I’m not sure any starting hand in Hold’em inspires more debate than ace-king. The debate usually centers around how the hand should be played pre-flop in tournaments; one player might advocate a flat-call in a situation that another player would five-bet in. How aggressive you should play ace-king will depend on stack sizes, position, your opponent, and your image.
Everyone knows to open ace-king regardless of your stack size or position. The difficult situations are knowing when to get aggressive with ace-king pre-flop, and when to just call a raise (or three-bet) made in front of you. Although position plays a large role, it’s easiest to discuss these scenarios by effective stack sizes.
When you’re in a situation with 20 effective big-blinds or less, ace-king is (essentially) always a hand to get all-in with pre-flop; regardless of position. I guess maybe if the tightest player I’d ever seen open raised under-the-gun with a twenty blind stack and I was next to act with ace-king then I might flat call…but baring something that extreme, you can be comfortable getting all-in with ace-king at this stack size.
When you’re working with effective stack sizes between 25 and 45 big-blinds, you’ll often be re-raising ace-king pre-flop with the intention of getting all-in, but there’s more room for discretion. In some cases, you may be facing an opponent where you think ace-king plays better as a flat call — such as an opponent that’s tight pre-flop and weak post-flop who raises in early position. There can also be cases where ace-king presents an opportunity to trap players behind you: if you’re sitting on 40 blinds and facing an early position raise with ace-king, it may be better to call if there are shorter stacks behind that could go all-in (sometimes you should call if the open raiser goes all-in, and sometimes you should fold… knowing when will be player dependent).
When you’re playing ace-king with effective stack sizes between 50 and 80 blinds, you’ll still be re-raising in most situations, but how aggressive you can be becomes very position and player dependent. For example, if you raise a 60 blind stack on the button and a capable player in the small blind three-bets you, it’s likely correct to four-bet with the intention of getting all-in. But if you raise a 60 blind stack in early position and a capable player behind you three-bets, it’s likely best to just call the raise and play out the hand post-flop.
Ace-king is still a re-raising hand early in the tournament — when average stacks are 100 blinds are more — but its unlikely a good idea to get all-in pre-flop. Of course, there might be some wild players who vastly overvalue inferior hands, but in most cases, you should re-raise ace-king against an open with the intention of just calling if your opponent four-bets (and maybe folding if they’re tight and make a huge four bet).
When we talk about how to play a hand like pocket kings, what we’re really talking about is how to maximise the amount of value with extract from our hand. Anyone familiar with the rules of hold’em knows what to do with kings pre-flop: get the money in as soon as possible. Our main task with kings concerns how to convince our opponent to put all of his money into the pot, and that’s what we’ll talk about here.
Of course, not all decisions with pocket kings are made pre-flop, but explaining how to play kings post flop is a topic that needs more than a few hundred words, and one that would benefit from some example hands to demonstrate when to be aggressive or when to be cautious. For the sake of simplicity, this article will mostly deal with playing kings pre-flop.
Early in a tournament, when the stacks are deep in relation to the blinds, a typical goal with pocket kings is to bloat the size of the pot pre-flop. However, if you’re going to employ this strategy, you need to have more hands in your re-raising range than just big pairs and ace-king because if you only play the best hands this way, it becomes easy for thinking players to read the strength of your hand, giving them an unnecessary advantage post-flop. To accomplish this, you can add hands that are both strong and play well post-flop to your re-raising range early in the tournament. I’m talking hands such as suited aces, medium suited connectors, suited broadways, and ace-queen or ace-jack. Whether you should re-raise or call with these hands will still be situation and opponent dependent, but re-raising with non-premium hands will disguise your strength when you pick something as big as pocket kings.
In the mid stages of the tournament, once the antes have kicked in, you’ll still usually be re-raising with kings pre-flop, although there will also be some conditions where flat-calling a raise is the better play. An example of this is when the original raiser is unlikely to call a three-bet out of position, but is likely to fire multiple barrels post flop with their draws and pairs. Additionally, if there’s a player behind you that’s prone to making squeeze plays (making a re-raise after there’s been a raise and a call) then just calling with kings gives you an opportunity to trap them.
Late in the tournament, when the blinds and antes are high relative to the chip stacks, you can re-raise or call with your kings pre-flop, but it’s often the case that re-raising is the superior play. That’s because you’ll also be attacking your opponents with marginal hands pre-flop in order to win the blinds and antes with a light three-bet, which is more profitable at this stage of the tournament than earlier levels. As you’ll be re-raising lighter more often, it’s helpful to also do this with the strongest hands in your range, since your opponents will sometimes not give you credit for a strong hand and try to force you to fold with a four-bet.
And what should you do with pocket-kings if your opponent four-bets? Shove it in their face of course!
Pocket queens are unquestionably a premium hand in no limit Texas Hold’em, but there’s a large disparity between how confident you feel with queens and how confident you feel with kings or aces. As there are more nuance to playing pocket queens, new players often consider them a ‘trouble hand’ and alter their raise sizes to protect their hand, which we know is usually a mistake.
Usually, when we’re dealt one of the top two pairs in a poker tournament our objective is to get all the money in pre-flop. However, with pocket queens, we can’t be as eager to sling our chips in the middle without considering the possibility that we’re behind and the deeper the stacks become, the less likely it is that getting queens all-in pre-flop is a good idea. That said, it’s a mistake to play your queens too cautiously in a tournament because they are still the third best hand in Hold’em. How aggressive you should be about playing them pre-flop should be determined stack sizes (the effective stack sizes of the players involved), image (both yours, and the players your against) and position.
The most important factor is stack sizes. You can get pocket queens in for 20 big blinds pre-flop in any situation and it’s likely to be the correct play. With 30 to 60 blinds, you’ll probably be re-raising your queens pre-flop and trying to get the money in, but if the player is tight or raised from early position it may be better to flat-call his initial raise instead of three-betting with the intention of getting the money in. And if you have 60 blinds or more, you should still probably three-bet your queens pre-flop, but you should also consider folding them to further action if a very tight player puts in a fourth or fifth raise for a ton of his chips.
That’s why paying attention to a player’s image — or the general dynamic at the table — is so important for determining how to play a hand like queens. Against very aggressive players, queens should be treated like kings and aces with your goal is to re-raise them pre-flop and try to get all the money in. Conversely, if your opponent barely open raises and never three-bets without a premium hand, then your queens might play better as a flat-call with the intention of continuing cautiously post-flop. The advantage of going post-flop with passive players is that you’ll often have a clear sense of where you are in the hand.
Of course, your position always effects the relative strength of your hand. If someone raises under-the-gun with 50 blinds, and you have 50 blinds behind them, it’s likely you should just call your queens. But if the cut-off raises 50 blinds, and you have the same stack on the button with pocket queens, then you have to get into a raising war.
So how should you play pocket queens? It’s the same answer as always with poker: It depends.
How to play pocket queens
While Tony is correct in saying it is situation and opponent dependent on how you play pocket queens, this poker tutorial video gives you a great example. Be sure to check it out!
Because pocket jacks can vary from spearheading one of the strongest in the hand to being barely worth a call, they are often thought of as a ‘trouble hand’ by beginners. It’s pocket jacks’ lack of clarity that creates trouble for less experienced players.
When playing pocket jacks in tournament poker the primary factor to consider is stack size, both yours and your opponents.
In situations where you have twenty blinds or less, you’ll typically try to get all-in pre-flop unless there’s an incredible amount of action in front of you.
The situation becomes more complicated when bumped up to 30 blinds. You’re likely going to raise and probably want to get all-in pre-flop. But sometimes jacks should be just called pre-flop. If you’re a couple of seats behind with pocket jacks and thirty blinds, when a tight player raises under the gun, you should just call and proceed cautiously post-flop.
From 40 to 50 blinds a full range of plays open up. If there’s a raise in front you can call, re-re-raise with the intention to go all-in, or re-re-raise with the intention to fold – a play more seldom used as it essentially means you’ve turned pocket jacks into a bluffing hand. The jacks should be called if the opponent who open-raised is tight. If aggressive, however, you should re-re-raise with the intention of going all in or playing a larger pot post-flop.
Pocket jacks can also be an ideal hand to trap with pre-flop. If you find yourself in a situation where opponents behind you have short stacks and you’re in two minds about calling or re-raising with pocket jacks pre-flop, you should, to compel one of your opponents into going after the dead money, lean towards calling.
I won an important pot when I played jacks that way at the Bellagio $10,000 WPT event in 2012. Numerous other professionals were short-stacked and I entered day three of the tournament with an average stack. I had around 60 big blinds and a player that covered me raised in early position. I was in middle position with the jacks and elected to call, both trying to minimise my loss if the early position player had a big hand while hoping that a short-stack would shove behind.
The action folded to the button, who was sitting with a little over 20 blinds. The button went all in and, when it folded to the player who raised, I hoped he’d also fold. He thought a while and released his hand, which is when I quickly called. The player on the button had pocket sevens and was a big dog with a hand that he would’ve folded had I re-re-raised. My pocket jacks held up and I had the chips needed to make a run in the tournament.
Playing small pairs in hold’em can be awkward because unless they flop a set, they can be difficult to win with when the hand goes to showdown. Exactly what qualifies as a small pair is relative to the situation, but for the purpose of this article we’ll say small pairs are pocket twos through to pocket fives.
How you should play small pairs is mostly dependent on your stack size and the effective stack size in the hand; that is, the smaller stack that can be put at risk. The deeper or larger your stack is, the more profitable it becomes to play small pairs due to the high implied odds on hitting a set.
You’ll flop a set around 1 in 8 times, but that doesn’t mean you should call a raise with small pairs any time it’s for ~10% of your stack or less, which is a common error made by casual players. Just because you flopped a set doesn’t mean you’ll double up, and don’t think that because you called pre-flop you’ll get to the flop because someone may make a squeeze play on you. However, early in tournaments, when effective stacks are around 200 blinds, you can call a raise and re-raise with a small pair and still be getting the necessary price to do so.
As the average stacks in the tournament become more shallow, your options with small pairs become limited. If you’re hovering in that familiar area of 20 to 40 big blinds, small pairs should often be folded in early position. You can open for a raise with them in middle and late position, and if you’re re-raised you face a difficult decision. Most of the time you should just fold in this situation, but some players are so aggressive that small pairs become good hands to four-bet shove with over their three-bet.
If you raise a small pair and are met with a call, you’ll typically either turn your hand into a bluff post-flop if the texture is good for you to represent, or try to get to showdown cheaply if the texture is good to induce bluffs with. It’s rare that you’ll make a hand that you can bet confidently on multiple streets, so be cautious when you get post-flop with small pairs.
When your stack is below 20 blinds, small pairs become good hands to move in with pre-flop. Exactly how many blinds you should shove in what position is something that takes practice and comes with experience, but the basic idea is that small pairs have plenty of equity preflop yet are hard to play post flop, so moving all-in with short stacks is the ideal play.
Should you have active, loose-playing opponents in middle and late position, small pairs are good hands to move-in with over after your opponent has raised as long as they’re not the type of players to call shoves with suited connectors, which are actually a favourite against small pairs.
Check out this instructional video about small pocket pairs
