The best starting hand in Texas Holdem is a pair of aces which is commonly known as pocket aces. You’re not going to be dealt pocket aces on a regular basis, but one thing that’s for sure is you need to make money when you’re dealt them. Having everyone fold preflop when you have pocket aces is one of the worst feelings that you’ll experience at the poker tables. In order to avoid this feeling we’re going to walk you through some simple tips that will assist you in making the most money with your pocket aces.
* Most everest poker players try to slow play their pocket aces when they’re dealt them to try and entice other players to build the pot up. This will possibly work if you’re on a table with a couple loose players, but if the table is full of tight players it’ll be hard to limp into the pot preflop. The problem with limping into the pot with pocket aces, is that if nobody else raises the pot there will most likely be a few other limpers come along for the ride.
* Some Full Tilt Poker Download players will try and raise the pot preflop, but they end up putting way to much money into the pot and nobody comes along for the ride. The worst thing you want to do is over-raise the pot preflop and have nobody else call. For instance, if the blinds are $1/$2 a common raise would be to $7-$12 depending on your table. If you come out firing $20-$25 preflop you’re most likely going to see everyone fold unless you get lucky and your opponent has pocket queens or kings or something.
* The best thing to do when you have pocket aces is make a small raise. If the blinds are $1/$2 then I would try raising to like $5-$7 depending on how you play. It’s important that the raise looks like any normal raise you’d make with a marginal hand. If your opponents are attentive they may notice the small raise and fold because they’ll feel like they’re being trapped, but if the raise seems normal you’ll tend to draw in more action.
* If you end up being re-raised on the flop then you definitely want to always re-raise your opponent. The size of your opponent’s raise will determine how much you raise, but going all-in isn’t out of the question. If you both have deep stacks on the table then I would only do a minimum raise to try and make your opponent shove all-in.
* If you end up making it to the flop you need to begin being careful with how you’re betting. You need to take a good look at the flop to determine if they’re any straight or flush draws. If the board pairs this is also a problem because now your opponent could have a set. If the flop doesn’t look that scary then you definitely want to come out firing at this point to try and take down the pot. I would make a pot-sized bet when playing at this point to find out where you stand. If you end up being raised then you might be losing the hand to either a set or two pairs.
* If you’re called or have been raised on the flop when there aren’t any draws you need to be careful on the turn and river. If you think your opponent is on a draw then you should continue betting on the turn so that your opponent doesn’t get a free card to make his hand.