A common problem that we all face with pocket aces; we just aren’t getting enough action. Shorthanded NLHE can be especially frustrating because with fewer players, the odds of another strong hand at the table are significantly lower than if we had 10 players. The standard situation we are all familiar with is that we raise and all fold or we are in the big blind and it folds around to us for a profit of half a BB. Anyhow, let’s look at strategies for getting more money into the pot, keeping in mind that we can get very tricky against players that we deem to be weak, while making proper strategic adjustments against players that are stronger.
Every once in a while, somebody will raise ahead of us when we have aces. If we are really lucky, we will get a raise and a flat call, and when we reraise, our strength is disguised. The beauty of having position with aces when three-betting is that for most of us, our range is far wider than just high pocket pairs. Herein lies the key to this line of play: we can play the flop and beyond in a way that appears like a missed AK/AQ or even just a failed preflop steal attempt.
Another thing to think about is the implied odds we are giving our opponent when we choose our raise amount. Because raising in any position with any pocket pair or reasonable hand is now a ubiquitous strategy that can be found at virtually any table, it forces us to think about the EV of playing our big pairs against other people’s pairs, suited connectors, and AQ or KQs type hands. Some players have concluded that we must raise enough to not justify a call for drawing or set-mining. In other words, if we are facing an $8 raise at 1/2, playing with full stacks, we would have to re-raise to about $32 to keep out a “miner.” Against a player that you observe makes the mistake of putting too much money in preflop, raising liberally is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, most players have a decent understanding of drawing odds, and this somewhat transparent approach will kill almost all of our action.
I propose that instead of trying to kill an opponent's implied odds preflop, we try to raise the maximum amount that we believe will be called. Against a more timid opponent, one’s reraise may only amount to a 2.5x raise, while against a looser player, it could be significantly more. The point of raising an amount that may be +EV for our opponent to call is that we hope they will make enough big mistakes on or after the flop to more than make up for the value we are losing by not raising more before the flop. Clearly we should be utilizing a more conservative preflop strategy against the players we deem to be strong, but it always surprises me how often pocket 7’s will raise OOP on a 2 6 J rainbow board. We should often be keeping these hands in play against players with post flop leaks. This brings us to the flop stage of play with aces.
If we are able to successfully keep our opponent in the pot, a couple of different options exist on the flop. By now, we have accumulated a significant amount in the pot; between 24 and 28 BB’s, let’s say. It should be noted that we cannot let ourselves be blinded by the money already in the pot and consumed with winning it, or else we become the sucker that is constantly stacking off with big pairs and paying off the sets and 2 pair type hands.
The process I go through on the flop is first evaluating the texture of the board, looking for straight and flush draw possibilities, among other things. Immediately after I establish what the board has to offer, I evaluate my opponents’ likely holdings. Using a combination of my observations during the session, Pahud statistics, and hopefully a few previous player notes, I try to assign a range to my opponent. With a little extra attention to the details, you will start to notice that certain players have a tendency to play pocket pairs, suited connectors, and/or JT predictably, or are married to aesthetically attractive hands like AJ and KQ. After you get an idea of what your opponents are typically playing (and how they are playing it) against your positional three-bets, you have a huge advantage over those people.
Establishing a range is important because it allows us to establish our risk/reward ratio of playing our big hands in a variety of ways. Whereas the standard play is to simply continuation-bet like you normally would on the flop, given a relatively safe board like 3 3 J rainbow, we can play our hand patiently and creatively. For example, if I peg a player on a low or mid pocket pair, and they check to me on the flop, I am often going to allow them the 5% chance to hit on the next street in order to induce them to stab at the 28 BB pot 19 out of the 20 times they miss. Against a very laggish player, I may even flat call a turn bet in order to try to induce an OOP river steal attempt. Additionally, by checking the flop, a dominated hand like AQ or KQ might just hit one of a number of outs on the turn that will prompt them to pump the pot full of chips following our passive flop play.
Conversely, we generally have less maneuverability when the flop comes a threatening 9s10s3c. If the flop is checked to us, it is usually the correct move to make an opponent pay for a draw. When facing a flop bet on a board like this, I often opt to flat call and reevaluate on the turn, where I can either throw away my aces if it appears that a draw made it, or turn the screws when I know that the value of missed draws has been significantly diminished. Against a player that you have observed checking draws OOP, one might utilize a bit of reverse psychology (2nd level thinking) by checking behind on a draw heavy flop. This may, indeed, convince a thinking player that because you certainly would have defended a big pair or position-bet a draw, you simply must have missed the flop.
To review, we want to keep most of our weaker opponents in the pot when we three-bet in order to allow them to pay us off on later streets. We sometimes want to deviate from our standard continuation-bet play and check behind in order to invite a stab attempt or allow our opponents to catch up just enough to pay us off by the time the cards get flipped. I hope that the various lines of play offered in this article are helpful in increasing your profitability with aces. Next time, a methodology for playing aces out of position will be discussed. Until then, good luck and may the poker gods smile on you.