Seeing as we're so close to Christmas, I thought I'd better post something festive, and although the actual content of the article doesn't have much to do with our Winter holiday, I am content with squeezing something festive into the title. But the analogy still stands and, in this case, refers to my least favourite hand in Texas Hold’Em poker – the dreaded Ace-Jack unsuited.I positively detest this hand and tend to play it with extreme caution. I can’t count the amount of times it’s bust me out of tournaments, lost me big pots, or cost me big wads of cash in ring-games. In tandem with the recent Omen DVD release, it really is the Devil’s hand and I adamantly advise readers to treat it with kiddie gloves, ensuring that it fails to inflict any further damage.
Although I’m not the biggest A-J fan in any situation, I will focus my attention on ring games, as it’s danger in tournament play is devalued due to the larger blind size and the increased ability to thin out the field preflop.
The majority would spurt out their coffee at the mere thought of passing A-J before seeing a flop, but, on many occasion, I consider this to be a feasible option. In cash games, my experience with the hand is that it will only really win you small pots, but potentially lose you a huge one.
If you raise preflop, you could be receiving a call from Ace Queen and perhaps Big Slick. Therefore, if you flop your Ace, it’s difficult to know exactly where you stand, and, due to the pot built from the preflop action, it’s not going to be particularly cheap to find out if your opponent bets out.
Similarly, if you call a preflop raise, you could be up against the same holdings and facing another costly ‘find out where you are’ move, especially if the original raiser makes that expected continuation bet.
If they do have you beat, then pray for another reraise because, if they trap, you’re going to find it hard to release that top pair as the bets pile up further down the streets. Hence, your whole stack could go walkies in a matter of seconds. And this isn’t even taking into account the possibility of hitting top pair with your Jack and then running into Queens, Kings, or Aces. A sure-fire way to lose the lot and a scenario that I witness over and over again.
If, however, you are actually ahead with your top pair Jack kicker, how big is your pot going to be? If your raise doesn’t force them to fold their weaker hand, then, barring a miracle, you’re really not going to get a whole heap more off them.
Of course, you could find that you’re in decent shape with two over cards to a pocket pair, which isn’t catastrophic if all-in preflop. But, if they have a pocket pair and you hit one of your cards, the chances are that they’ll fold to a bet due to the overcard/s on board and you’ll just win the few dollars that was accumulated from the preflop action. What could cause money to fly in however, is if Mateyboy makes his set, and you hit top pair, thereby costing you your whole stack once again.
I am by no means concluding that Ace Jack is a trash hand and should be avoided like the plague, just that on many an occasion, what seems to be a beast of a starting hand, can actually turn out to be a very costly one.
So, my message is simple, Ace Jack is certainly not unplayable, but please please please play with more than a smidgen of caution and remember that, unless you flop trips or two pair, you’re unlikely to earn yourself a big pot, but potentially run the risk of losing a monster one.