when raising pre-flop is to begin
building a pot to the point that you and your
opposition will easily commit to. Because of
this, you want to target the high end of your
raise, as it becomes easier to gain commitment
early in the hand - which works to your
advantage being that you have the best hand
before the flop.
Making a Commitment Plan with
Pocket Aces
Tight aggressive poker players
plan their hands out from start to finish before
they act. The TAG player adjusts their plan on
the fly. The amount of callers they get, who
specifically calls them and the texture of the
flop are a few factors that constitute
adjustment to the overall game plan in each hand
of poker.
We have raised preflop to $10
with our aces and have the intentions of coming
out betting on the flop. How much can we bet?
How much should we bet? Generally, we want to
bet an amount that will help us commit to the
pot, while striving to an opposing player to
call comfortably, yet not correctly.
Our plan is to make a
continuation bet on the flop. We are tight
aggressive, so a continuation of our pre-flop
raise is expected. A check on the flop will
possibly tip off other players that we flopped
or are holding a monster. Additionally, a check
does little along the lines of pot building. As
a result, we must bet in most circumstances.
I've given you plenty to think
about when playing pocket aces. There is still
more to learn about pocket aces and when you are
ready, read the second poker strategy article on
playing a pair of aces where I cover playing
different scenarios on the flop, turn and river.
Read playing pocket aces on the flop, turn and
river.
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