Noticing a trend on my latest last tournament hands, have been knocked out with either a weak ace against a slightly stronger ace, or a strong ace against a small or medium pocket pair. It is probably "my bad" for losing with a weak ace, but the circumstances were such that any ace was probably the best hand (as in heads up play) and it was just my bad luck to run into a weak ace with a slightly higher kicker. In general, I really do despise weak aces and my definition of such is a kicker less than a jack. Weak suited aces are not much better, but definitely playable in the right position. What astounds me is people not only playing them, but raising out of position with crap like A/5 off under the gun (saw this last week)....and he won a big pot with it.
The other problem for me lately has been losing coin flips when all in. I have had QJ suited busted by 9/9 (I raised in late position, called, small flop), AK suited busted by both 5/5 and 2/2. Really did not understand either player's actions. The first time I went all in on the button with QJ suited and figured the very loose big blind would call with his big stack. Surprised by the small blind calling with 2/2 having the loose action behind him.
The second hand was also crazy action. Early position (maybe utg plus 1) raises big with his 5/5. I am running a fairly short stack and pick up AK suited. I shove, he calls a little more than his raise. 5's hold up. What I did not understand was raising big with such a weak hand. It usually signifies exactly the hand he had, one that did not want to see a flop or a call or a re-raise. It is basically playing your hand face up. How much better (not based on the results) would it have been to min-raise, not getting all pot committed but signalling a very strong holding, then based on the action either calling a re-raise or folding to a big bet. I probably would have either folded or limped in his position with 5's although a min-raise or min plus a little more would have been a great move.
I was trying to calculate the odds of my "coin flips" losing 3 times in a row. We all know that each one is independently a 54/46 proposition with the pair at a slight advantage, but would you not think that 3 coin flips in a row would make losing 3 much worse odds?
https://www.partypoker.com/how-to-play/school/advanced/danger-hands/pocket-pairs.html
https://betting.betfair.com/poker/poker-strategy/beginner-tips/weak-aces---how-to-play-them-060510.html
Finished 3rd in this tournament for $6.35 win (less 2 $.55 buy ins) yesterday.
1 comment:
I hate weak aces and I agree that if it doesn't have at least a jack kicker it's weak. However, as always, poker is situational so sometimes it's necessary or cheap to play those weak aces. One has to be able to get away from them if the flop is crappy. I prefer suited aces. That way, if I get a bad flop it's easy to fold.
Small pairs are my favorite thing in the poker universe. I love limping in or calling a small raise (in position) with a small pair and hitting a set. The odds are that if you flop a set you will win. Of course, the board can get nasty with runner-runner straight or flush cards, but you can still pair the board. Again, fairly easy to get away from on the flop. The old adage "flop it or drop it" works extremely well.
Glad to see you continuing to make the big bucks LOL. Have fun!!
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