- Best hand versus AA. On the bottom end 56 and 67 both have 3 cards under to make a straight on both sides. The ace does not steel 2345. 56 has a blocker on 2345 so I can see less wins there compared to 67. But I do not get the number 55 there. I cannot figure the difference between 56 and 67 on wins and ties.
- Also known as “Pocket Rockets”, “Bullets” or sometimes “American Airlines”) is the best starting hand for Texas Holdem. Pocket aces are a strong pre-flop favourite over any other two cards, and they are 4:1 favourite over almost any hand in poker. You will be dealt pocket aces once every 221 hands.
Watch SplitSuit's AA video for a definitive guide on playing pocket aces in Texas Hold'em.
This one is a poker classic. The strongest starting hand in poker, pocket aces are a strong pre-flop favourite over any other two cards and a 4:1 favourite over almost any hand.
Looking down and seeing ‘the bullets' is one of the highlights of Texas Hold'em. Pocket aces is the #1 starting hand in Hold'em; however, this is where people make the first mistake.
Pocket aces are by no means invincible, and if they are not played with caution you stand to lose a big pot. So allow this quick guide to help you learn how to play pocket aces profitably the next time you pick those bad boys up.
Always look to make a bet or raise with pocket aces.
We have to realize that pocket aces are not the type of hand we want to play against multiple opponents. The ideal situation is to be heads up on the flop. Therefore ‘limping in' in early position is a dangerous tactic and you should avoid doing so. After all, if you do limp then you could be facing numerous opponents on the flop, at which point you have to be prepared to fold your hand to any significant amount of action unless you hit your set.
Always look to raise with pocket aces as opposed to limping in and trying to be tricky. The last thing you want to happen is to be facing multiple opponents on the flop.
A second situation that could arise from limping in is being raised by another player. When facing this raise most people will re-raise once more and this will set alarm bells ringing in the heads of your opponents, because what kind of hand are you holding if you limp then re-raise the raiser?
9 times out of 10 the person making this move has a monster starting hand. Therefore you should more often than not raise when holding pocket aces, it lets your opponents know that you have a big hand but not how big, and it helps to define your opponents hands if they call.
Post-flop pocket aces strategy.
On the flop you again will want to be betting and raising, after all this is the only way you are going to be able to get more money into the pot. If you are heads up against one opponent you may want to check and induce a bluff if he is an aggressive type of player when in first position.
In general, you want to continue betting and raising to build the pot as much as possible with pocket aces. It is not advisable to continuously slowplay this sort of hand. You make more money by betting.
Be sure never to slowplay if the board is coordinated and your opponent is drawing to a straight or a flush; you want to make him pay and give him the wrong pot odds to draw to it.
(Note: When playing online make sure you leave a little time between betting into the pot on the flop. When people raise pre-flop and then bet a large amount into the pot immediately when it is their turn to act it is a big giveaway that they are holding the over-pair, so take a little time!).
Tips for playing pocket aces.
- Do not slowplay.
- Try not to get too attached to the hand.
- The less opponents in the hand the better.
- Remember that pocket Aces are not indestructible.
It must be stressed that aces are definitely not a hand to be slowplayed. Many amateurs fall into this bad habit because they are the #1 starting hand. But this is only before the flop. After the flop it is a different matter, if you don't hit a set just remember... all you have is one pair.
You should always be thinking, 'Okay, what could my opponent have that would beat me?' and try to figure out whether he has that type of hand. If you try and slowplay your hand to the end, do you think your opponent is going to call a large bet or an all-in with ace high or a pair? Because those are the only hands you will be beating at the end. If your opponent does call, its goodbye to your stack as very few are going to call with anything less that two-pair.
Pocket aces strategy evaluation.
Aces are not a hand to be slow played. The ideal situation is to be all in on the flop against your opponents. However this is not going to be likely, especially in a cash game. The second best situation is to use the tactics mentioned above by minimizing the number of opponents and getting money into the pot by betting and even raising.
But remember, with pocket Aces you only have one pair, so be prepared to let them go when facing a lot of action. The ability to lay down strong hands what makes the difference between good and great players.
Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.
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My brother was telling me about a hand he played last night in an online Hold-Em tourney. He got crap hands for the first 25 hands of the tourney and did nothing but fold, then, as Big Blind, got pocket Aces.There were FOUR all-ins before he even got a chance ot bet.
He KNEW that meant that at least one ace was already out there, probably at least one other pocket pair, etc, but he called anyway, and lost to someone else's pair making a set.
His question is, what were the odds it would have held up?
He knows that heads-up, Aces are a big favorite, but against four other players?
I told him:
It doesn't matter how many players were dealt.
It doesn't matter how many players went all-in or when they went all-in.
It only matters how many players were still in at the showdown.
Am I right?
And what WERE the odds?
Thanks
Poker Best Hand Against Pocket Aces Youtube
In a previous WoO post, the Wizard but the odds at somewhere between 31.36% (10 players, no one folds) and 70% (estimate of real conditions):
Wizard of Odds (http://wizardofodds.com/askthewizard/155 ) I've been a huge fan for many years (even before you got interested in poker and sports betting) and looked forward to every Ask The Wizard column. It's great to see you're doing them again! My question is this: at my local card room, they offer Aces Cracked, Win A Rack during certain hours. That is, if you have pocket Aces in one of their 3-6 or 4-8 Texas Hold 'Em games and you lose the pot, the casino will give you a rack of chips ($100). I'm trying to figure out how often a)I get pocket Aces b)how often they would lose if I played them aggressively as I'm supposed to and c)whether it's not better to just check all the way down and hope to lose, as $100 is usually better than what the pot would have been anyway. Any stats you may have at the ready would be wonderful and forever appreciated! Thanks again and keep up enlightening the masses! - Shane from Santa Rosa
Thanks for the kind words. The probability you will get pocket aces in any one hand is 6/1326, or once every 221 hands. According to my 10-player Texas Hold 'em section (/holdem/10players.html) the probability of winning with pocket aces is 31.36%, assuming all players stay in until the end. However that is a big if. If forced to make a guess I'd estimate the probability of winning with aces in a real 10-player game is about 70%. So the probability of getting pocket aces and then losing is 0.3*(1/221) = 0.1357%. So, at $100 per incident that is worth 13.57 cents per hand. Over ten people that costs the poker room $1.36 per hand on average, which cuts into the rake quite a bit. I tend to agree with your strategy of calling, which will keep more players in the hand, and increase your chance of losing.
I feel for your brother, but pre-flop, he had no choice but to call. It would have been different if he could have isolated some other players, but with the four all-ins, he was no worse than tied for the best hand at the time.
In a cash game, folding Aces preflop is a very dumb move. In a tourney, it would be similarly dumb, except in some situations where the holder of the Aces is near cashing, or already in the money with very little chance to move up. An extreme example would be five players left, four of them have $100,000 in chips and the fifth has $5,000. Before the fifth player acts, the first four go all in. The fifth player shouldn't even look at his hand, but even if he does, and sees pocket Aces, he should still throw his hand away.
Given that this was still early in the tournament, however, your friend had absolutely no choice but to call. He should have thought of this as an opportunity--getting 4-1 odds when he was only about a 4-to-3 underdog!
Given that this was still early in the tournament, however, your friend had absolutely no choice but to call. He should have thought of this as an opportunity--getting 4-1 odds when he was only about a 4-to-3 underdog!
Only an underdog against the entire field, right? But a favorite against any individual member of the field? To me, that distinction matters. For example, if the 5 players had win shares of 42%, 28%, 15%, 10%, 5%, then the guy with a 42% chance of prevailing should be viewed as the favorite.
Poker Best Hand Against Pocket Aces 2017
AA - 1.86% win, 43.32% tie
AA - 1.86% win, 43.32% tie
KQs - 14.75% win, 0.2% tie
99 - 20.9% win, 0.2% tie
33 - 17.3% win, 0.2% tie
assume everyone put in 1000 chips.
Equity is:
AA - 93 + 1083 = 1176
AA - 93 + 1083 = 1176
KQs - 737.5 + 10 = 747.5
99 - 1045 + 10 = 1065
33 - 865 + 10 = 875
even in this case, the AA hands and the 99 hands are 'good' bets as they have a positive equity against the cost to play.
that's really where it stands, forget win%, think equity.
Poker Best Hand Against Pocket Aces 3
Only an underdog against the entire field, right? But a favorite against any individual member of the field? To me, that distinction matters. For example, if the 5 players had win shares of 42%, 28%, 15%, 10%, 5%, then the guy with a 42% chance of prevailing should be viewed as the favorite.