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How to
Play Pocket Rockets: Beginning Strategies
While pocket A’s are the strongest beginning hand
in Texas Hold ‘Em, it is also one of the hardest hands to play because
the potential for getting burned badly. Yet if you act too rashly, you
may get very little out of the hand, wasting a rare opportunity to gain
a big leg up on your opponents. So how do you maximize the value of
pocket A’s without getting burned badly for a large portion (if not all)
of your chips. There are a few various strategies to play pocket aces,
and we will go through them one by one.
This is a gutsy move that makes a lot of sense, but
can also back fire. To receive maximum value, you have to know what
types of players are at the table with you. Are they loose and like to
play a lot of hands? Are there “calling stations” who always believe
you’re bluffing no matter what? Are there major bluffers, or a bunch of
very conservative players? To make an all in free flop pay off, you
usually need a late position after a lot of loose players and bluffers
made decent sized bets, or you need a table of calling stations and bad
players. If you’re playing at a solid table, most likely you will end
up only stealing the blinds.
Then why play this way? Because if you get called
and your hand holds out, you will double up or even better, and
completely maximize your profits. The other reason to play this is to
actually reduce bad beats. How often have you slow played aces to get
the most out of them, only to see something ridiculous pop up, like
runner runner flush cards on the turn and river, or a second jack to
give someone trips, or a broken straight? Also, what if that pair of
twos that would have folded to a big bet hits trips? If you go all in
early, these hands will most likely fold, meaning you’ll avoid more of
the big losses pocket aces can lead to when you get in a bad situation.
- Raise respectably pre-flop
This is often a more popular method than the
pre-flop all in, and can also be a better play. In theory, a
respectable bet will scare off less players than an all in, allowing
more calls, and therefore a bigger pot that can be yours for the taken.
At the same time, most chasers will be scared off, leaving you to face
the types of hands you want to face—especially if they are holding A-K
or A-Q, which means you have them all but buried.
The other plus side is that if something extremely
scary hits on the flop, you can read your opponent and possibly fold,
avoiding that freak all in call where a player gets lucky and beats
you. Judge your table before making this bet. If you have ace of
spades and ace of diamonds and the flop is Q hearts, J hearts, T hearts,
one person raises, another goes all in and another calls—then you should
leave.
Using these two methods will help you maximize your
profits and minimize your losses at the poker table.
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