12-27-04, LearnTexasHoldem:

Going All-In Heads Up With An Ace

Question/Comment: I'm a pretty experienced cash game holdem player and was invited to play at friends house last night. It was a 14 person NL tourney with mostly average players, and maybe one or two really good players. I was dominating the field the entire night by being aggressive and winning pots I had no business winning with the cards I was holding. I get to heads up with a guy who was one of the average players. I had an advantage on him in chips by almost 2-1 and blinds were at 500-1000. I was dealt A-8 suited in the small blind. Instead of just putting in a raise, I went all in with the hopes of stealing his blind but I didn't mind a call because I felt that I probably had the best hand. He called with 910 of diamonds. Flop brought 2 diamonds, turn was a blank, and of course the river gave him his flush which gave him a nice chip lead and eventually the win.

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Was my all in play with A-8 suited a good move??? I went all in there because I knew I most likely had the best hand and I knew the guy was going to call eventually because I kept stealing his blinds and pushing him around. Is going all in with any ace pre-flop in a heads up game a good strategy?? Especially if im the chip leader?? I'm looking to just steal his blind but I know I run the risk of going up against a stronger ace or a pocket pair, but more often than not, my opponent wont have an ace.

Would it be better to just put in a raise and hope the flop hits you good??? How about a pocket pair?? Going all in with something like pocket 7's pre-flop, is that stupid or is it a good play if im the chip leader?? I made the all-in play because I was leading him in chips by a good margin and felt he might call with any king or queen.

Most smaller tourneys (10-20 people) I play, I usually finish towards the top but I still feel my short handed play is weaker than at a full table. Any help would be appreciated

Thanks,

JJ

Answer: I like your move, even though it didn't work out. When you get down to heads up play, most of the time you aren't going to have a huge edge over your opponent. If you were to wait for a number of hands for that opportunity, it probably wouldn't work out well anyway because he could easily fold. Most of the time you are stuck with small edges but couple that little edge with some aggressive betting and a larger stack and you have some leverage.

Let's look at it this way, you wanted to raise because you had the best hand. In addition to that, it was unlikely that he had a hand he would want to call with for all his chips. It turned out that he did have a hand that he liked but you were just as happy with his call because you did end up having a better hand. T9s is a nice hand, but not for calling all-in with preflop heads up. Ten high isn't a hand that does well in all-in races, you would much prefer a hand like yours with an Ace or a King in it (a pocket pair would be even better).

It turned out that he got a good flop but even then, you were still ahead. You had him drawing. That's the frustrating part of poker: someone can make the wrong move while you have the better hand and the better move and yet you still lose. The ultimate question is, "would you have played it again the same way?" I would have. Lastly, on the issue of going all-in with a pocket pair like 77 preflop heads up in a tourney. Yes I like that play as well. The reason is that you don't want to give someone with a hand like J8 a freeride at hitting something on the flop.

Also, if you don't raise preflop it's almost a certainty that you'll hit a bunch of overcards on the flop and find it hard to play well postflop. For me, I don't play a hand like 77 preflop heads up differently if I'm the chip leader or the underdog. That's a strong hand and against most players it will be better than their preflop raising hand (when it gets to heads up play).

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