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Most of the poker players around have seen at least
one episode of World Poker Tour or World Series of
Poker on cable TV. One nice thing they both usually
do is display that little window in the corner of
your screen which tells you each opponents'
respective chances of winning the pot with his
particular hole cards.
Sometimes two players will be "heads up" and
one opponent will have "Big Slick" (Ace/King) while
the other has a lower pocket pair. Depending upon
whether the Ace/King is suited or not, the small
pocket pair will usually be anywhere from a modest
5-to-4 favorite down to even money to win the pot
after the river card is dealt. It really makes very
little difference whether the small pocket pair is,
say, a pair of 7s or measly deuces. The made pair
still has a small edge over Ace/King -- suited or
not.
To the average viewer, that makes it seem as
though in Holdem you'd rather have pocket deuces
than Big Slick. Well, in a heads-up tournament pot
where all the money goes in before the flop, that's
true -- to a small extent. In most other Holdem
scenarios though, it's not even close -- the
Ace/King is a much better hand. Here's why.
In a heads up, "all in" tournament situation,
you just deal out all the cards and see who ends up
with the best hand. The pocket pair of deuces has
only one opponent, and that opponent cannot make any
more bets the rest of the way. Thus, the deuces
knows that if his opponent doesn't already have a
bigger pocket pair, then the deuces are a small
favorite to win the hand.
That's fine -- for no limit tournaments. In a
typical game of limit Texas Holdem, however,
everything is different. First off, if you're the
one with the pocket deuces, it's going to be very
tough to call a bet if any picture card flops -- and
at least one will 80% of the time. Since your
opponent likely has high cards in the hole, any
picture card might well have paired him and there
may be three more bets to call before you get to see
this hand. That's disadvantage number one.
Disadvantage number two is that most limit
Holdem pots are not heads up on the flop -- but
usually three or four-way action. Now you have to be
afraid that any card in the flop higher than your
pocket pair has just beaten you -- and one or more
of them usually has done exactly that.
In fact, in a four-way flop the pocket deuces
are a 4-to-1 underdog to win the pot if nobody else
already has a pocket pair. Since the pot is four
way, you're losing equity with every new dollar you
put into the pot if you're less than a 3-to-1 shot
to win.
The Ace/King however is only a 2-to-1 dog in
the same situation, and a little less than that if
it's suited. Another benefit of holding Big Slick is
that you pretty much know when you've flopped the
lead hand and when you've missed.
Just for the record, an Ace/King will flop an
Ace or a King (or both) one third of the time -- and
is usually a pretty strong hand when it does. Thus,
Big Slick can be played much closer to its true
potential than pocket deuces, since the deuces for
lack of information will have to fold some pots that
it would've won. Remember, those pocket deuces (or
any pocket pair for that matter) will flop a set of
trips only one time in eight.
The truth is, Big Slick is a premium hand in
limit Holdem and should be played almost every time
you're dealt it. However, you should only play a
small pocket pair (6s or lower) from middle to late
position in games where it's usually not raised
before the flop.
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