Holdem: Playing AA after the Flop

Pocket aces are the boss hand in no limit Texas hold’em before the flop. There’s no greater feeling than spreading those two cards to see twin As in your hand.

However, for some players, there is also no greater sense of dread, knowing that it will be difficult to release this hand if beaten, which could cost them big. Some players will try to make a big pre-flop bet in the hopes of ending the hand immediately or isolating a single player.

This is good, but you want to make money from your aces as well, so you are really hoping to make a pre-flop check raise or re-raise so that you can win a substantial pot. To do this, you may want to make a small pre-flop raise rather than a massive overbet, and you risk being flat called and having to take a flop.

Playing AA Post Flop in Hold’em

In a no limit hold’em game with pocket aces, you will probably want to try to get all your money in on the flop if you could not get it all in before the flop. Hopefully, you made enough of a pre-flop raise that the pot is now worth taking down with an all-in move.

If you push all in on the flop, a few things can happen. An opponent can have flopped top pair or an overpair, will call you and you will win a huge pot most of the time. An opponent can miss the flop entirely and fold or flop a big draw and not have the odds to call you, abandoning the hand or calling with a statistical underdog.

An opponent can also have flopped a big hand and will call you.

Handling Different Post Flop Situations

As you can see, most of these situations are favorable to you. Even a situation in which an opponent has flopped two pair is not completely lost. You can win if the third card on the flop pairs, if an ace comes or if a running pair comes.

However, you are not obligated to move in on the flop. You should look at the texture of the flop before you make your move.

Flop textures vs. AA

If the flop comes Td 8c 3s and your opponent sits with T8, you’re probably going to go broke and there’s nothing you can do about it, which is why you want to raise before the flop to get hands like this out. Similarly, if your opponent flops a set, you’re probably just done for and have to write it down as a bad beat.