cracked aces

The casino where I currently play awards $20 for cracked aces in Hold'em. My question is--how would you alter your play of pocket aces in a low limit game given this circumstance?

So long as you play 10/20 or smaller, calling on the river is free, so do not fold for one bet.


It also means you should be willing to play the hand more softly: when in doubt do NOT bet or raise early, let players in. If the pot gets big, however, you still want to raise to narrow the field to protect your pot.


You can expect most other people to play them softly as well. I cannot think of a reasonable counter-strategy since the chances of them having AA when they play softly is pretty minimal. But WAIT!! I CAN think of a counter strategy: if they do NOT play softly it means they do NOT have AA, which can make a pretty big difference to some hands, notably KK.


- Louie

It also means you should be willing to play the hand more softly


I don't agree. You should play AA as aggressively as ever. You'll win more money in the long run by betting and raising as usual.


I agree that you shouln't be folding your AA since you're basically on a freeroll.

Wrong. Assume a $5/10 game (even though the excample is even more obvious in a $3/6 setting).


Five players see the flop for two bets. $50 in the pot.


Flop: J-9-2 rainbow.


SB bets, BB folds, UTG folds. It's up to you. You know that the button will call (correctly) $5 with a pair or a gutshot, but fold (correctly) for $10. Normally, you'd raise this hand. Not so in this situation. Not counting in implied odds, you win that $5 in roughly 9 in 10. That last 1, you cost yourself a $60 pot. However, you gain on this. When you lose the $60, you get $20 still. Effectively, you are only losing $40 by getting $5 for that 9-to-1 shot. Of course you gain money by playing your Aces differently under these circumstances.


It's the house that are losers! The more Aces cracked in this house, the happier the players in general should be. However, note that if the pot were $15 bigger, your opponent would still be correct to fold for a raise, but now you want him out, jackpot or not.


Lars