How to Play Pocket Aces - AA Preflop Strategy I was involved in a discussion on a poker forum once about how to play pocket aces preflop in a no limit Texas holdem game. I usually limp with AA from early position in a no limit Texas holdem game, because I want someone with a pair of 10's or better to raise behind me. Then I can put them all-in or make a huge reraise on them. My friends at the poker forum thought I was crazy, but I still think I'm right.

I've seen poker authors say that pocket aces more or less play themselves because they're such a strong hand. But all hands could stand up to some discussion and thought, and even though AA is going to only come up 1 time out of every 221 hands, it's still worth talking about. I'll present some varying opinions about how to play AA below. (Since I've already shared my opinion in the preceding paragraph.)

John Vorhaus - Slowplay Aces, Go To Hell

John Vorhaus is one of my favorite poker writers. I've read all of his Killer Poker books, and I plan to re-read them all again this year. Over on Ultimate Bet, he wrote some preflop strategy articles, and one of them is specifically about playing big pairs preflop in no limit Texas holdem. Vorhaus offers 3 reasons NOT to slowplay aces:

When you slowplay pocket aces, you let bad hands see the flop cheap. It's hard to put him on a hand, and most people, having pocket aces, are going to play the flop aggressively no matter how their opponent bets. Since you let him see the flop cheap with his bad preflop hand, you're likely to get all your chips in and be beaten.
Pocket aces are a favorite to win a pot against 1, 2 or 3 other players. But if you've got 4 people or more in the pot with you, pocket aces aren't a favorite anymore. Raising preserves your edge.
Getting money into the pot by raising with your pocket aces is a likely way of making the pot big. If you don't put money into the pot, then you're not building the pot.

Vorhaus contends that the reason most players slowplay pocket aces is because they get emotional about them. They come along so rarely that players don't want to waste them by just stealing the blinds. And as Vorhaus points out, stealing the blinds is better than letting 78 suited into the pot cheap and having them take your whole stack.

He also points out that if you don't get any action when you raise with pocket aces, it's possible that you're not raising often enough preflop with other kinds of hands.

Harrington on Pocket Aces

Dan Harrington's advice on poker strategy in Harrington on Hold'em is aimed at tournament play, but looking at his thoughts on pocket aces preflop is worthwhile for ring games too. Harrington suggests that if you're playing online and no one has entered the pot yet, you should always raise with AA, KK or QQ preflop. His opinion is that slowplaying aces is a way to prevent players from getting a read on you, and players online don't meet up often enough for that to matter. He suggests that in real tournaments you raise with these hands in this situation 80% of the time and just limp in 20% of the time.

A lot of the better players online track their opponents' play pretty closely though, so I think it's not a bad idea to vary your play with these hands from time to time too. don't think you're giving up much by limping 20% of the time online either.

Harrington's a big fan of varying your bet sizes too. He suggests that 35% of the time you raise 3 times the big blind, 35% of the time raising 2 times the big blind, 15% of the time raising 2 times the big blind, and 15% of the time raising 5 times the big blind. I think this is excellent advice, although it runs counter to a lot of the online wisdom which says that by always making the same size raise preflop you're not giving anything away. To me, varying your raise sizes is a better way of not giving anything away.

Harrington says that going all-in preflop with AA should be a rare move, since you do want to win some money, not just the blinds. All in bets discourage action. The only time you might make this move is if you were at an active table where you had already seen some all in bets get called, and even then, you wouldn't make this move a lot.

In late position, Harrington suggests not raising more than 3 times the big blind with your AA. You want to look like you're trying to steal the big blind. I think if you've had some action before you, like a raise and a re-raise, going all in preflop is a good move though.

Phil Hellmuth on AA

In Hellmuth's book Play Poker Like the Pros, he gives different advice to players with different levels of experience. His advice to beginners is to go all in preflop with AA, KK, QQ, or AK. He does discuss trying to trap other players with pocket aces, but he also points out that it's a risky proposition that might result in a lot of disappointment. It's a little unclear in this section of the book whether Hellmuth means you should raise with AA with the willingness to go all in after a re-raise, or if he means you should just push no matter what. (I say this because later in the section he mentions having someone re-raise behind you, even though he said you should push all-in in the preceding paragraph. If you're all-in, you can't really be re-raised afterward, hence the uncertainty.)

I'm not sure that pushing all in every time you have 1 of these hands is the best strategy preflop. I think it will discourage action and leave you winning some very small pots.

Doyle Brunson's Super/System Advice on AA and KK

In early position, Doyle Brunson suggests limping in with AA or KK. He also says that if he's in middle position, and no one else has come in, he'll play it the same way. In late position he'll raise with them, hoping that someone will re-raise him and he can put them all-in. If other players have come in or bet, then he raises with AA or KK.

Raising with Pocket Aces Preflop in No Limit Texas Holdem

The consensus seems to be that raising with pocket aces is a good strategy, but slowplaying them sometimes makes sense too. Much of it is situational. Steve Badger writes over and over again on his website that you shouldn't be reading articles looking for specific instructions for how to play specific hands. You should instead learn how to think about the game and make decisions based on a rational thought process.

The thoughtful, rational approach to playing AA preflop is the best strategy of all.

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