Suited Aces - Part I

Suited aces come in three flavors. The best suited aces are those in which the other card is a big card – king, queen, jack, or 10. These hands, especially suited A-K and A-Q, are premium hands. Their value comes primarily from the high cards and secondarily from the flush and straight possibilities. In deep-stack poker, however, these secondary possibilities may prove to be big earners when you encounter a similar hand without flush possibilities.



The second flavor contains a medium-size card – 9, 8, 7, or 6. These suited aces can be very treacherous, as it is easy to be in "kicker trouble." These hands still have lock flush potential, but no straight potential. Be very careful with them.



The third flavor contains a small card – 5, 4, 3, or 2. With these hands, you are relying primarily on the potential to make a flush or straight. Occasionally, you will win a nice pot with two pair or small trips, but your ace is usually dominated, and therefore you should avoid playing big pots without some good potential for a flush or straight.



I will discuss all three types in a lot more detail during this series of columns, but I want to start by examining some instructive hands from actual play. The first hand occurred in the recent Bellagio $15,000 buy-in tournament. Bellagio currently gives players a starting stack of three times their buy-in, so everyone started with 45,000 in chips. With opening-level blinds at 50-100, this was definitely super deep-stack poker. I was just settling in and not completely focused on the players when this monster hand occurred, so my description may be a little sketchy. I will try to describe the action as I watched it at the table, without knowing what the players held. I will save my comments on the play of the hand for the end, when their hands were revealed.



A middle-position player limped in for 100, the cutoff raised to 400, and both blinds and the limper called. The flop came A 8 4. The small blind, who already had lost some of his chips, led out with a pot-sized bet, and was called by "Captain" Tom Franklin in the big blind. Everyone else folded. The turn was the 3. The small blind made a large bet and again was called by Tom. The river brought the 9. The aggressor moved in for his last 15,000. Tom thought for a while, and called. Try to figure out (guess) their hands. I know that neither of them turned over anything close to what I expected to see. (Hint: This is a column on suited aces, so unless I am being unusually devious, at least one of them has a suited ace.)



The small blind revealed two red kings. Tom had the A 10 and took down a huge pot. First, I'll examine the play of the small blind. He perpetrated what I think of as "anti-poker." That is letting everyone play cheaply when you have the best hand and then betting a lot when you are behind. I can assure you that this is not a winning strategy. There is no reason not to reraise preflop. He has a good hand in bad position, so why let the big blind and the limper in cheaply? If he's lucky, the raiser may have a real hand and think the small blind has read his late-position raise as a steal and is trying to resteal. It is, however, deep-stack poker, so calling may work out very well. Imagine him flopping set over set. No one will expect him to have kings. This type of play is predicated on his ability to read what's happening and to give up when he is beat. Basically, he is sacrificing some small pots for a chance to win a big one.



The flop is horrendous for his kings. He can't beat an ace, and he doesn't have clubs. He has three opponents. I think it is clear to check. If there is any two-player action, a bet and a call, by two players after him, he should just fold quietly. If everyone checks to the raiser and he makes what appears to be a continuation-bet, he might make a crying call. Instead, he bets and gets called by a tough, grizzled pro. The turn doesn't help, but he fires a second bullet. The river is also a blank, but he fires a third bullet. If this final bullet convinces his opponent to fold an ace with a bad kicker, it is brilliancy. If he has a missed flush draw, without the ace, he will fold. If the small blind had checked, his opponent might have decided to bluff, and his call would pick up some extra chips. With his second bullet, he shot himself in the foot, and with his third, he committed suicide.



Tom's play of A-10 suited was excellent. His preflop call is automatic. There is a late-position raiser and one out-of-position caller, he has a reasonable hand, and there's money in the pot already. The only danger might be a big reraise from the limper, but that is unlikely. The flop was very good for him – top pair and the nut-flush draw – but there is no reason to go crazy. I like the call, which allows worse flush draws and worse aces to stay in cheaply, without getting into a major confrontation with a better ace or a set. Calling on the turn is also automatic. Calling on the river was great. It would be very easy to think, "I've missed my flush, and all I have is aces with a mediocre kicker. My opponent, who is showing extreme aggression, surely has me beat. I must fold." Tom made a great read, that his opponent couldn't beat aces, and a great call.



Steve "Zee" Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on Full Tilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bars on Avenue A in New York City – Nice Guy Eddie's on Houston and Doc Holliday's on 9th Street.