Ace-Ten Woes

[Bobbrt1329]

Hi all,

I was going through Poker Tracker yesterday trying to find leaks in my game, and I noticed that I'm losing a bit of money with ace-ten when I flop an ace. In most of the cases where I lost money, I would bet the flop, get raised, and then call to the showdown (occasionally I reraised the flop and led the rest of the way, but lost to the better kicker). Is this a hand I should generally be dropping if I get raised on the flop by a typical player? I can ditch top pair with a nine kicker or less, but tens and up I have trouble letting go of.

I'm mostly playing .50/1.00 or 1/2 limit games.

Bob

[JoshuaD]

Your question is far to vague to answer completely, but generally I'm proud of my ten kicker. I don't imagine you're leaking here, unless your doing this often against preflop raisers that don't slowdown when you raise them on the flop.

[Bobbrt1329]

I know the question is vague - I'm just trying to get a feel for how people like their ten kicker.

To clear it up a bit, most of the time I lost to people who limped preflop with AK or AQ, so it was hard to put them on a strong ace.

[Chris Dow]

Yeah, so ace-ten is a decent hand to limp in lp behind other limpers precisely because your ten should be better than their weak suited aces after the flop and you should be able to extract value in position. I think though, that in many cases with your ace-ten when you have the better kicker you are going to be betting into them and getting called. The scenarios you described (even the AK and AQ's who foolishly limped) your opponent seems to take initiative and raise you on the flop and then you are calling down or overplaying by 3 betting. When you bet your AT and get raised a better line is to call on the flop hoping to hit the ten and probably fold the turn UI. I think the AT is profitable if you recognize that you're winning when you bet and just get called, but losing when they raise you. Look back in your PT hands where you win with AT to confirm this.

[SA125]

Look at the texture of the hands you're in with it. Was it raised, what was your position and how many players in the pot? Big difference between EP multi-way or LP 3 way in how effectively you can play it.

[chief444]

Post some AT hands you feel are questionable that you're really unsure about. Use this site to convert the hand into something easier to read:

bisonbison hand converter

Welcome to 2+2.

[adamstewart]

It's been a while since I played those limits, but in anything $3/$6 and above, you should much ATo preflop from Early Positions. (Generally, you should probably even do so in $2/$4).


Adam

[JoshuaD]

[ QUOTE ]
It's been a while since I played those limits, but in anything $3/$6 and above, you should much ATo preflop from Early Positions. (Generally, you should probably even do so in $2/$4).


Adam

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a good point. I'm rarely limping with ATo at 2/4.

[Chris Dow]

[ QUOTE ]
Post some AT hands you feel are questionable that you're really unsure about. Use this site to convert the hand into something easier to read:

bisonbison hand converter

Welcome to 2+2.

[/ QUOTE ]

Chief hit it on the head, this is gonna work out best for you and will also allow us to see if you're playing the AT in spots that tend to be mistakes (ie up front and after raises like others have suggested)