Lose the love affair with the Ace

A tip for players fairly new to the game – lose the love affair with the ace this holds through for all forms of Hold Em and most other poker games. For the purpose of this article I am going to be referring to No Limit Hold Em where that any ace attitude can prove the most costly.

When starting off players get involved in poker when they see an ace in their hand they often think ‘Yes I’ve got an ace I’m playing.’ The quicker you can get out of that kind of thinking the better unless you are on the same table as me. Let’s say you are playing A8o in a no limit game and call with this in early position. I have seen many novices and poor players do this, they clearly don’t realise how bad this play is, if you wish to play the game properly it follows that any move you make in poker should have some reasoning behind it, if there is a reasoning for playing A8o type hands I tell you now it is severely flawed, let’s see why…

You have the classic kicker problem i.e. It is a reasonable proposition that another ace is out there and if it’s being played then the chances are that its side card is better than your 8, so even if you hit your high card you may still be behind.
Even if your ace is the only ace or the highest one there is still plenty of danger for you, for one somebody else could have flopped 2 pair and you are behind, even worse the solid no limit poker player thrives off pairs, there is every chance that somebody just hit one and your ace eight are all but useless then and you could lose a lot of money with a hand that should never been played in the 1st place.
Another point to heed well, if you are up against an experienced player he will have spotted that you fancy any ace and when one hits he’ll be wary unless he can beat a pair of aces, so one you win no more if he can’t beat your hand and secondly if he can beat it you will most likely lose a whole bundle of your chips.
Now for those who say yeah but what if ace 8 flops, well firstly the odds on this happening are not so good not impossible granted but not good nonetheless, by and large this would be a happy event of course and you may end up winning a sizable pot from another ace, but still plenty of ways for disaster to strike, a guy may have flopped a set(3 of a kind), you could get outdrawn by a better 2 pair, somebody catches a flush etc etc.
Another potential positive outcome, you get two 8’s on the flop, again this is even less likely than flopping 2 pair, the chances of you winning the pot with this kind of flop are pretty big and what you are hoping for is somebody else with an 8 of course, but in general it’s likely that you will just take down a small pot and as always there is the possibility of somebody catching a flush to beat you.

If you in anyway doubt this advice let me tell you that no less a figure than the legendary Doyle Brunson famed author of Super System 2 is so wary of the ‘Trouble Ace Factor’ that he refuses to even play AQo in a full ring game. And the more I play no limit poker the more wary of the ace I have become.

One point to note if the ace is suited it’s a totally different proposition as you will have the nut flush if it comes on that suit and if the stacks are large including your own then you are going to want to see the flop if that’s possible without it getting too expensive.

In summation then I recommend that in a full no limit game any Ace with kicker lower than Jack gets tossed without a second thought in early and mid position, I would be even wary in late position to be frank, even Ace jack or Ace Queen cannot take any serious heat and again the more I play No Limit the more I distrust these impostors.

If this comes as some sort of revelation then you may be asking yourself what hands should you be looking to play with in no limit hold em, Pairs – the higher the better in fact 2s 3s and 4s are often not playable. Why pairs? you will hit a set(3of a kind) with your pair less than 1 time in 7 but when you do you can be the guy wiping the floor with that guy who like his ace too much and of course there is nothing stopping you from winning the hand by other means, bluffing at an opportune time or maybe that pair of yours may even turn out to be the best hand , also suited connectors again the higher the bettor and any suited ace. Part of the strength of these type of hands is that they can often be hidden and you get called just when you want a call

So if you fit the bill of the guy who plays Ace Eight are worse make the step to stop this NOW and you will have made a big move forward in your game I guarantee it.

Senior Poker Columnist
Barry O'Callaghan
www.firbolg.com

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