I wish to quickly discuss a few techniques you can use to determine whether it's time to fold pocket aces. To maximize profit with them, I make a conscious effort to minimize my losses when I am clearly going to lose a showdown.Īt the end of the day, if I lose less with AA, my profit on them will be much greater. In the long term, I look at the profitability of my pocket aces rather than the number of times they win or lose. JOIN NOW The 'Profitability' of Pocket Aces So while the aces won and lost the same amount of times, he lost money overall. When he had the aces against three opponents on a dangerous board, he lost 5 small bets and two large bets.When he had the aces against me, he won 4 small bets.He then proceeded to check and call them the whole way, even after the turn was a Q ♦ and the river was a repeat 10.īy the action on the flop and turn, it was obvious that a pair of aces had almost no chance of winning the pot. The flop came 10 ♦ 9 ♦ 8 ♥.Īfter the bet, the pot was raised and then re-raised. He raised preflop and three players called. Later that night, this same player was dealt a pair of aces - again. He simply put the handbrake on too easily.

In total, he won 4 small bets from me with pocket aces when he was a fairly large favourite. We both checked the river and he had A x A x. On the river, a 9 ♦ fell which may have completed a straight draw (if I had it). On the turn, a 7 ♥ fell and he checked, so I checked behind him. He raised preflop from a middle position and I called in a late position with QJ. I recall one particular night where an opponent encapsulated what I'm talking about. Read also: Common Poker Tells: How to Read People in Poker What is relevant is how much I won or lost with them.

But the number of times it won is somewhat irrelevant. It is highly beneficial if you can find a hand that holds up that frequently. If I recorded the last 100 times I had pocket aces, I would probably find that they won the pot around 60% of the time. In case you don't already know, poker is a game of maximizing wins (when you have the best hand) and minimizing loss (when you don't have the best hand). Don't Bet Dangerous Flops in Multi-Way Pots.

What beats 4 aces in poker