Suited Aces (1)

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Suited Aces (1)

by MiiWiin

Our focus this time is on some tricky hands: suited aces. They have a few advantages but also a few disadvantages and few people know how to correctly assess how strong they are.

You'll get to know a few things about them here and you can think about how you want to deal with hands like these in the future.

What are suited aces?

Suited aces only sometimes refer to hands such as A K or A J.

There are generally three important basic factors in a hand:

• 1) It has high card potential
• 2) It's suited
• 3) It's connected

Big pocket pairs are the exception here. All other hands in your range (except for bluff ranges) usually fulfill two of these criteria and represent a strong hand.

A K for example has a bit of all three factors, even if the connection is rather secondary here (few chances to make a straight). A hand such as 5 6 covers points 2 and 3.

Today we want to look at suited aces, which mainly have suitedness to offer, and we'll primarily consider A2s-ATs.

The problem with hands like these is that you're in a great position with a flush, but the high card potential is mediocre. Of course you could hit a top pair, however, if there's an Axx flop you'll always have a bad kicker and can hardly assume you'll extract value from even weaker top pair hands.

The chances of a straight have just become interesting again. A hand such as A4s or A5s has more to offer here than A6s or A7s, for example.

The play

There are certain standards for a lot of hands, but not for suited aces. Consider four common situation with A 5:

• There's an open raise, you call. It's an option, but not a must.
• You open raise from UTG. Again, possible but not obligatory.
• You bluff 3-bet: an option but not a must.
• You bluff 4-bet: as above.

These hands always seem to slip through and lots of players don't have a basic idea how to play them. 

Equity vs. playability

These two important core principles in No Limit Hold'em are crucial in every hand. AK or pocket jacks have incredibly good equity, hands such as 56s have great playability. Anyway, what about suited aces?

Neither the equity nor the playability is excellent. You'll only hit the flush in a few cases. Often you'll find yourself with a pure flush draw or a top pair without a kicker. Not exactly what you would call excellent playability.

What can you raise?

In a 6 max game, there's no reason not to raise from UTG with hands like this. They make your range wider and can easily be played profitably. Beforehand, however, you need to consider your play postflop so as not to end up in expensive spots too often, where you end up at the showdown with the second best hand.

The hand is a combination of acceptable equity and a drawing hand, so you will have to play it postflop too. You better have your eyes wide open when you cross the three streets.

Raises from UTG have a further advantage in 4-bet bluffs, which will be discussed later.

There's an open raise

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25) (21 / 16 / 2.5 / 62) (VPIP / PFR / AF / ft3-bet)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)

Preflop: Hero is BU with A 5
2 folds, CO raises $1.00, Hero...

This is one of the regularly occurring spots. You're on the button with your suited ace and the CO open raises. You assume that he opens with 16% of his range here.

What is a good play? You could fold, call or 3-bet. But why?

Your equity is ok. The fact is that a value 3-bet is out of the question. If you're already behind against his open raising range, you'll never be ahead against his 3-bet calling range.

All that remains are fold, call and a 3-bet bluff

If very tight blinds act behind you or loose passive blinds, which either rarely squeeze (a tight reg, rock etc.) or are more likely to call than 3-bet (calling station), you can assume reasonable odds.

If the blinds fold, your equity for a call on the button will be sufficient. If the blinds call too often, you'll be playing in position in a multi-way pot with a reasonable drawing hand. Both are acceptable scenarios. 

If you come across these kind of blinds, you can make a call here with suited aces.

However, if there are aggressive players in the blinds who like to 3-bet or squeeze, you need to look at the spot differently. Often, you'll still have to fold the hand preflop; also, there will rarely be a multi-way pot. Roughly speaking, you can assume that your equity won't be enough for a call.

This leaves the option fold or 3-bet bluff.

A 3-bet bluff makes particular sense if your opponent regularly folds to 3-bets, rarely 4-bets and rarely calls 3-bets OOP.

Pay special attention to your opponents' stats in the blinds in the 2 following examples:

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25) (21 / 16 / 2.5 / 62) (VPIP / PFR / AF / ft3-bet)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25) (13 / 10 / 1.5 / 3) (VPIP / PFR / AF / 3-bet)
BB ($25) (40 / 5 / 0.4 / 1) (VPIP / PFR / AF / 3-bet)

Preflop: Hero is BU with A 5
2 folds, CO raises $1.00, Hero calls $1.00,...

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25) (21 / 16 / 2.5 / 62) (VPIP / PFR / AF / ft3-bet)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25) (29 / 25 / 3.2 / 10) (VPIP / PFR / AF / 3-bet)
BB ($25) (24 / 22 / 3.4 / 9) (VPIP / PFR / AF / 3-bet)

Preflop: Hero is BU with A 5
2 folds, CO raises $1.00, Hero raises $3.00,...

You should always keep these options in mind.

Card removal effect

If you turn a suited ace preflop into a bluff (i.e. a 3- or 4-bet with Axs), then you can benefit from the card removal effect.

The 'card removal effect' is described in more detail here: 4-Bet Bluffs (2) - Theory.

In summary we can say: you want to make better hands fold with a 3-bet bluff. It's good here if your opponent has as few strong hand combinations as possible.

With an ace you've already blocked three of a possible six AA combos, as well as four possible 16 AK combos. The probability that Villain is holding AA or AK has dropped by (7/23) or roughly 30%.

This is particularly interesting with 4-bet bluffs.

3-bets out of position

These 3-bets are also possible out of position. The catch is that if Villain calls, you can't expect a light postflop spot.

But what do you have that with anyway? Just because the playability isn't simple, that's no reason not to play the hand.

Simple example:

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
BU ($25) (22 / 17 / 2.5 / 65 / 14) (VPIP / PFR / AF / ft3-bet / 4-bet)
SB ($25)
Hero ($25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A 4
3 folds, BU raises $1.00, 1 fold, Hero raises $3.25, BU calls $3.25

Flop: ($6.25) A, 7, 6 (2 players)

The argument now could be that you want to prevent precisely these spots. However, ask yourself the following question: what alternative hands would you like to 3-bet?

Would it be better if you were holding 55 in this spot? Or J T? Or KQo? To be perfectly honest, this spot wouldn't be much better with AJ, you would be waiting a long time for a loose call down from AT.

If you play AJ aggressively here, then it's in the hope that you're running against drawing hands or bluffs.

The difference from an equity perspective is marginal:

Equity analysis
Board	A 7 6
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	63.427%	62.184%	2.487%	35.330%	AJo
Player 2	36.573%	35.330%	2.487%	62.184%	TT+, 44-55, AJs+, KQs, 87s, 76s, AQo+

Equity analysis
Board	A 7 6
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	61.760%	61.289%	0.942%	37.770%	A  4
Player 2	38.240%	37.770%	0.942%	61.289%	TT+, 44-55, AJs+, KQs, 87s, 76s, AQo+

You can read more about the play in this kind of spot in the second part.

4-bet, call 3-bet or fold?

4-bets are superbly suited for battling aggressive players. You've already seen the card removal effect, it's also absolutely clear that every 3- or 4-bet is a bluff, so you'll need to fold to a push. Is this the case?

In addition the question is: is a call potentially the better choice?

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25) (22 / 17 / 2.5 / 8 / 14) (VPIP / PFR / AF / 3-bet / ft4-bet)

Preflop: Hero is BU with A 4
3 folds, Hero raises $1.00, 1 fold, BB raises $3.25, Hero...

In principle, there's nothing against weighing up spots like this and finding a fold more often.

A call puts you in a very tricky spot, as apart from the moderate playability, there's quite a high risk of domination. Even with your equity it's not a stretch:

8%: 3-bet: assumption: TT+, 44-55, ATs+, A6s-A5s, KQs, 87s, 76s, 65s, AQo+

Equity analysis
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	63.170%	60.794%	4.752%	34.454%	TT+, 44-55, ATs+, A6s-A5s, KQs, 87s, 76s, 65s, AQo+
Player 2	36.830%	34.454%	4.752%	60.794%	A 4

Domination always plays an important role in points like this. Even with potentially acceptable equity, the fact is that you'll lose a lot more big pots postflop than you'll win. Thus always calling here can hardly be a +EV play.

That leaves the 4-bet bluff.

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25) (22 / 17 / 2.5 / 8 / 14) (VPIP / PFR / AF / 3-bet / ft4-bet)

Preflop: Hero is BU with A 4
3 folds, Hero raises $1.00, 1 fold, BB raises $3.25, Hero raises $8.00, BB raises all-in, Hero...???

There's no question hanging over these spots. Hero will have to put in $17 for a $50.50 pot, so he needs 33.6% equity.

Equity analysis
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	69.676%	68.530%	2.292%	29.178%	JJ+, AQs+, AKo
Player 2	30.324%	29.178%	2.292%	68.530%	A4

This may look close, but it's still not enough.

This spot also assumes maximum bet sizes, most open raises tend towards 3 or 3.5 BB and the 3-bets will also be smaller. You generally need at least 36% equity.

A further problem: even if Villain's pushing range is much looser, it hardly helps your equity. There will be more Ax hands and smaller pocket pairs as well and you're not in a much better position against these generally either.

Equity analysis
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	66.986%	63.802%	6.369%	29.830%	66+, A6s+, A9o+
Player 2	33.014%	29.830%	6.369%	63.802%	A4

Thus a 4-bet bluff is certainly good, but you can't call a push. We stated right at the start that you can raise these hands from UTG and you'll have an excellent bluff spot:

PartyPoker $25 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
Hero ($25)
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
BU ($25) (23/ 18 / 2.3 / 10 / 49) (VPIP / PFR / AF / 3-bet button / ft4-bet)
SB ($25)
BB ($25)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A 5
Hero raises $1.00, 2 folds, BU raises $3.00, 2 folds, Hero raises $7.25,...

Will you ever have a bluff in this spot? Of course, why not? The line looks unbelievably strong and the button will fold much more than his usual 49%. You have an extended range here, you can bluff without any problems meaning you'll be less readable and more difficult to play.