When it comes to playing pocket aces, most people have a good idea in mind for what they’re going to do. For example, some people like to make a 3-4X the big blind raise, while other misguided souls shove their chip stack in without taking anything into account. In any case, many players have a one-track mind while playing their aces.
But truth be told, your ability to make money with aces in Hold’em will depend on how well you can adapt to the situation. For example, the stakes you play are going to have a large impact on what you can do with aces – especially preflop. After all, a 4X BB raise may not be enough to get the job done in micro stakes play, and you’ll get several callers afterward.
On the other hand, a 4XBB raise might force everybody to fold in the higher stakes – especially if you have a really tight table image. And this is never good since the goal with aces is to isolate one opponent and take their stack.
Moving along, you also have to consider what happens when someone 3- or 4-bets you. Are you going to merely call them and hope that your aces hold up on the flop, or will you risk making the opponent fold in order to get their stack into the middle preflop?
As mentioned before, these questions are going to be best answered when you take everything into account. For example, if you’re up against a tight opponent who 3-bets you preflop, it would be best to simply call instead of 4-betting because they might not be willing to call a 4-bet if they don’t have pocket kings of queens.
One more consideration to think about when it comes to playing aces is what turns up on the flop because in reality, all you have is a great pair; not a two pair, set, straight or flush. So if you isolate somebody and the flop looks pretty dangerous, you’re going to have to think about your opponent’s table image, as well as their betting actions. To sum this up, always keep analyzing your opponents so you know how to play your aces.
