I was just wondering what you should generally be aiming to do with aces in a live cash game. Do we want all the money before the flop or do we play the aces slow like any other normal pair.

Lets look at these situations....

-one player raises and another player re-raises. This is an easy all in for you right?
-a solid experienced player raises and it's folded to you. Call? Raise? The flop comes King-10-9 with two hearts and the player bets strong do we want to keep the pot small or what do we want to do.



I know I haven't given an actual set situation with reads and whatnot. But I'm just wondering what other philosphies there are to playing aces instead of the IM ALL IN PREFLOP or I'm all in on the flop.


I'm new to the game and just need some insightful advice.

Hmmmm ... the losing ones?


Seriously, I play them hard and fast every time. Slowplaying them NEVER works.

I agree with this. I've had good luck with Aces in cash games. Taken some bad beats too. But I'd rather get my money in when I am still good rather than banking on them late in the hand when the guy has 2 pair already.

Definitely play them fast and furious.

What more could you ask for than getting your aces AIPF against ANY hand?

Well, I wasn't really implying slowplaying but... I was just thinking Aces are definetly always a favorite but it's not always going to be the winner of the hand. Maybe we can see a flop and maybe a turn and we can get away from our aces. Pair of aces might not be the nuts after the flop.


Basically my main question is are we able to get rid of pocket aces after the flop and turn with a seperated board.

Generally I get cute with aces behind a 3-bet. I'm not gonna lie.

Everything you could ever want to know about playing AA is in SuperSystem. Anything you see here will not be nearly as insightful.

I agree, Scott. If I'm in position, and there is a raise and a re-raise in front of me, I'm gonna splash around and just flat call at times.

The philosophy of having to get it all-in preflop, in my mind, is -EV. You have to realize there are people out there that will put it all in with top top after a flop when you can get their chips in that way, too. Or even if they have a smaller pocket pair and you see a flop of all unders.... you're def. getting their money that way. I think it's VERY situational... and not an ALWAYS preflop decision.

Indeed. Super System outlines playing AA very well.

Personally, I play Aces and Kings fast and furious preflop trying to get as much money in as humanly possible. But if I threebet and the villian just flat calls, then you start to play them very, very slow. No slowplay mind you, but carefully. Playing your aces carefully and sensing out your opponent after the flop comes down is the best way to play aces.

Wrong.

If I can get into a raised pot heads up with AA then I will flat call...on occasion. It depends on the opponent though. I'll let a loose cannon do the betting for me. Otherwise if it's a solid opponent I'll play it straight forward as a smart player at times may pick up quickly and know something's up. It's risky, but it will result in large pots if played right.

If it looks like it may be a multi-way pot and I have AA, then I'm putting in a solid raise everytime. Get it heads up or be happy with whatever you can pick up preflop if they fold to you.

Every so often at a very aggressive table, I might limp with AA UTG and hope someone raises. The only caution to this is you have to be willing to let it go if nobody raises and you end up in a multi-way pot on an ugly board.

You'll be money ahead getting the money in ahead. I don't know who you people are who can all make money letting the villain catch up to you ... I can't.

The fact that this is live makes it an even easier push / raise preflop.

People overplay hands preflop ALOT more live than online.

For instance: I have AA utg, and raise to 5x (normal raise for table), MP re-raises 15x, LP calls, I re-raise to 45x - Both call.

Flop Ad 8c 5d

I push all in, both call.

One tables A9o, other shows Q7dd. You WILL get payed off playing your Aces fast live.

I'd say I raise/reraise hard with aces preflop unless there's a specific consideration that tells me not to. I'd also say that most of the money in live $1/2 nl comes from identifying those considerations.

The main considerations that will affect my preflop decision with aces are:

1. My table image. If I've been running card dead, and particularly if I'm up against opponents who know my playing style, I'll give greater consideration to limping or making a small pot builder-type raise to $10. I'll particularly consider doing this if I have position, since I'd be more likely to make that same raise with 9-10s in that spot as well. Here I'm hoping to get AJ, KJ etc to decide my range is big enough that they need to look me up, while 9s or 10s are likely to reraise to "find out where they're at." Likewise, if I've been pestering the table with $10-$12 raises and it seems like someone is gearing up to outplay me sometime soon, I'll make one of these smaller raises because I want them to decide this is the right moment.

2. Any particularly exploitable opponents? You get some oddball players at the intro tables who have distinctly exploitable strategies. Sometimes you can make a huge raise preflop because you'll have a see-any-flop-at-any-price opponent. They don't exist at higher limits live. Sometimes you'll have a guy who plays reasonably preflop but tries to steal far too often postflop. If so, aces are fine for a rope-a-dope play, so long as you're willing to jettison that strategy if the board comes out too coordinated or you end up in a six-way limped pot. My point is that most players at higher limits have figured out that big pots are for big hands. There are some juicy opponents at 1/2 who don't get that yet. If you've identified one, you're job is to figure out the plays that can result in them making an are-you-kidding-me mistake, then wait around to set them up. I'm happy to play aces in a non-optimal way preflop if it lets me set up a highly profitable postflop situation.

I'll emphasize that these are exceptions to a general rule. The general rule is to play aces hard and fast. They play well in big pots, and generally $1/2 players are there to gamble. If you don't build a big pot preflop, it's going to be tough to get the money in there postflop unless you're up against a bigger hand than one pair. Most of the long-term profit at $1/2 comes from exploiting truly awful play, though -- I've won a lot of $500 pots when I held trips on a paired board and my drunk opponent decided going all-in with two pair would be cool, and all of that is excess profit that is basically unavailable at the higher stakes -- so identifying the people who make huge mistakes and then drawing up plays that will let you be the one to benefit is what separates normally solid players from the huge winners.

Thanks for all the replies and insight. Seems like there's alot of different approaches to playing aces.

To many times I've seen a ragged board and then two guys go all in only to show Aces vs 2Pair/Set.
Rarely do I see TP/TK vs Aces but I actually do see Aces vs OverPair alot.


Anyways I wanted to use this topic to make me believe that Aces are not always truly the nuts.

He doesn't mean letting the villian catch up to him, but rather just catch up a little. Preflop, if you're seen as a tight player, putting in a big three or four bet preflop is a tell tale sign of Aces or Kings. With Aces in general, if you are say, last to act, threebetting can be wrong if it is just going to be heads up against an aggressive player. The reason for this is that he will generally c-bet and we can take another bet out of him when he has air, or he'll flop something that we can get his stack with that we would otherwise not have gotten to see. Slowplaying Aces can be right, you just can't do it a lot. When you're at least 80-20 preflop, I don't mind slowplaying it heads up every now and then.

Also worth a mention:

"So when you flop a set of aces, you immediately go to betting, and you bet a large amount to prevent somebody from drawing at an inside straight cheaply. A good player will know it’s worth it to take a cheap draw at a belly straight, and if he makes it, he can break you."

-Doyle, 'Super System'

I forgot this earlier today, and was duly stacked.

i disagree. and this is coming from someone who plays nearly every big hand as hard as he can.

there are just sometimes in cash games where you're gonna need to slow play aces slow pf to stack QQ.

but OP, the answer to your question lies with time. eventually, you'll figure it out. until you do play em fast every time.

1. catching up a little with aces is beating them. If I played KJ against your AA and we flop QJ4, are you still advocating for letting me catch up by turning a K?

2. I'm not tight.

3 (and 4). With AA PF and you're last to act with more than one player in, and you don't raise, I think you're making a fundamental error. If you're last to act and you only ever raise with AA, I likewise think you are making a fundamental error. But we might be agreeing here, one of the few times I'm tempted to NOT raise AA is HU with a big raise in front of me. However, philosophically, I always want more money more money more money in the pot while I'm ahead.

I always want too play aces fast. There will of course be times where you should slow play them, but most of the time you should not. Think of it this way, when you slow play aces, you will ussually either win a small pot or lose a big one. The unlikely scenario is you slow play them, you flop a set and someone else flops 2 pair. A more likely a scenario, your aces miss the flop completely, and someone else flops a set/2 pair. Most players will lose alot of money in that situation.

the biggest variables for me are # of players and stack sizes.

i almost never slowplay unless it's probably going to be heads up.

when stacks get deeper, i flat call raises more often if i'm reasonably sure the flat call won't trigger a cascade of calls behind me. the reason i do this when deep is that a reraise either has to be very large in order to manipulate the pot size to minimize implied odds (both pre and post flop) - which often means the hand ends right there - or if it's a standard-sized reraise, we suffer by defining our hand to our opponent while simultaneously letting him call with a very wide range due to implied odds. don't get me wrong - i still reraise often w/AA when deep, but it serves more of an isolation purpose than a "fastplay, jam the pot" purpose.

Very, very true. A friend of mine, and myself have trolled many a home game trying to stack people with aces when we have gutshots when we get good implied odds, because a less advanced player is never folding Aces for any price, on any board, ever.



1. As I said, letting them catch up a little is flopping KJ on a QJ4 board. I said slowplaying them preflop, I never said anything about checking the flop when its something as uncoordinated as QJ4r. That flop is a strong bet every single hand. You're thinking by slowplaying AA, I mean you should check the flop and turn and check raise the river. Playing Aces softer, especially preflop has its advantages. AA is not the nuts after the flop, but it still plays like a very strong hand on boards like K 5 2, etc. If you have good radar, playing AA softer is not a big problem. And catching up a little is not catching up a lot, if you have that same KJ and the flop is K105, I'm taking bets out of you, and maybe even stacking you if you happen to be a fish.

2. I never said you were, I said "If you are seen as tight, putting in 3 or 4 bets with AA preflop when it is heads up is sometimes wrong, but def. not always wrong." When you're playing someone who is a hyper-aggressive, go for broke - pushing you around type of player, for instance, I'd say it is very wrong because that person is much more likely to stack you when they think you're weak.

3. Once again, I didn't say when there are multiple people in the pot, I said when it is heads up. If you don't raise when there is a raise and 3 calls to you preflop and you have Aces, you're a moron. If you raise from E-MP and get reraised by a rock, I can get it all-in easily even if I know it's going to be heads up. Against a more aggressive player, who would fold if I came back over the top because he is 3betting me light and I'm last to act, I don't mind calling occasionally. Say this lagtard donk has KQ. The flop comes K 10 4r. You check, he bets, you raise, and he blows up on you, Obv stack off.

Something else you said was getting more money in when you're ahead is something you like to do. That's obvious, who doesn't? But the thing is, when you have Aces, and you know you're opponent is 3-betting you lightly, what does bloating the pot up do when you know he's probably going to blow up and c-bet the flop and fold to a raise, but he'll also fold preflop? It loses you a very important thing called value. Some people are very, very afraid of getting sucked out on, and it causes them to lose value. Aces are a 4:1 favorite preflop, and if you aren't a complete psycho and can fold them on a bad board or against resistance from the wrong player, then slowplaying them occasionally def. has its advantages. Plus, if you never do slowplay them, people who have half a brain know exactly when you have them. As such they are much more likely to take one off on the flop with middle pair trying to bust you when they spike two pair or trips.

To quote Eric Lindgren, "Sometimes in No-Limit Hold'em, we vary our play." If you always do the same thing with the same hand, you become wide open, and exploitable.

One thing i think is important to remember is that if your playing short handed with people that are familliar with your style of play and you're hardly ever limping in (which isn't a bad strategy for short handed games), don't limp in with aces when you're first in.

Even if you have the button and it's folded to you, i still think it is the right move to raise because flat calling the blind will seem odd after you've been raising nearly every time you've been in the pot, they might not notice, but i don't advise playing aces in a shorthanded game differently than you'd play any other playable hand.

Obv.

Flatting the button with Aces against the blinds is the stupidest play ever. You'll have no idea what they have through the entire hand if it gets to a flop and you'll usually end up stacking off to them because you'll feel their range is so sick.

The only time I slowplay AA is when I have some jackass behind me who has been all in PF without them.

And by slowplay, I mean "limp."