Thanks for the post Chicopaw. It's always good to go over the old classics every once in a while, and playing Aces fits the bill. We all have such great expectations of the the almighty Ace. Definitely applies to me.
I did a few quick runs on pokerstove with AA versus two villains who both have 5% ranges & the results were:
AA 70%
5% 15%
5% 15%
And for the craic, I ran AA against all Ax (~14.5% of all hands):
AA 92%
Ax 8%
Seems AA is indeed almighty. But we know from bitter experience that our lovely AAs get cracked all the time. It's especially harsh when we bubble with them or lose a big pot. We remember those loses especially. They sort of imprint themselves upon our poker brains.
I suppose playing AA and definitely Ax is, like so much of poker, dependent on the situation. If I'm playing with too loose LAGs and maniacs, I'm looking to get my money in pre-flop. Forget about the 2.2x rise. I either rise it up big pre or just shove. I'm going to get a least one caller - but probably more. On tighter tables, I want to see a flop against one opponent and play from there. Once in a blue moon I slow play AA on nitty tables, or to confuse my opponents in other situations.
As for Ax, I really only play them in multiway pots with very LAG players and can easily throw them away when the flop is dead, or play for showdown value. If I'm in early position, I just muck the headaches.
Of course for short tables and heads-up Ax increase in value.
I suppose once I learn not to lose money with AA (i.e. lay them down when the betting is against me - especially in family pots), I'll be making a bigger profit with them. It's a skill I definitely don't have right now.
