Playing medium aces

Once you move beyond understanding the fundamentals of playing poker, raise or fold more than you limp, staying in hands after an aggressive player makes a continuation bet, and, most importantly, winning, you can start to increase your range depending on situation and win hands with less than strong holdings.

Medium Aces can lead to increases in your stack by learning the other players style and capitalizing on that style. Of course the tight player who raises preflop is a good reason to get out of the hand as your Ace 8 is probably beat, but in many of the games I play (3-5$ sit n gos) there is still far to much limping that can mean your Ace 8 is actually the strongest hand.

One of the first leaks poker tracking software identified in my game was limping. It doesn't seem like much to simply pop in a blind and see where the hand goes, but, over time, you can end up loosing significant amounts of chips. I was loosing about 15-20% of my potential profit on limping with weak hands. Don't do it unless you have a specific strategy against another player in mind.

So, if you are at a table with limpers, you first need to establish limping range. Players who are in too many pots with limps over time typically have a range that includes weak aces or any two face cards. In either of these cases, your Ace 8 is ahead. There is also a certain alure to a Weak ace that is suited. The potential of the nut flush or the even less likely wheel adds percieved value to the weak ace. So, too many people play these hands. Identify them.

Then, when you have a medium ace, you can call their limp and be ahead. The best situation is to hit that ace and have them dominated. Or, make a convincing raise and potentially take down the pot right there, and be ahead if they don't.

When you are in later position, a medium ace can be a good semi bluff hand, if you have a limp or two in behind you and players ahead of you who do fold to raises, then you can make a decent raise and often take down the pot right there. If someone who has not yet acted however calls your raise, depending on their playing style, you can be reasonably sure that you are not ahead at the time.

If your raise has been called, then you actually are more interested in hitting your kicker than the Ace itself, since a called raise may imply a second stronger ace. Since a high pair would most likely re-raise you pre-flop, your are more likely to be against a strong ace or a medium pair. You may of course do a continuation bet regardless of the flop texture, following your pre-flop raise and hoping the other player folds. Hitting your ace in this situation means you have to procede carefully and assess the other player. You have to be willing to fold if the other player shows no fear of your raises or raises significantly themselves (and they are not a maniac).

Medium aces are not likely to win big pots unless, like any other hand, you hit two pair or better. However, in the case of lots of pre-flop limps and predicatable opponent behaviour, you may actually be ahead and calling or raising with that ace can end up giving you a positive expected value.