Don't let your aces get cracked(credit: Ladbrokes Poker)
You may think this is crazy, but there is actually a good moment to fold the best starting hand in poker. If you never fold pocket rockets pre flop, you may wind up hurting your chances to win.
“Getting all in pre flop with the best hand” is an expression -- a poker maxim, if you will -- that you have likely heard before. At its core, there is nothing wrong with this idea, and in fact it makes a ton of sense. There is one instance, however, when you don’t want to go all in at all pre flop, even if you have two hot rockets in your hands.
Two aces are a joy to see, but not if you are sitting close to the money bubble and are short stacked. Normally a short stack would either instantly shove all in with two aces or, if they are just sneaky enough, manipulate an opponent to push them all in. And in most instances they would be right to do so; a short stack needs to double up to get healthy in a tournament, and you can’t have better odds pre flop than with aces.
So what’s the problem?
Let’s say you are in a big multi-table tournament and are one of a handful of very short stacks, and there are only a few places left before the money bubble bursts. You see two aces. If you shove in here and lose, you walk with nothing; all places below the cash line are equal, it would be as if you busted out on the first hand.
You are a patient, competent player-- there is a good chance that the other short stacks are not, at least some of them. Not to mention the small to mid size stacks that may make a mistake and get knocked out pre- money. Either way you look at it, folding those aces pre flop is the best shot you have to making the money.
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