The Lure of Ace-Ten (and Ace-Jack)

"Ace-ten is one of those seductive hands that traps many players into losing a lot of money over time. Remember this about kickers -- they're on an accelerated depreciation schedule. 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." (Harrington on Hold'em, Vol I, p 218)

If there's an award to be given to the most overvalued hand which ends up punishing overconfident players it has to be ace-ten. (Ace-jack is a close second.) Playing online at Full Tilt Poker I've seen AT held as if it were an AK-47, pumping an entire stack of chips over the table to a losing showdown. Quite often.

At a full table AT isn't even close to a powerhouse hand. I play it from fifth position on if no one has entered the pot. It's foolish to play it earlier -- or to call a raise from a tight player, from any position. You'll either win small or lose big. If someone's playing higher aces (typical raising hands), you're hopelessly dominated. Even a crappy 97 stands a better chance against AK or AQ than AT does. I even toss the hand if there are just limpers in front of me. With AT I want first-in vigorish, and from a relatively late position. Then I'm on better ground.

Phil Gordon has an excellent analysis on how to play AT behind a raise, which is compatible enough with my own strategy. Gordon is responding to an email inquiry from a correspondent who -- like so many beginners -- really wants to play his AT. But if the raiser is tight, you should fold:

"If your opponent is a tight, aggressive, tricky, expert-quality player, I think the right move is to fold. You want to avoid playing dominated hands against these types of players. You'll either win a very small pot or you'll lose a very big pot. Because he's tight, the hands he's most likely to play, such as ace-king and ace-queen, dominate your hand. If you hit an ace on the flop, you'll be in a world of hurt, and if you don't hit an ace on the flop, your tricky, aggressive opponent who just raised before the flop will probably be able to maneuver to win the pot from you."

On the other hand, I don't necessarily fold AT to a loose player. As I said before (following Dan Harrington), against loose aggressives who play lots of hands you can play any hand you would normally play from the same position if you first entered the pot. So if I'm in fifth or later position, and a maniac raises before me, I'll do again as Gordon advises: reraise the kamikaze (about 2-3x his own raise), in order to punish him for thinking he can get away with what I love to get away with -- bullying the table with bad hands -- and do my best to win the pot before the flop. If the kamikaze happens to have a good hand for a change, well, that obviously happens. But if he's playing his usual jack-rag or suited gapper, my ace-ten is strong enough for me to try an isolate him heads-up and win the pot.

Gordon covers a third case for "loose predictable" opponents who raise, in which case he advises calling and then maneuvering after the flop. But I'd still reraise in this case. As a moderate loose aggressive I enjoy post-flop maneuvering with unusual hands, but not with trouble hands like AT. I'm just not messing around here. Pound away, and let the chips fall where they may.

You have to be cautious with AJ too. A lot of people play this hand from early (first or second) position -- a clear mistake: in the long run it's statistically unprofitable. You should be in at least third position to play it -- I say fourth -- and play it cautiously. A step above AT, it's still no AK-47. Here's what Mike Caro says:

"Anyone who thinks AJ is profitable [under the gun] doesn't understand the power of position in hold 'em. Here's a dirty little secret: Most players enter the pot [from early position] with this hand. Another secret: Everyone who does so can expect to experience a loss by doing so for their poker-playing careers. You might be tempted to play, but if you just trust me and throw this hand away automatically from the early positions in a full-handed game, you'll save a great deal of money." (Caros' Most Profitable Hold 'Em Advice, p 38)

In Phil Gordon's little blue book, he shows how he played AJ on specific occasions. His lamenting preface: "Ace-jack, a hand that can cause you all kinds of problems, gets overrated by a lot of inexperienced players...it's easily dominated." (pp 146, 109). But Gordon played it strong anyway -- and in all cases got smashed! In the first example he lost his entire stack (pp 109-112). In the second he ended up folding on the turn, but was left crippled in the red zone (15 big blinds) (pp 146-151). In the third he raised a bunch of limpers and again lost his stack (pp 311-313). Gordon doesn't relate any victories with AJ -- probably because victories with this hand tend to be small and not worth illustrating.

He also gives examples where he played the dreaded AT, and with results just as bad. In the first case he was dominated by a drunk holding AJ and lost his whole stack. (pp 27-31). (That's when AJ wins big -- when a fool holding AT can't lay down his hand!) In the second he won, but by bluffing: pushing all-in on the flop and getting his opponent to fold (pp 113-117). In the third he again lost his stack (pp 196-201). Yes, this is the same Phil Gordon we just saw advising such caution with AT. (He does relate an instance when he folded AT right away (pp 97-99).)

Even the pros get sucked into playing AT and AJ, have a hard time getting away from them, and lose big time. So don't get overzealous with these hands. Play them from the right positions, and cautiously, and let them pick up the small pots for you. You'll scoop bigger pots with better hands.