More Hold’Em Strategy from CarbonPoker: Pocket Rockets
It’s the best possible hand you can get in Texas Hold’em and it demands that you jam the pot pre-flop to capitalize on your good fortune. Yes pocket aces are what everyone hopes to have in their hand before the cards are dealt since they give a player so many options. Of course pocket aces alone doesn’t guarantee success by any measure and can even be a disadvantage later on for those who don’t know how to play them. That’s why you need to know how to play pocket aces on the flop, turn, and river as well.
Starting with pre-flop play, you’ll want to limit the amount of players staying past the flop, but you will also want one or two players in the hand. The reason for this is that you can’t let too many people into the hand or someone may hit their draw, yet you also need to make some money off of those aces.
When you bet pre-flop, you should make a raise that is at least 3 times the big blind so you only get called by a couple of players. Sure this may cause everyone to fold at times, but it is definitely necessary since you don’t want a bunch of people in the pot that could hit drawing hands. If an extremely aggressive player happens to be at the table you can limp in if you’re certain they will make a raise thus allowing you to re-raise.
Once the flop is on the table you’ll need to start weighing your options based on the cards dealt. If an ace lands on the flop you are definitely golden and likewise with a bad flop like 3s-8d-5h. In this case, there is little chance that anyone has a better hand than you. However, you need to be careful when a flop like Jd-10h-Qd lands because there is flush and inside straight opportunities on the board along with the possibility that someone hit a two-pair. If any tight players are betting heavily into this flop then simply fold if the raises are too high.
On the turn you’ll need to be especially careful if you don’t have anything better than a pair since aces don’t guarantee a win. Once again look at the board, watch who’s betting, and remember how they’ve been playing the entire game. However, if you’ve got a set of aces and the board does not look something like Ah-Qh-Jh then you’re probably in the lead and can check to fake weakness.
If you’ve managed to trap someone on the river with trip aces then you’ll want to check-raise an aggressive player or simply raise enough to where you think a tight player will call. But remember that a pair of aces may not be the best hand at this point and don’t fall into any check-raise traps yourself at this point.
