Pocket Aces, Mid Caller

[Danielle Angel]

Just wondering how everyone else plays thier pocket aces on a tight table ? I was dealt them during an extremely tight table in 2nd calling position. I did a minimum raise and got 2 callers plus the small blind equating to a 5 handed match. I believe this to be very risky play but raising anymore I am sure they all would have folded.

Although the board was a terrifying sight 10, 10, J, I bet out and took down the pot.

How would anyone else have played them from the start ? Taken the pot then and there with a huge raise ? Flat called to avoid folders or just minimum raise as I did ? As I said minimum raise made the hand very risky. Interested to get some advice :)

[barbarella41]

I always raise with pocket aces at least three times the big blind, better to take down the pot preflop, even when I only get the blinds, than being beaten by 7 9 offsuit :-)

Very popular today is to limp in early position and hope for a raise in late position and then reraise, especially when you have loose aggressive players at the table.

But I always play my aces straight forward.

[Degen]

Need more info..is this no-limit? What stakes? How many people at the table?


If its $0.50/$1.00 No Limit with 9 people at the table I would raise to 3.5 big blinds, or whatever is standard for the table. Maybe a little more. Never min-raise with aces pre-flop, you are just begging for 6 people to call you...then you are likely only good if you flop a set. Another option, at a loose table, is to limp in, then re-raise big if it is raised after you.

Now that you have already made the huge error of min-raising PF you can only just bet this flop and see what happens. If you are raised on this flop you should probably just call and possibly check and fold to a big turn bet. Maybe call that and fold if he shoves the river. Tricky to play on this board, depends a lot on your opponent. Most players wont bet 3 streets for value there with KJ or AJ, as they will be scurred about the T. More common if he has a Jack would be to call or raise the flop, then check the turn, then bet the river if you check.

Pre-flop is much easier than all of those post flop if's....if you have Aces your goal is to get as much money into the pot before the flop as humanly possible. Don't get fancy or try to get action. If you are at a table where you think people will call 8 BB's with AA, then you raise it to 8 BB's.

[Danielle Angel]

to add further information it was a 9 SNG NL , there were 8 remaining players, I was second to make my move. The table had been very tight for ages with most people calling NO raises at all. It had been running already for about 20 mins with almost every hand folding to the BB which is why I was so scared to raise more and waste them.

Your last comment about get as much money into the pot as possible WD, I think under the circumstances I actually did :D which makes me happy. Of course again sooo risky but if I had have raised more, I am almost certain I would have had no callers. So that kinda re assures me that in MY situation I did the right thing :).

I pretty well do what both you and Barbarella have suggested when playing at a lose aggressive table, this table however was TIGHT as a beep beep lol :p

[Degen]

Ok SNG is a little different because people play tighter. You still need to make this 3 BB's PF though. Then bet the flop for about 1/2 pot. Never ever ever ever ever min-raise PF with AA.

[Danielle Angel]

:) ty :D

[Frydenholm1]

I agree with WD. Minimum 3 x raise because the callers you get with a minimum raise can be dangerous fishermen who takes you down with a small triple or straight; with others word you risk being beaten by a hand that should have been folded from the start.

[Matti Doogs]

Agree with WD and Fryd here, the only time however I would look to limp in is on an overly aggresive table and in first/second position only if you can guarantee there will be a raise by someone else, if you cant guarantee there will be a raise you must raise 3xbb at least to protect that hand, nothing worse than giving value to the BB when he has rags and seeing them hit the board, so in looking back at that as we dont know what anybody else is going to do for sure, safe bet is raise 3-4x and take it down when u know u are in front!!

[DoubleAcesDK]

I agree that most of the time you should raise your high pocket pairs in early position, however if you are placed on a agressive table where you seen people raise limps alot earlier on, then i would lean towards limping some of the time with AA first of all you disguise you hand by only limping with AA and you can take the defensive route vs a agressive raiser which gives you alot of value cause how could he know you have AA? but as i said it will only be on an agressive table where you have good reads on the other players that you should do it :)

[Buldermar]

It also played a role how you play other hands. If you always raise and then suddently limp from early pos, it really smells. I almost never limp so if I suddently start limping with aces any half-experienced player will realize what's going on. However, if you frequently limp with PP's suited connectors etc. and fold to raises, limping with big pocket pairs too is not that bad an idea. Deception plays a big role, especially against experienced players. If you only limp with weak hand and raise with strong hands you will be too predictable. If you sometimes limp, you have to limp with both weak and strong hands. I personally think that limping is a big mistake 95% of the time.

[DoubleAcesDK]

Well i was only speaking on behalf of early hand play and i sure dont hope people raise often in early positions cause that cant be good for your brm :D so most often you actually find yourself limping in early position and wait to see the flop before you make your moves but again i know you and i play differently bulder so you might raise more often than me in early position, but for a tight/agressive player i think limping with AA can actually give you alot of value at times because agressive players preflop tend to think they can push you around :D

[Buldermar]

I still think limping in early pos is a mistake because its cheap for the players after you to just limp along and have position. I love limping on the button after other people have limped because I know I'm going to have position on them the rest of the hand. I know we look at it differently so there's probably no point in continuing this arguing :P

[Danielle Angel]

There is good reason to continue the arguing :) ME :D If you guys can come to some sort of agreement on the VERY best play, then I will benefit :). Do you both agree that playing the Aces is going to be different in every situation ?

[DoubleAcesDK]

yea i agree that your playstyle playing aces is different each time, i do agree most of the time you should play your big hands agressive, but if you limp often in early position with small pocket pairs etc then if you all of a sudden make a bet/raise in early position then that will fastly be picked up by the better players at the table. I think there are 2 ways of playing your hands either the standard 3xBB raise or the one im more a fan of raise crazy amounts but never raise in a pattern so that people can pick up what you have. the last one is best in shorthanded games i agree i wouldnt use it in a full table gameplay :D

[Buldermar]

Yes. I think we agree on this one actually. The most important thing is deception; If you sometimes limp with small PP's, you should also sometimes limp with aces. If you never limp with any other hands you shouldn't limp with aces either. I don't think there is one VERY best way of playing the game, there is advantages and disadvantages for most decisions.

[Slinky]

If you do limp with aces you have to be prepared to fold them if it becomes a family pot .. and can you lay aces down easily? :p

[Danielle Angel]

You guys are all right as usual ... I have been raising hugely (at least 4x BB ) with my poc aces and must say that I am much more happier to be beaten by a decent hand then by crap if I lose. In general I have most people fold to my raises but when someone calls 9/10 times I take down the pot anyway :) :) :) ... much much happier now , thx guys !!

[mustardeggs]

Danielle, its not a msitake to raise 4BB with ur aces as long as you balance this with your whole range. If you only raise to 4BB with A KK and AK and raise smaller with your weaker hands and make the bet sizes dependend on your hand strength then you become incredible readable.

In poker balance is everything.

[Mlubin]

I would have raised preflop, and on a flop like that it would depend on the players that i am up against if i think i can get them to overplay kq on that flop where they are only have 4 outs of get it in with any top pair then i would go for a check raise or bet out and hope to get it in. if i think they are tighter and the only value that i would get would come from there bluffs then i would check call down.

[LiveStraddle]

Never ever slow play aces in a cash game, you cant slow play 1 pair it just doesnt make sense, if they are tag then your aces will never be good if you reach a showdown with them.

[Buldermar]

I'm not sure I agree. I sometimes just call a preflop raise from the BB with aces (not often tho) if it's a heads up pot. You just have to be able to fold it postflop depending on the action. Players who are not capable of folding their aces postflop should always reraise preflop.

However, I do agree that aces should rarely or never be slowplayed postflop. Hands you want to slowplay are hands that leaves your opponent with very few or none outs. You tend to either win a small pot or lose a big one with aces if you don't build a big pot early on IMO.