PokerWorks

The other night I was watching the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event final table and saw a hand take place between Scott Fischman and Ivan Demidov. I don't remember the exact details but it basically went down like this: Demidov opened the action with pocket kings. Fischman flat called with pocket aces. Every one else folded. The flop came A-x-x all spades. Demidov did not have a spade and checked. Fischman bet his top set and Demidov folded having lost the minimum. The hand got me to thinking about why flat calling in this situation is such a bad play and I thought I'd write a quick article discussing the pros and cons of slow playing aces. As you'll see the cons far outweigh the pros, at least in my opinion.

Advantages to slow playing aces

1)    Disguises your hand – if you're the type of player that calls a lot of raises in position, calling with aces will keep your hand well disguised and could lead to getting additional value from the pre-flop raiser post-flop.
2)    Varies your play and keeps you unpredictable – not letting your opponents get a read on you is an important part of being a successful poker player. If you always raise with your big pairs and never call, you'll become too predictable and your opponents will be able to make correct decisions based upon this.
3)    Let's you pick up additional value from hands that would fold to a pre-flop re-raise – a problem with re-raising a raise from a smart, aggressive player with pocket aces is that they will often fold and you won't get any additional value for your hand.

Disadvantages to slow playing aces

1)    You let your opponent make a good decision rather than a bad one – look at the Demidov-Fischman hand as a prime example. In that hand, Demidov was able to get away from the hand at minimal cost. If Fischman, however, had not slow played pre-flop, it's very likely that all the chips would have gone in the middle and he would have doubled up.
2)    You lose value from opponents who will likely call a pre-flop re-raise – if you make a correct raise amount, most opponents are going to call you pre-flop to see the flop. I know this seems like a simple thing to say, but any additional chips you can get is a good thing. By slow playing, you're not giving yourself this opportunity.
3)    You don't know where you are at. A problem with slow playing is that you don't define your opponents hand. If you re-raise you're going to get more information. If they fold, they obviously had trash and you can note that for future reference. If they call, they more than likely have a speculative hand and you can base your post-flop decisions on that. If they re-raise, they probably have a very strong hand (and here you could make an argument for slow playing because you have gained additional value and have more information about your opponent’s hand).

What is the best course of action to take then with pocket aces? There will be times slow playing is correct (and this will be the topic of a future article), but the majority of the time you should raise. The question that must be answered then is how much to raise. That answer will always vary dependent upon the players in the pot with you, how many players are in the pot with you, their likelihood for calling a raise, and the amount they will likely call. Your raise amount should not be so large as to scare off an opponent, nor should it be so small as to invite everyone to call.

Before I wrap this up I want to go through a couple of scenarios that compares slow playing aces versus raising with them.

Scenario #1 – your opponent has raised to three times the big blind in middle position with 5-4 suited. The button flat calls with pocket 8's. You just call with pocket aces. The flop comes Q-6-3. You lead out and are called by both players. The turn is a 7. You lead out and are raised by the pre-flop raiser. The pocket 8's folds. You think your opponent's range is something along the lines of A-Q or K-Q and move all in and are eliminated.

Scenario #1a – same scenario as above except this time you re-raise out of the big blind to nine times the big blind total bet. The initial pre-flop raiser folds and the button – thinking you are making a squeeze play – moves all in. You double up through his mistake.

Scenario #2 – a very aggressive player opens the pot in a short  handed game with pocket kings. You flat call on the button with pocket aces. The flop comes A-x-x with three spades. Your opponent checks, you make a small 1/3 the pot bet and your opponent folds.

Scenario #2a – same scenario as above except this time you make a very small raise of just above minimum (this is the amount you think your opponent will call with a trash hand). Your opponent re-raises you. He's capable of doing this on a move. You put in a fourth raise, this time moving all in. He quickly calls you and you double up.

Those are very generic examples (although #2 is an exact replica of the Demidov-Fischman hand) but I think you can see where there is more value to be obtained from playing aces fast. An additional benefit that I didn't mention earlier is that it sets up potential bluffs from weaker hands. If your opponents see you play aces strong a certain way, you can do the same thing with a much lesser hand and leave your opponents guessing. This is a much better way of varying your play and making yourself unpredictable than just calling. Raise with those aces – in the long run, you'll be glad you did.