Playing Big Pairs / Big Slick
This poker lesson will define big pairs to be Aces and Kings and we all know Big Slick to be Ace/King, including what many call a suited Ace/King – Super Slick. Some poker players do not distinguish a great deal of difference in the holding of one of the big pairs versus Big Slick. When any of these three land in their hands it’s off to the races – let the clutch out and put the pedal to the metal! Of course that is only some poker players.
Playing Pocket Aces
The odds of being dealt pocket Aces is 220-to-1 so it doesn’t occur nearly as often as we would wish. How you play your pocket Aces depends a lot on if you’re playing limit or no-limit, a cash game or a tournament and your position and the texture of the game. Does that sound like a lot of variables? Well nobody said this game of poker was easy. Generally across all these variables the strategy when dealt AA should be to raise aggressively pre-flop and continue to lead unless the board becomes scary. The whole purpose of playing them aggressively is that even though AA is the best possible starting hand in hold’em poker, it doesn’t play well in large fields. You are a favourite against two or three other players, but when you’re up against four random hands, you’re Aces become an underdog to the field.
Many poker players choose to slow play AA, particularly from early position by just limping in. We all know how annoying it is to raise with bullets only to pick up the blinds and get no further action – which is why it’s so tempting to slow play them. However, you avoid this temptation at all costs. You can never know for sure that someone to your right will raise for you, and the worst possible scenario is to limp in and then witness everyone else doing the same. If you decide to slow play AA and it backfires, with four or more other calling then you have to be prepared to dump your Aces after the flop. If you are the type of player who slow plays Aces then you should question the reasons why. If it’s because you fear that by raising others will put you on such a strong holding due to your tight table image, then you should have been mixing up your game already.
You should also avoid the mistake of raising just the minimum, as this stinks of a big hand such as AA or KK. Remember that your bets tell a story, and by raising the minimum you’re effectively telling the table that you want action. You also want to avoid allowing other players to see a flop cheaply with pre-flop junk, which may later turn into an undetectable monster. The ideal scenario is to thin the field to only one or two opponents. There are no money back guarantees in poker but what you’re hoping to accomplish is to get heads up with a lone opponent who in all likelihood will be holding AK, AQ, KK or QQ which your pocket Aces will have thoroughly dominated.
So how do you play Aces post-flop? Well one of the big decisions when holding Aces is when the board has an obvious flush or straight draw and your opponent gets very aggressive with a big bet. You can always take the safe route and fold or you can come over the top of your opponent’s raise making sure he does not have correct odds for his draw. Don’t forget to factor in the other potential reason he has become frisky. He could have flopped a set and is trying to push you off your big pair or he may envision you to be on a draw.
As pointed out, there are no money back guarantees in poker. Even with the best starting hand in hold’em you need to understand your opponent’s capabilities. Would he really put that many chips at risk on a draw? Does he have two pair or a set which means you would be drawing thin? You’ll really know you’ve arrived at a new level of expertise when you finally muck pocket Aces on a non scary board. A beginner would never even entertain such an act, which on occasion, is the best course of action.
Playing Pocket Kings
While pocket Kings are a beautiful sight they have long been accused of being Ace magnets on the flop. The improvement you most desire – flopping another King will only happen about 12 percent of the time. If that doesn’t sound too bad to you, just remember it means that almost 88 percent of the time all you’ll have after the flop is your pair of Kings. If we need to be aggressive with pocket Aces for fear of them being run down, we need to be very aggressive with our Kings.
The main hands you need to encourage to fold are the Ace rag hands that always seem to lurk about. A good raise should achieve this aim, but you’re still likely to be up against hands such as AK, AQ, AJ, and if an Ace pops up on the flop you need to proceed with caution. Caution does not mean immediately discarding your pocket Kings in the face of an Ace. If an Ace does come on the flop then you’ve got a big decision to make. A useful tactic is to make an exploratory bet and see how your opponent reacts. If they’re holding AQ or AJ, then such a bet may get them to incorrectly put you on AK due to your pre-flop raise – just maybe! It’s also likely that your opponent may have called your pre-flop aggression with a pocket pair like Jacks or Queens or may hold a suited KQ in which case you will have him severely dominated.
Although you should be playing your pocket Kings aggressively pre-flop, a mistake that a lot of players make, particularly in the early stages of tournaments, is to push all-in. If you do this then it’s likely that you’ll be up against either a strong pair lower than Kings (which is good news), or a hand containing an Ace, such as AK or AQ. If an Ace does fall on the flop, which they invariably do when holding KK, then you have no opportunity to survive – and are out of the tournament. You may think that this is just bad luck, but if it’s during the early stages of a tournament then a better strategy might be to isolate an opponent without going all-in, and then assess the flop. Of course if you are re-raised pre-flop then you should be calling for all your chips as you’re only behind to Aces – and although Kings can sometimes run into Aces – you can’t play afraid of Aces.
Let’s not forget that KK is a great starting hand in hold’em and will win you a lot of chips over the long term. One of the ideal scenarios when playing KK is when you’re opponent hits a Queen or Jack on the flop, with a strong kicker. This is when you can win big pots. Of course you also have to look out for the possibility that your opponent has hit a set, or some holding that can take a big chunk of your chips. Just like when you play any other premium starting hand, you need to factor in your knowledge of your opponents, position, the texture of the board and what you had for breakfast before making a wild guess as to how to proceed. Of the aforementioned factors your breakfast is the least important.
Playing Big Slick
Now let’s discuss everyone’s favorite holding, the beguiling AK known throughout the poker world as Big Slick. Since there are sixteen ways for the four Aces and four Kings to get together and make Big Slick, you will see it more often than Aces or Kings combined. Is Big Slick almost as good as Aces or Kings? The answer is a resounding no. Both of the top pairs are made hands while in contrast, although big slick can win in a showdown unimproved, the majority of the time you will need improvement for it to prevail.
Big slick is a favourite tournament hand with which many players like to get all their chips into the middle, especially pre-flop. They feel that Aces and Kings are the only prohibitive favourites against it so it’s a hand with which it is worth gambling. Even the lesser big pairs such as JJ and QQ are only slight favourites to AK. The beauty of AK is that it dominates the typical hands that players tend to push all-in with late on in tournaments, namely AQ, AJ, etc. There is definitely a love affair out there for big slick.
However, the strength of this hand is overvalued by many poker players – and they end up going broke. It’s fairly easy to play AK late in tournaments, where pre-flop aggression and all-in moves are commonplace. But the real difficulty with playing AK is in the early stages of a deep-stake no-limit tournament and in cash games. In such situations, it’s probably prudent to attempt to keep the pot small and treat your AK as a drawing hand and taking more of a wait and see strategy. Trapping others for bets makes for a big pot which ties opponents to it. The bigger the pot the harder it becomes for opponents to fold their holdings.
This is probably the exact opposite of how Big Slick should be played in a limit game. There are two main advantages to keeping the pot small in no-limit. First, you won’t be as tied to the hand when you flop a pair but it becomes obvious an opponent has flopped two pair or a set. Secondly, by playing more conservatively you will disguise your hand as most players tend to jam with AK. This second advantage will help you get action when you flop top pair and an opponent has a weaker kicker. Another player who may be holding AQ will become aggressive not believing you would not have raised holding AK pre-flop. There is a whole legion of poker players out there that raise big with Big Slick from any position all the time and what they always do is what they think everyone else does. This behaviour can provide an opportunity to trap these conventional thinkers for extra bets.
You shouldn’t confuse this ‘wait and see’ strategy with slow playing Big Slick. You should certainly be raising to thin the field. It’s a vulnerable hand and it needs protecting, but this doesn’t mean you should go overboard. It’s also very difficult to know where you stand with AK because even if you do hit an Ace or King on the flop, you might be thinking you have a good hand, but you can’t be too sure. This is why your position at the table has to be a key consideration when playing Big Slick. Having position on your opponents certainly make this hand easier to play, but still far from straightforward. The next time you are see a flop and you’re holding AK, take a moment to acknowledge what other hands might be lurking around the table.
Conclusion
The big pairs and Big Slick are all on any poker pundit’s list of the top hands in hold’em. In the final analysis what distinguishes them from each other is the fine line of vulnerability they have to one another. Many times, much to the chagrin of their holders, these hands win small pots and lose big ones. The players that keep that vulnerability in mind as they devise their strategy based upon multiple critical factors which will impact the play of the hand, are the ones that win big pots and lose small pots with all three of these excellent starting hands. Next time you’re fortunate enough to be dealt one of these hands take a moment to decide upon the best way to proceed based on the variables at your disposal, as opposed to your less erudite, one dimensional opponents.
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