How many times have you found yourself in this situation? You are sitting under the gun in a big poker tournament, you are low on chips but deep in the game, and you peek at your hole cards to see two Aces peeking back at you. How do you play these magical cards to make the best out of the situation? Like every other answer when it comes to poker strategy, this one starts with the qualifier: “It Depends.”
When you have Aces in Texas hold em you have the strongest possible starting hand. It is a pair, which is great, and until more cards come it can't be beat. Even when more cards come you have a good chance of your poker Ace holding out, even though it can be out drawn. So, you should just shove all in right there, right? Get all your money in with the best hand? Well, sometimes yes. Most of the time, no.
Flipping through the poker pages of many a strategy book will give you many answers based on the situation (remember, “It Depends!”). When you have Aces in Texas holdem you have a live grenade in your hands; used properly it can do some real damage, but your poker Ace could just as easily blow up in your face. The poker pages of those books will tell you that your decision should only be made partially on the poker Aces you are holding, and mostly on a few other factors.
Position
Where you are matters in the betting order. If you are late in the betting order then you have more information, and information in poker is vital. If you are early and you bet too hard you may scare off your fish; if you are late you can see how willing the other players are to gamble this hand, or how strong their hand is based on their betting – and perhaps raise them up after that.
After the Flop
Aces in Texas hold em are a joy, but can be headache after the flop. Any run of three cards could threaten your poker Ace in the hole. You hope for low or medium cards, but not too many in a row, but regardless of the cards the could have matched up to both cards in a player's hand and now your pair is up against two pair or a set. So how do you play your Aces in this Texas holdem situation? Very carefully.
Going back to those knowledge-filled poker pages, or perhaps some intuitive poker software, we can see that once again we need to analyze the situation before we can make a call. How are your opponents betting, how did they react to the flop? Sometimes you need to put out a little feeler bet to get some more information from them. Poker software is great for that – in fact poker software beats those hallowed poker pages in your book because you can play out countless hands using those Aces in a virtual Texas hold em game, learning all the way.
Aces in Texas holdem
When it comes to Aces in Texas hold em the fact is you should play them like you play any other starting hand – carefully. Aces in Texas holdem can hurt you because most players want to hold on to them regardless of what the game is telling them, hoping to win. If you are one of those players boot up your poker software and play out a few hundred hands and pay attention to your results, and you will learn how to play Aces properly.
