I Never Know How to Play Ax

in tournament play when x < 10

Suggestions?

position stacks? if you have ace three under the gon 200 bb deep fold. If you have ace duce on small blind and 10bb deep shove

“Ace-king is a fine hand. Ace-queen is a little weaker, but still good. With ace-jack, you're already sliding rapidly down a slippery slope. With ace-ten, you've slid down the slope, fallen off the cliff, and lie in wreckage at the bottom with hands like ace-five and ace-six.”
― Dan Harrington, Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments, Volume I: Strategic Play

In an MTT with less than 10bb? If there's no open shove ahead of us I think we can shove it all in , esp in late position.

It's also possible to find a shove in late position at 10bbs if someone open shoves ahead of us with like 5bbs or less AND the stacks left to act are close to our size or not too much bigger because their range is going to be huge and we could shove to isolate and maybe add to our stack. Obviously not going to be a great play if there's stacks that are massive left to act as they'll call with ATC to try and wipe us and the other shover out but if stacks left to act are like 10-25bbs they may fear risking their tourney life against two small shoves. Just my two cents on this part but overall if we're facing no shoves ahead of us we can comfortably open shove Ax when below 10bb in mid to late position. Early position is a little trickier and depends on the table and the stacks.

Thanks fellas. I have that Harrington book, somewhere. I find I'm always trashing it in EP and rarely play it even in MP. I also never know what to do if I'm in LP and there's a small raise by a midstack guy ahead of me. I'll always try to steal blinds with it and defend them as well with it.

Playing Ax really depends on your position, stack size, table rep. If you're short stacked a good App to look at is snap shove. It can help with those Ax decisions when you're low stacked

That's probably best to discard the cards. Unless the two cards are suited....

For aces with a weak kicker fits very few flops. With such cards, you go for an ace, and the second small card is rarely useful. Therefore, you must consider that you play with one ace. With the middle stack, I would consider raising from late positions. If a short stack in a tournament, open-push with a weak ace is usually a good decision.

ratmantoo said:

“Ace-king is a fine hand. Ace-queen is a little weaker, but still good. With ace-jack, you're already sliding rapidly down a slippery slope. With ace-ten, you've slid down the slope, fallen off the cliff, and lie in wreckage at the bottom with hands like ace-five and ace-six.”
― Dan Harrington, Harrington on Hold 'em: Expert Strategy for No-Limit Tournaments, Volume I: Strategic Play

Click to expand...

Nothing more to say . Nice words

Ax is something that I play a lot of shorthanded, but in a full ring game, it doesn't have as big of a place in my game. In shorthanded play I would raise with it, and depending on the circumstance be comfortable with making a pair. Calling with Ax shorthanded can get you in trouble sometimes when your opponent raises with a higher A.

In a full ring game, opening up with Ax is fine at the cut off or after. Now if Ax is suited, I would really like to get in on multiway pots with great pots odds with the hopes of making a nut flush and taking in a big pot. I would also be more inclined to open up with suited Ax from around the lojack seat or better.


The main thing with Ax is that depending on the situation, you pair of Aces with the weak kicker could be useless, and even if you make your 2 pair, that can be useless as well if your opponent has a better 2 pair, or the board pairs, and you are out kicked again!