Suited Aces - Part VIII

This is my final column on suited aces. I want to summarize some of the key points from earlier columns, and then end with a hand I recently played in an online tournament. As I mentioned in the previous columns in this series, there are several factors involved in playing suited aces. They are:

• Quality of the kicker
• PositionStack size
• Prior action
• Your table image
• Composition of your table

Kicker: Really, only A-K and A-Q suited are true premium hands. A-J and A-10 suited rate to be the best hand before the flop if several players have folded, but should be considered speculative hands (perhaps even trouble hands) in early position. Assuming you enter the pot with a raise, you can't really call a big reraise, and even a call from a solid player should worry you. All the suited aces with smaller kickers should be played as purely speculative hands, perhaps in combination with an attempt to steal the blinds as the first player in.

Position: Normally, a speculative hand is looking to get in cheaply against several opponents. Usually you hope to lose a small pot or win a big one. This means you want to be in middle or late position.

Stack size: You want either very big or very small stacks to be in play. Big stacks give you the opportunity to win a large pot after risking only a small percentage of your stack preflop. Very small stacks enable you to move in, hoping to win the pot at once. You must, however, be willing to gamble if you are called. Generally, you try this when you are the first to put money voluntarily into the pot. Suited aces, especially with small kickers, don't play well with medium stacks.

Previous action: You would like some limpers in ahead of you. Even if the pot has been raised, you prefer callers after the raiser, not before. Why? That early limper may reraise, but if he has only called the raise in front of you, you're safe.

Table image: Almost any table image is OK, but your image will make a difference in how you play the hand. For example, if your opponents view you as tight and aggressive, you have a good chance for a bluff or semibluff to work. If they view you as loose and wild, don't expect a bluff to work, but now you have a good chance of getting paid off if you get lucky on the flop or the turn.

Table composition: You always prefer to be at a table full of weak, passive players. Weak wild players may even be more lucrative, but they can be more dangerous. It is also good if the players in the hand become attached to high pairs. You can win a lot of bets from players who aren't capable of making a good laydown.

Now that we have reviewed the most important information about playing suited aces, let's look at the hand I played. Early in a recent online tournament at Full Tilt Poker, I picked up the A 10 in the big blind. At this point, the blinds were 50-100. I had around 4,000 and the other players involved in the hand had me covered. A middle-position player, who had been quite active so far, opened with a raise to 350. A new arrival at the table called, and I called. I briefly considered reraising, hoping to take it down right there, but I liked my table and really didn't want to invest a big portion of my stack with a speculative hand early in the tournament.

The flop was J J 7. This was great for me. I had picked up the nut-flush draw, a backdoor-straight draw, and even an ace or a 10 might be good. Paired boards often make good bluffing opportunities. Since my bet would really be a semibluff (I had some outs if called), I decided to go for the check-raise semibluff. If my opponent made a small continuation-bet, I would raise a lot, and hopefully take down a reasonably big pot. If he made a big bet or if the second player called, I'd just move in and take my chances.

My check was followed by two quick checks. Oops! I probably would have won it by leading out. There is, however, some chance that the opener has a hand like A-J and he hit a big flop. He may be trapping me. My plan is to lead with a bet of about two-thirds of the pot and see what happens. If I walk into a big raise, I can still fold without losing too much. But the turn is the 3. Wow! I have the nuts. Even if he was trapping with a jack, it is unlikely to be J-7 or J-3. I still want to lead, but now I decide to bet only half the pot. I'm hoping that one of them will read me for a bluff and raise to resteal. If he was trapping with A-J or K-J, I'm about to double up.

The opener raises all in. The other guy folds. His all-in raise is surprising. Maybe he is stealing and wants to put maximum pressure on me. I still don't imagine he can have J-8 or J-3, although I have a premonition that something ugly is about to happen. I give it some more thought, and finally I figure it out. If he's not on a complete bluff, his hand contains the K - probably accompanied by a jack, but maybe with another king or with the Q. I call. The computer faces our hands. He has pocket jacks for quads. The river doesn't matter. I'm out! My opponent takes down a huge pot. Not only that, but the chat box lights up with a message of congratulations for my opponent, who has earned a $200 bounty for knocking out pro player Steve Zolotow. (In regularly scheduled tournaments, Full Tilt graciously adds a bounty of the amount of the tournament buy-in up to $200 on all of the pros who enter the tournament.) In my mind, I can hear my opponent chuckling, "Some pro, he got all in drawing dead." My thoughts are X-rated as I head out to my bar Doc Holliday's for beer and pool.

There are a few lessons to be learned from this hand. If an opponent checks when it seems normal for him to bet, he is often trapping with a big hand. A "Proceed With Caution" sign should light up in your brain. Second, I want to end this series by warning you one more time that suited aces can be hazardous to your health. I called preflop with the worst hand, wished for clubs, got my wish, and still was behind all the way.

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 - Nice Guy Eddie's on Houston and Doc Holliday's on 9th Street - in New York City.