Playing Premium Pairs in Cash Games part three

The Blinds

You will have heard it many times not just in poker books but also on television, magazines, forums etc that no limit Texas Hold’em poker is a game where position is of vital importance. Do we really need to go over this very obvious point one more time. The answer to that is no but I will anyway because so many people seem to ignore position all together so here we go again….position is of vital importance in no limit hold’em! There I have said it now go away and digest it.

All poker hands play better with good position and that includes aces and kings. Whenever you raise, not just in hold’em but in any form of poker then you are handing a big chunk of information to your opposition. If you raise then you are telling your opponent that you have a good hand at the very least….if they choose to believe you that is. Likewise with a re-raise and a check raise, in fact these two plays indicate a very powerful hand indeed pre-flop.

So what you must factor into the equation if someone comes along for the ride after you have raised or re-raised is that they have a lot of information regarding your hand while the information that you have about their hand is a lot less. It is such a big advantage to not only act last before the flop but on all subsequent betting rounds as well.

If I am in the small blind and it has been folded around to me then I will raise but if the big blind re-raises then I may just call and let him hang himself after taking the lead in the betting. But if there has been a raise before it has got to me and I am in either blind then I will re-raise and overbet the pot. I really do not want to be playing any hand out of position and my opponent folding before the flop is not a bad result at all for me.

Once again depending on my and my opponents stack size then I could simply move all in. This can work well in the big blind in situations where you have been making pick up plays in the past and you think that your opponents have cottoned on to what you are doing. Then when you get aces or kings and several people limp in and you push all in or bet a lot more than the pot from the big blind then they could think that you are trying the same tactic again.

Some people get very upset and agitated by smart ass plays and react badly to them. They almost want to put you in your place and play the table sheriff. The only time that I may consider calling with a premium pair before the flop is if I am in the big blind and I know that another player is making a steal move against me.

The player does not have to be in a steal position for me to do this. As long as I know that their range of raising hands is fairly wide then I may elect to let them keep the lead by simply calling. Of course I would never do this if the pot were three handed or more but a premium pair and especially aces are harder to overtake when only heads up. But because of the dreaded ace arriving then I certainly would not make this play with the cowboys just in case they raised with a hand like As-5s and flopped an ace.

Well I hope that this brief look into how I usually play aces and kings before the flop in full no limit ring games has proved instructive.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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