Playing Aces in No Limit Texas Holdem

Being dealt a pair of bullets in the whole is one of the best feelings when playing Texas Holdem. It can feel like you can make any decision at all and not be wrong. If you aren’t careful, you can play yourself right out of a tournament when your pocket aces get cracked.

There are several important things to remember when playing pocket aces. I hope to illustrate these important guidelines to follow when you have been dealt any large hand. But most importantly is the pokcet aces, precisely because it is the best preflop hand.

It is very important to remember that poker is not a game of guarantees, it is the game of probabilities. The biggest rule to remember is that the pocket aces are a 80% favorites over any other two cards in the deck. This means you can expect pocket aces to lose one out of every five times you go all-in before the flop.

It isn’t considered an anomaly to have your pocket aces beaten by two pair, a three of a kind, straight or flush. If you push someone into a risk vs reward kind of attitude, your pocket aces are bulletproof.

How to Play Pocket Aces

So, it is essential to play carefully from here on to take full advantage you’re your cards. The first thing that will happen is your heart will start to race a little. Controlling your visible emotions is only important when you are playing a live game.

But if you are in a live tournament or at home with your friends, you have to find a way to disguise the strength of your hand by finding a way to overcome the excitement you feel in order to win any money off of the other players.

It happens at times, you might become over confident make a rash play. The make bets which should not be made and try to turn the tables by hitting the flop too early. There is nothing worse that getting pocket aces dealt to you and only winning the blinds. Well, not quite, but you need to know how to make your pocket aces profitable.

How you should bet your pocket aces

This is totally dependent on the amount of players in front of you who have raised, folded or called and how many players are left to act behind you. All together now “POSITIONING!” Learn more about Texas Holdem positioning.

You position is extremely important to determine how to bet. No matter where you are in relationship to the dealer, the one word that should never ever come out of your mouth is “Call“. If you think this is a good strategy, please feel free to slap yourself in the face. Are you really planning on letting four or five other players an opportunity to suck out and beat you with a garbage hand?

The one case people will often make is that they go 30 hands without raising and every time they get a big pair and make a raise, everyone else folds. Well, this is a case of somebody is playing way too predictably. Live a little a semi-bluff once in a while; that way the other players won’t try to pick you apart.

You must raise your pocket aces, it’s just a matter of how much. Ideally, you either want one or two other players to call. Once you get three or more, you are asking for someone to beat the aces and take all of your money.

If you are in an early position, you should at least raise twice the big blind. Raising the blinds once is not enough to get the loose players off of their suited connectors.

If you are in a middle position, you need to act accordingly to what has happened before you. If someone is very aggressive and bets big, this may be the only acceptable time to call them, simply because no one else is likely to hang around. Your opponent will have no idea that his is betting into his own grave.

If you have a caller/small raiser, you have to re-raise the pot to get as many people out as possible. Worst case scenario is that everyone folds and you win more than the blinds.

When no one else has called, I would make a modest raise. The one thing you must be careful of is letting the big blind make a hand without having to bet much to get it.

If you are in a late position, most of the action has already happened. Do the people seem to like their hands? If no one is betting, make a small raise and take the pretenders out. If people look like they are sticking around for the flop, make it expensive for them to do so. Chasing people out at this point is a small price to pay if you don’t get them to fold and they beat you.

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When you are playing a home game

Once you have that big grin on your face and your bets come freely, everyone on the table comes to know that you have strong cards and thus they avoid making bigger bets which makes the pot only smaller. Also, ending the game too early can make you end you end up eating the half-cooked curry.

What is it that you play the game for? It’s the pot and the bigger it is the better. The pot grows in size with the progress of the game. You have to give it some time to get big enough to be worthy of the 2 aces that you are going to put down to get it.

And as I said before, poker, especially Texas Hold-em poker is game of odds and no matter how good a hand you have, you can still end up being a loser if you act like a fool. Keep doing you math as you would have done it if you would have got a normal hand. Don’t lose the opportunity in the excitement.

A very important role in Texas Hold’em is played by the community cards. They are used as part of the hand thus the value of the community cards can change the entire picture for you.

Of course, it’s not only that two aces which are going to make up you hand. So, keep a sharp watch on all the events of the table and keep an alert mind. It is very probable that an opponent gets excellent community which he uses to make his hand stronger than yours.

You have to make you decision of pushing all in or waiting for the right time to arrive. Take your time and do your calculations before you come to a conclusion.

In case you feel that you another player on the table may have the chance of overpowering you later in the game, it is wise to go for the pre-flop. In such a situation, you should make your efforts to have the pot to grow to the maximum possible size. The best way to do this is to make raises and increase the size of the wager.

Don’t be too obvious with your steps or you may just give your game away. Be subtle and be quick. Your odds are good, but will only continue to be so till the time is right. Once you lose the opportunity, you will end up wasting your beautiful aces.

The most important thing is to make the right decision at the right time. So, keep the leashes on your wits and constraint on you hands. Do your math and make he right move.