%20(1).jpg "Never Play Your Pocket Aces Like This (Top 4 Mistakes)")
Pocket Aces are the strongest starting hand in no-limit hold’em, and it should be your most profitable hand over the long run.
However, a lot of amateur poker players tend to play pocket Aces the wrong way, which often leads to leaving a lot of money at the table.
In this article, we’ll go over 4 most common pocket Aces mistakes you absolutely must avoid.
Let’s get right into it.
Pocket Aces Mistake #1: Open-limping With Pocket Aces Preflop
Pocket Aces are the strongest starting hand in no-limit hold’em, so you should aim to build up the pot with them as quickly as possible.
This means you should always play pocket Aces aggressively preflop, i.e. open-raise or 3-bet them.
To 3-bet means to raise against another player’s open-raise.
Some beginner poker players like to slowplay pocket Aces preflop because they don’t want to “scare their opponents off”, but this is usually not a good strategy.
To slowplay means to play your hand passively (i.e. check or call instead of betting and raising) in order to conceal your hand strength.
Slowplaying big hands can be an effective strategy at times, but if you get dealt pocket Aces preflop, your best bet is to simply make an open-raise if you’re the first player to enter the pot.
This means you should absolutely avoid open-limping with pocket Aces and other premium poker hands.
To open-limp means to just pay the big blind instead of making an open-raise when you’re the first player to enter the pot.
Here’s why you should always play pocket Aces aggressively preflop:
A) To build up the pot
Pocket Aces are the ultimate value betting hand preflop, because it has an overwhelming amount of equity against virtually all your opponent’s potential holdings.
Your hand equity simply refers to the percentage chance of winning the hand if all the players went to showdown.
For example, against pocket Kings, the second strongest starting hand in no-limit hold’em, pocket Aces have a whopping 82% equity.
And against Ace-King suited, the strongest drawing hand, pocket Aces have 88% equity.
The bigger the pot you build up preflop, the easier it is to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.
And since pocket Aces will always flop at least an overpair, you will often want to play for stacks on the flop.
This is a lot easier to do if you build up the pot preflop by open-raising or 3-betting.
B) To thin the field
Even though pocket Aces have an overwhelming amount of equity against virtually all other hands, you still don’t want to invite a lot of other players into the pot.
When you open-limp, you’re inviting other players to limp after you, which can often lead to big multiway pots.
A multiway pot is a pot with more than 2 players involved.
Pocket Aces don’t perform well in multiway pots because they’re vulnerable to getting outdrawn.
And every additional player in the pot will have some chunk of equity against you, therefore making you less likely to win the hand.
For example, against one random hand, pocket Aces have 85% equity.
But now let’s assume you play in a multiway pot against 3 opponents with random hands.
Against 3 random hands, your hand equity falls to only 64%.
And if your opponents have some reasonable hands like pocket pairs or suited connectors, your equity drops even more.
So when some players complain about constantly getting their Aces cracked, one of the reasons may be the fact they’re inviting in too many multiway pots.
The solution to this problem is to simply play pocket Aces more aggressively, and ideally get to the flop against only one or two opponents.
C) To get initiative
If you are the preflop aggressor, you have the opportunity to continue the aggression on the flop in the form of a continuation bet (or c-bet for short).
C-bets are usually profitable, so you should make a c-bet on most flops unless there’s a good reason not to do so.
With pocket Aces in particular, you will always flop at least an overpair, which means you can often c-bet for value.
An overpair is a pocket pair that’s stronger than the strongest card on the board.
For example:
On a flop like: Q♦8♠5♥, pocket Aces and pocket Kings are overpairs.
One variation that some beginner poker players like to play with pocket Aces is the so-called limp-raise tactic.
First they open-limp with pocket Aces, then they go for a big re-raise when another player open-raises against them.
The idea is to induce an open-raise by pretending they have a weak hand, only to come back over the top with a big raise.
This is also not an effective strategy for a couple of reasons.
First of all, there’s no guarantee that another player will open-raise if you open-limp, which will just lead to an unraised multiway pot.
Secondly, even if another player open-raises, limp-raising is a painfully obvious tactic, and it’s unlikely you’re going to get a lot of action with this particular line.
This is especially the case if you limp and then jam all-in.
For these reasons, it’s better to just make an open-raise yourself and try to get to the flop as the preflop aggressor.
If another player open-raises before you, you should 3-bet them to build up the pot even further.
By the way, in a recent video I discussed the 5 hands (besides pocket aces) that everyone plays wrong these days:
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Pocket Aces Mistake #2: 3-Betting too Small
If another player open-raises before you, you should 3-bet your pocket Aces and other premium hands to build up the pot as quickly as possible.
3-betting preflop allows you to ship the rest of your stack in the middle more comfortably, so you should size up your 3-bets to make stacking off post flop easier.
One of the common beginner poker mistakes is 3-betting too small, or even 3-betting a minimum amount.
There’s a couple of problems with this approach.
First of all, if you don’t size up your 3-bets, you’re giving your opponents a good price on a call.
This equates to leaving money at the table if your opponents are willing to pay more to see the flop.
Worse yet, you’re allowing them to realize their equity for cheap.
Another problem with 3-betting small is that it can often lead to multiway pots.
For example, if one player calls your 3-bet, the next player is getting a good price on a call.
And if they call you, the next player is getting an even better price on a call and so on.
With pocket Aces and other strong starting hands, you want to build up the pot as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of inviting a lot of multiway pots.
If you size up your 3-bets, on the other hand, you will create a much smaller stack-to-pot ratio, which makes it a lot easier to stack off post flop.
Simply put, the stack-to-pot ratio (or SPR for short) is the ratio between the pot size and the effective stack size.
The effective stack size is the smallest stack size of the players involved in the pot.
For example:
If you have a 100 big blinds in your stack, and your opponent has 80 big blinds, the effective stack size is 80 big blinds.
To calculate the stack-to-pot ratio, you simply divide the effective stack size with the pot size.
For example:
If the pot is $20, and the effective stack size is $80, the SPR is 4, because 80 / 20 = 4.
SPR is a preflop and flop metric that shows you how pot committed you are.
The smaller the SPR, the more pot committed you are, meaning you should be more inclined to play for the rest of your stack.
Conversely, if the SPR is very big, you’re not automatically pot committed, so you would need a lot stronger hand to stack off comfortably.
So what does SPR have to do with playing pocket Aces preflop?
Pocket Aces and other premium hands favour small SPR, because they will often flop an overpair.
When the SPR is very small (3 or less), you are automatically pot committed with top pair hand or better.
And since pocket pairs will always flop at least an overpair, you will always be pot committed with pocket Aces in small SPR pots.
This means you should aim to create a small SPR pot by 3-betting preflop if possible.
SPR is going to be a lot smaller in 3-bet pots compared to single-raised pots, because a lot more money is going to go in the middle preflop.
With that in mind, you should always size up your 3-bets to at least 3 times the open-raise.
For example:
Let’s say you’re playing a $1/$2 cash game. Your opponent open-raises to $6.
You should 3-bet to at least $18, or you can round it up to a nice even $20.
This way, you’re building up the pot nicely, and you increase the chances of playing in a heads-up pot post flop.
A heads-up pot is a pot with only 2 players involved.
If you’re playing out of position, you should increase your 3-bet size to 4 times the open-raise.
For example, if your opponent open-raises to $6, you should 3-bet to $24 when playing out of position.
This way, you’re charging your opponent a premium if they want the luxury of playing in position against you post flop.
You’re also creating a much smaller SPR this way, which makes post flop play a lot easier.
3-betting to 3 to 4 times the open-raise is a good general rule to follow whether you’re 3-betting as a bluff or 3-betting for value.
But it’s especially important when 3-betting for value, because you want to get your money’s worth when you get dealt very strong hands.
Pocket Aces Example Hand #1
Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt A♥A♦ in the SB (small blind). Villain open-raises to 3 BB UTG (under the gun).
You: ???
You should 3-bet to (at least) 12 BB.
In this spot, 3-betting big is a must for a few reasons.
First of all, you’ll be playing the hand out of position post flop, so you want to charge your opponent a premium if they want to play in position against you.
Secondly, you’re 3-betting against a theoretically strong and narrow open-raising range.
When players open-raise in early table positions, especially under the gun (the first table position), they’re usually doing it with a relatively strong range.
Even the recreational players are at least vaguely aware they should open-raise a tighter range when there’s a bunch of players left to act after them.
This means you don’t have to be afraid of “scaring your opponent off” with a big 3-bet, because they are likely to have a lot of hands that can give you action.
For example, your opponent will happily call you with weaker pocket pairs, strong broadways like AK, AQ, KQ, and so on.
So there’s absolutely no reason to go for some sort of a deceptive line like flat calling here.
If you flat call, you’re inviting the player in the big blind to call after you.
This means you will be playing the hand out of position against 2 opponents without the initiative.
Even with a strong hand like pocket Aces, this can often lead to a lot of marginal post flop spots where you’re not quite sure what to do.
Worse yet, flat calling fails to build up the pot, which means the SPR is going to be a lot bigger than it would be if you just go for a 3-bet.
If you want to learn how to use SPR to your advantage, check out my ultimate preflop bet sizing cheat sheet.
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Pocket Aces Mistake #3: Overplaying Pocket Aces on Wet Boards
Even though pocket Aces are the strongest starting hand in no-limit hold’em, it’s worth remembering that it’s only a one pair hand.
This means you’re not automatically guaranteed to win the pot with pocket Aces, even though you have an overwhelming equity advantage preflop.
Pocket Aces will always flop at least an overpair, but they’re still vulnerable to getting outdrawn on future streets.
This means you want to play for a big pot most of the time with pocket Aces, but sometimes you need to take your foot off the gas pedal if you think your hand is no good anymore.
A lot of amateur poker players tend to overvalue pocket Aces, and often play them till the bitter end, only to end up with only the second best hand at showdown.
Pocket Aces are often strong enough to get multiple streets of value.
This means you can often keep betting preflop with the confidence that you have the best hand, and you can keep getting called by a number of weaker hands from your opponent’s range.
But if at any point in the hand your opponent decides to raise you, you need to reassess your hand strength.
This is especially the case on wet, coordinated boards where your opponent has multiple potential strong combinations available.
You should also be very careful when your opponent decides to raise you on big money streets, i.e. the turn and the river.
For example, if your opponent makes a big bet on the river, your single pair is almost never good enough to call.
That’s because most players usually have something to show for when they make a big raise on the turn, and especially the river.
Most players at the lower stakes especially tend to play too passively.
So when they make a big raise, you should usually give them some credit, unless they happen to be a complete maniac.
This is especially true if you’ve shown a lot of strength throughout the hand yourself.
Your opponents are less likely to be bluffing if you are perceived to have a strong hand to begin with.
Remember, your opponents see the same board runout as you do.
So if they make a big raise on the turn or river, they are politely letting you know that they’re not afraid of any strong combos you may hold.
This is sometimes hard to come to terms with, especially if you’ve been card dead for a while.
But winning poker is not only about getting paid off with your strong hands. It’s also important to be able to let go of your strong hands if you think they’re no good anymore.
This can be quite frustrating, because it’s easy to assume that you should almost always win the pot with pocket Aces.
But again, pocket Aces are only one pair, so being able to let them go at any moment in the hand is just as important as knowing when to play for stacks with them.
Pocket Aces Example Hand #2
Cash Game, Effective Stack Size: 100 BB
You are dealt A♣A♠ UTG (under the gun). You open-raise to 3 BB.
Villain calls from the BB (big blind).
Pot: 6.5 BB
Flop: Q♥8♣7♦
Villain checks. You bet 3.5 BB. Villain calls.
Pot: 13.5 BB
Turn: 9♥
Villain checks. You bet 7 BB. Villain raises to 21 BB.
You: ???
You should fold.
This is a textbook spot where overplaying pocket Aces can get you in a lot of trouble.
Let’s break down the action street by street to see why.
Preflop you have a standard open-raise and you get called by the big blind. Nothing much to be said here.
The flop is not the best for your range, but you can still go ahead and make a standard c-bet, as you’re still likely to get called by a lot of weaker hands.
The turn card doesn’t help you much, but you can still get one street of value against some weaker hands.
At this point, it’s worth noting that your hand is approaching the thin value betting territory.
A thin value bet is a bet where your hand is ahead of your opponent’s calling range, but not by a huge margin.
In other words, you have more than 50% hand equity, but you don’t have a lot more than that.
In this spot, your hand could already be behind, but there are still some weaker hands that could give you action.
But when your opponent goes for a big check-raise, your hand is almost never good here.
The board is well-coordinated, and there are a lot of potential strong combos that beat you.
Your opponent could have multiple straights like JT or 65, a number of 2 pair hands like 98, 87, as well as a number of sets.
It’s less likely they have a medium strength hand like KQ or QJ, for example, as these hands would more likely go for a check-call line on the turn.
So with a big turn raise, your opponent’s range becomes more polar, meaning they either have a very strong combination or they’re bluffing.
And bluffing is a less likely option here because
a) the board is very scary and
b) you’ve shown a lot of strength throughout the hand.
This means your opponent is not likely to suddenly start betting out of the blue with some random hand.
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Pocket Aces Mistake #4: Not Getting 3 Streets of Value Against Calling Stations
Knowing when to walk away from a seemingly strong hand is an important part of the winning poker strategy.
But it’s equally important to extract max value out of your strong hands, even in less than ideal circumstances.
Most of the time, pocket Aces are going to be strong enough to value bet on the flop, as your hand is often going to be comfortably ahead of your opponent’s calling range.
But things get a bit more tricky on the turn and river.
On later streets, pocket Aces are still usually strong enough to get called by a number of weaker hands.
So it’s crucial to recognize spots where you can get multiple streets of value with your strong hands.
This is where thin value betting comes into play.
To bet for value means to bet when your hand is comfortably ahead of your opponent’s calling range.
To thin value bet means to bet when your hand is ahead of your opponent’s calling range, but not by a huge margin.
In other words, you can thin value bet when you have more than 50% equity, but not a lot more than that.
This is often going to be the case with pocket Aces and other overpairs on later streets.
To figure out whether or not you can thin value bet profitably, you first need to consider your opponent’s range and their general playing tendencies.
One of the most important factors when considering thin value betting is your opponent’s (over)calling tendencies.
To overcall means to call more often than would be considered “optimal”.
This means that thin value betting works best against calling stations, i.e. players who call down too much and refuse to fold just about anything.
This is usually a trademark of recreational poker players, but you will also encounter some regs who tend to call too much.
Against these players, it’s absolutely crucial to go for multiple streets of value, otherwise you’re likely leaving money at the table.
You can easily spot these players by observing the hands they go to showdown with.
If you find they often go to showdown with weird or mediocre hands, chances are they’re calling a bit too often, which makes them perfect targets for thin value betting.
If you’re playing poker online and you’re using HUD stats, look for players that have a high WTSD (went to showdown) stat.
A WTSD stat of more than 30% means the player is quite likely to be a calling station.
It’s worth noting that WTSD stat requires a big sample size to be accurate. You would need to have at least 500 hands to draw any conclusions about your opponent’s playing tendencies.
Of course, if your opponent has an extremely high WTSD over a smaller sample size, and they also display other fishy behaviour (like playing too many hands), you don’t necessarily need a big sample size to mark them as a calling station.
The more extreme the stats, the less of a sample size you need to make assumptions about your opponent’s playstyle.
If you play live poker, you simply need to observe your opponent’s showdown hands, instead.
So how do you thin value bet successfully against calling stations?
You simply value bet with a wider range until they give you a reason to suspect they’ve stumbled upon a strong hand.
Since most calling stations tend to play quite passively, they will usually call you down all the way to showdown, and only raise you if they have a particularly strong hand.
If they do raise you, you need to reassess your hand strength as discussed in the previous point.
But it’s worth remembering that really strong hands don’t come around often in no-limit hold’em, so you don’t have to worry about it too much.
If you have pocket Aces, you should assume you have the best hand post flop until your opponent gives you a reason to suspect otherwise.
This is especially the case if they choose passive lines like check-calling you over multiple streets.
If they choose this line, it’s safe to assume they have some sort of a marginal hand that will either
a) call you down all the way and you’ll win the pot or
b) fold at some point in the hand, and you win the pot again.
The third option of them slowplaying a monster hand is the least likely outcome because monster hands are more of an exception than the rule.
And even if they have a monster hand, they will usually let you know at some point, in which case you can consider making a tight fold.
Pocket Aces Example Hand #3
You are dealt A♥A♠ in the MP (middle position). You open-raise to 3 BB. Villain calls from the SB (small blind).
Pot: 7 BB ♥♦♠♣
Flop: K♦8♣3♥
Villain checks. You bet 3.5 BB. Villain calls.
Pot 14 BB.
Turn: 3♦
Villain checks.
You: ???
You should bet 10 BB.
In a spot like this, there’s absolutely no reason to slow down, and you should keep building up the pot as you’re more than likely to have the best hand here.
Your opponent will gladly give you action with all of their Kx hands, as well as some flush draws, medium pocket pairs, maybe even some 8x hands.
Also, it’s extremely unlikely for your opponent to have trips here, as the only combo that could call you preflop would be A3s.
And with two Threes on the board and two Aces in your hand, that leaves only 1 combo of A3 in your opponent’s range.
Your opponent is also unlikely to have called you preflop with something like K8, K3, or 83.
So if they call you a second time, you can probably narrow down their range to some sort of a Kx hand like KQ, KJ, or KT.
So on a safe river runout, you can go ahead and fire that third shell, as well.
Check out my other article on how to use combos and blockers to read your opponent’s hand like a pro.
Never Play Your Pocket Aces Like This - Summary
You don’t need to learn a lot of advanced poker strategy to play pocket Aces and other premium poker hands profitably.
Pocket Aces are often so strong that they basically play themselves, but there are still potential pitfalls to look out for.
To sum up, here are 4 most common pocket Aces mistakes you must avoid at all costs.
1. Open-limping with pocket Aces
Open-limping preflop with any hand is a mistake, but it’s especially egregious if you do it with pocket Aces.
With open-limping, you fail to build up the pot, and you’re inviting potential multiway pots, which makes it a lot harder to win the hand post flop.
If you’re the first player to enter the pot, do so with an open-raise, especially with your premium hands.
2. 3-betting too small
If another player open-raises before you, you should 3-bet (re-raise) them to build up the pot further.
The bigger the pot you build up preflop, the easier it is to ship the rest of your stack in the middle post flop.
You should always 3-bet to at least 3 times the open-raise when playing in position, and 4 times the open-raise when you’re playing out of position.
3. Overplaying pocket Aces on wet boards
Pocket Aces are the strongest starting hand preflop, but it’s still only a one pair hand.
This means you need to be able to let it go at a moment’s notice, especially if you encounter a big raise on the turn or river.
4. Not getting 3 streets of value against calling stations
Weaker players who like to call a lot are ideal targets for thin value betting, so don’t be afraid to bet over multiple streets with your pocket Aces.
If you have pocket Aces, assume you have the best hand until your opponent gives you a good reason to suspect otherwise.
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This article was written by Fran Ferlan
Poker player, writer and coach
Specializing in live and online cash games
For coaching enquiries, contact Fran at fran.redline@gmail.com
Or apply directly for poker coaching with Fran, right here
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