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Real
Casinos> Gambling Articles > How to Play Pocket A's: Various
Strategies
How to Play Pocket A's: Various
Strategies
While pocket A’s are the strongest beginning hand in Texas
Hold ‘Em, it is also one of the hardest hands to play because the potential for
getting burned badly is so high, but so is the fear of not cashing out the hand
for its maximum value, and thus wasting a rare opportunity to gain a big leg up
on your opponents. So how do you
maximize the value of pocket A’s without getting burned badly for a large
portion (if not all) of your chips. There
are a few various strategies to play pocket aces, and we will go through them
one by one.
1) Pre-flop All In
This is a gutsy move that makes a lot of sense, but can also
back fire. To receive maximum value, you
have to know what types of players are at the table with you. Are they loose and like to play a lot of
hands? Are there “calling stations” who
always believe you’re bluffing no matter what?
Are there major bluffers, or a bunch of very conservative players? To make an all in free flop pay off, you
either need a late position after a lot of loose players and bluffers made
decent sized bets, or you need a table of calling stations and bad
players. If you’re playing at a solid
table, most likely you will end up only stealing the blinds.
Then why play this way?
Because if you get called and your hand holds out, you will double your
chip stack and completely maximize your profits. You may even triple them if called twice. The other reason to play this is to actually
reduce bad beats. How often have you
slow played aces to get the most out of them, only to see something ridiculous
pop up, like runner runner flush cards on the turn and river, or a second jack
to give someone trips, or a broken straight?
If you go all in early, these hands will most likely fold, meaning
you’ll avoid more of the big losses pocket aces can lead to when you get in a
bad situation.
2) Raise respectably pre-flop
This is often a more popular method than the pre-flop all
in. In theory, a respectable bet will
scare off less players than an all in, allowing more calls, and therefore a
bigger pot that can be yours for the taken.
At a more conservative table this could be your best bet to maximize the
pot, but at a weaker table this might not be a good as the all in.
At a weaker table, a lot of players may see an all in as a
bluff, and if they’re not great players, you would be amazed how often several
players will call you with J-9 off suit, A-2 off suit, and 3-5 suited. A-A will most likely demolish all three of
those hands, meaning the all in would have been great, where as a respectable
bet might be seen as just that: a strong hand that makes them fold, in which
case you have actually decreased your winnings.
The plus side is that if something extremely scary hits on the flop, you
can read your opponent and possibly fold, avoiding that freak all in call where
a player gets lucky and beats you. Judge
your table before making this bet.
3) Call pre-flop, then raise after the flop
This tends to work especially well if you are in a late
position of betting, because if several players stay in the plot, there is a
good chance some will bet and call, or even raise and re-raise before getting
to you. This makes a strong or even all
in bet very profitable as most players will fold, and many will feel committed
to call you, most likely with weaker hands.
This can lead to a huge haul in.
If everyone checks, that can also work since either another player may
be trying to slow play, or everyone will see you as trying to steal the
pot. Either way you’re likely to get
some callers while still eliminating most of the freak hands that could come
out of the 40 to1 category to beat you.
4) Call and smooth play all the way
The biggest way to get a cash out with your A’s here is the hope
that someone at the table will take a serious stab at the pot by the end. The plus side with this strategy is that as
long as you don’t use it too often, and you have someone at the table who you
know will bluff at it, or make a stab at it with a lower high pair, then the
possibility for a big haul in is pretty good.
This can be useful at a table with more conservative players, or solid
aggressive players. The down side to
this strategy is that you give every type of hand that limps in the opportunity
to make that unlikely straight, flush, two pair, or trips that could end
beating your pocket A’s.
Playing pocket A’s can be difficult. The best use of one of these four main
strategies is almost always connected to the variables of: 1) what type of a table
are you playing at? & 2) what type
of a player do you prefer to be? For
some people only stealing some blinds doesn’t bother them—because they see it
as a hand they could have lost had it gone to play. For other players it will drive them absolutely
nuts and put them on tilt. Knowing who
you have at your table and what your game is will help you use these strategies
to maximize your profits every time.
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