How do you play pocket aces?

GaryQQQ

Great news, you've just been dealt pocket aces. But now what do you do?
 
There has been a fair bit of discussion about this on the forum recently. Some members advocate shoving pre-flop regardless of stack sizes, others prefer to slowplay. Unfotunately aces are far from invincible and this seemingly desirable situation will sometimes end up in tears, some people just can't put them down under any circumstances and can end up losing their whole stack. 

Personally I use my standard pre-flop raise to disguise my hand strength, while hoping that somebody else will raise the pot even more. If you can get somebody all-in pre then obviously that's perfect, when we do see a flop I will make my standard c-bet and evaluate what happens from there.

Here's a classic example of how not to play aces. The chip leader at this MTT final table first made the mistake of slowplaying his aces by limping in, his second error was falling in love with them so much that he just couldn't find a way to fold, self-distruction inevitably followed.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
A	Small blind		400.00	400.00	13136.25
B	Big blind		800.00	1200.00	14242.50
	Your hole cards	10 10
Chipleader	Call		800.00	2000.00	34371.25
D	Call		800.00	2800.00	31580.00
E	Fold
A	Fold
B	Check
Flop
		3 10 2
B	Check
Chipleader	Check
D	Bet		1400.00	4200.00	30180.00
B	Fold
Chipleader	Raise		2800.00	7000.00	31571.25
D	Raise		7700.00	14700.00	22480.00
Chipleader	All-in		31571.25	46271.25	0.00
D	All-in		22480.00	68751.25	0.00
Chipleader	Unmatched bet		2791.25	65960.00	2791.25
Chipleader	Show	A A
D	Show	10 10
Turn
		J
River
		J
D	Win	Full House, 10s and Jacks	65960.00		65960.00

YOUNG_GUN

Dont shove pre unless less then 10 bb or you have been shoving past 4+ hands pre and someone has said they will call next! dont call with them ever!

if deepstack 3-4 x initial raise if couple of limpers add bb per limp, after flop you have to rely on your reads sometimes you gotta fold them others you wont and you will be behind

PS- I love aces

Tombmx

I wouldnt say he played them wrong, He did just walk into a better hand after the flop, Ok you hit trips and he went all in over the top of you, But if I was sat there with aces, I'd of been convinced there good, he could of put you on A10, or K10.

Must of been nice to beat the aces though ;P

BADBOY985

cant see how you can decide how your going to play any hand in a mtt with out taking into account how the tables playing,time in tourniment,relative stack sizes.
with any strong starting hand where you are looking to get paid out the fewer callers the stronger your hand is the more callers the more chances of a bad beat.
cant agree with tomb your guy couldnt have played them more wrong yes he lost to trips and yes if he shoves preflop the result would be the same.but by letting the bb see a free flop gives him no range on what the bb has got therefore has no clue what impact the flop has.

Mr_Miyagi

I play pocket aces the same way I make love to Young_Gun

I don't stick everything in too quickly unless I am very desperate and don't mind if I make a mess.

pryce6

lol how did you not raise pre?

YOUNG_GUN

In Response to Re: How do you play pocket aces?:

I play pocket aces the same way I make love to a woman. I don't stick everything in too quickly unless I am very desperate and don't mind if I make a mess.
Posted by Mr_Miyagi

woman?? u telling porkies Mr M ;-)

great analogy

Mr_Miyagi

In Response to Re: How do you play pocket aces?:

In Response to Re: How do you play pocket aces? : woman?? u telling porkies Mr M ;-) great analogy
Posted by YOUNG_GUN

corrected it now, sorry about that.

YOUNG_GUN

dats better! love u xx

Mr_Miyagi

it was the bra and suspenders you wore last night, confused me.

And how you insisted on me calling you Angel.

YOUNG_GUN

shhhhh miyagi told you not to tell anyone gawd! no repeat tonight for you

MaundyD1

I think that hand played it self really. If you have aces in that position then you should think you are good. If you fold in that situation i think you are a bad player because how can you put your player on a set? they could have kk,qq,jj and as overpairs they are soo strong. The only thing i wud say negatively about the play with aces is that maybe calling the raise rather than pushing would be better. See what happens on the turn, there is still enough in the pot to stack off and if you feel as though you are behind folding would look better. This would mean your opponent is more likely to call in more situations.

YOUNG_GUN

only negative calling the raise? huh they called pre with aces thats terrible

fair point cant really put anyone on a set cause they didnt ask them any questions!

MaundyD1

the only negative i meant was pushing whereas calling the 3 bet would have been alot better. and you can re assess on the turn

beaneh

fold aces pre. you always lose a big pot.

silentbob

One question, why no raise pre with the 10's? You're 5 handed with a premium hand & imo the dead money in the middle is worth picking up. The chip leader isn't gonna have a bigger pp there every time.

Mr_Miyagi

This is a "How do you play pocket aces?" thread bob!

If you want to find out about 10's then your going to have to make another thread or I am going to have to report you for going off topic.

Eagle26

i dont like ur limp behind with the 10's at all & i aint a massive fan of ur 3bet on the flop, especially with the stack sizes, ur so far ahead on this board and in position. ur lucky the villian did limp with AA here because majority of hands fold to ur 3bet.

CLIOKID

Personally I like to min-raise them to disguise the strength of my hand.

I then min-bet all the way to the river. And then shove the river when the board is KKQTT. Hand is soooo well disguised.

scrumdown

never never limp in with aces u gopt 5 or 6 players going to the flop aces no chance at most u want 2 callers only time limp from under the gun hopeing someone will do the raise for u or if u got a manic thats raiseing every hand any 2