March 1, 2010
Avoiding Trouble with Suited Aces
Suited aces, where an ace and a card of lower value are held of the same suit in the hole, are probably one of the most overrated hands in all of online poker. Essentially a weak ace in disguise (unless your kicker is large enough that you would play it unsuited too), suited aces are often responsible for getting players into more trouble than good they bring, unless that online poker player is careful to avoid the trouble of getting trapped when you make a hand with these cards that isn’t the flush that you had wanted.
When dealt suited aces before the flop, as mentioned above I try to think about the hand as if it were not suited. If the kicker with the ace is large enough that I would want to play it regardless, I proceed. If it isn’t and I am in early position, there is too slim a number of holdings that will improve the hand that make it worthwhile. I fold. If in middle to late position, and I can use the raise to represent something else, I will push and see what happens. But pushing too hard with just a bare ace hoping to hit a flush is a scenario that is going to work out only a small portion of the time. Look out for that when you play poker online.
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