The Curse of Pocket Aces, Asshole
I was playing in a small tournament last weekend. Early in the game, a girl at the end of the table (who had no idea what she was doing) did not raise pre-flop. She failed to raise after the flop. In fact she just called down to the river and lost to trip kings. One king had been flopped and one came up on the turn. She, of course had pocket aces. The winning hand had King-three off-suit. Immediately everyone at the table started saying crap like, “Curse of the Pocket Aces” and “I hate pocket Aces” or “I always lose with Pocket Aces”!
I, of course, thought, this should be a good night!
And it was for a while, until all these bad players were gone and the final 12 were all competent players. I just didn’t get the breaks and finished 10 out of 40+. Yes, there were a few hands I could have played better, but WTF!
Back to the subject matter. Pocket Aces! Whenever I hear people talk about “The Curse of Pocket Aces” I see dead money.
While this is a great starting hand, and I want all players to remember this, THEY ARE JUST A PAIR! A very good pair, the best, but they are still just a pair. Most hands are won with something better than a pair. They do not mean you automatically win. And if you play them like shit, you are destine to lose. Remember, they are just two of the seven cards you get to play with!
If you are one of the people crying about always losing with this starting hand, first I doubt that is true. Here is the deal: Since you expect to always win with it, I mean it looks so great when you see them, that when you win, you don’t really think about it. When you lose, it pisses you off to no end, so those times stick in your head. When you think back, you only remember the times you didn’t win. And what is added to that memory skew if that usually you’ll win a small pot with aces or lose a huge one. I thin if you kept records, you will win more often than you lose.
And if that is not true, you are probably playing them horribly! If you don’t raise pre-flop and five or more others are seeing a flop with you, you will lose more than 50% of the time. And then you bitch “Pocket Aces . . . cry cry cry”
If you are truly losing more than you are winning, you suck and need to learn how to play them. Maybe I’ll do my thoughts on how to play them in a few weeks.
