How best to play pocket aces?
POKER
The odds of being dealt pocket aces are 220 to 1, or a 0.45% chance. It doesn’t happen often, so when you look down at “bullets.” you’d best make the most of it. The question is, what does that mean? Is “making the most of it” shoving pref lop, hoping that someone calls? Should you slow-play, looking to trap?
There’s no hard and fast rule on how to play pocket aces. Factors include tournament structure, stack sizes and opponent tendencies. That said, most players who hold “pocket rockets” will tell you they prefer to get it all in preflop whenever possible.
By doing so, they’re guaranteed to get the money or chips in as a favorite, and they don’t have to worry about making decisions after the flop, which is when things get tricky.
Case in point: a hand from Day 1a of April’s MidStates Poker Tour Running Aces Main Event at the Running Aces Casino in Columbus, Minn.
With blinds of 800-1,600 and an ante of 200, Jason Bender minimum-raised to 3,200 under the gun. MidStates Poker Tour pro Matt Kirby looked down at A♠ A♦ and just called. That opened the door for Muneer “Moon” Ahmed to come along cheaply from the big blind to see a flop of 7♥ 8♠ 7♦.
Ahmed checked, and so did Bender. Kirby bet 6,000. Ahmed then check-raised to 15,000. Bender folded, and Kirby called.
The 6♣ fell on the turn. Ahmed, who had the bigger stack, moved all in, and Kirby called off his last 30,000, only to discover that his opponent had flopped big while holding 7♠ A♥.
Kirby needed the case ace on the river to survive, but it wasn’t in the cards, as the Q♠ bricked.
This is a prime example of the risk associated with slow-playing aces. By just calling Bender’s raise instead of raising, Kirby, who was no doubt hoping someone would either reraise or shove behind him, priced in Ahmed, who only needed to call an additional 1,600 into a pot of 9,200, meaning he was getting nearly 6 to 1 on his investment.
Of course, Kirby got extremely unlucky in this hand. Without taking Bender’s unknown holdings into account, Kirby was a 92.94% favorite against Ahmed’s hand. Unfortunately for him, this one fell in the 5.65% of hands that would go Ahmed’s way.
There is a time and a place for it slow-playing aces, but there are inherent risks involved.