Aces are the best starting hand you can be dealt in Texas holdem online. This hand fills the typical player with either joy, dread or some combination of the two. The player knows that he currently holds the best hand, but he also knows it will be very difficult for him to get away from the hand if he is beaten. Due to this, many no-limit Texas hold’em players like to try to get all their chips in with aces before the flop.
Unfortunately, in limit Texas holdem, this is not an option.

Playing Aces before the Flop in Fixed-Limit Hold’em

You are almost always going to want to raise with one of these hands before the flop if the pot has already been raised and re-raised. There is minimal value in slow playing these hands before the flop. In most cases, the only hands that you will keep in by slow playing that will give you action after the flop are hands that have flopped cards to beat you. Big pairs play better against fewer opponents and it is unlikely your raise will get an inferior hand that will give you action after the flop to fold.

Playing Aces After the Flop in Fixed-Limit Hold’em

How you proceed after the flop will depend on the texture of the flop.


A paired board isn’t necessarily a threat if you raised before the flop unless the pair is a big one. For example, a flop of 8 8 5 is not a flop your aces should be afraid of, but a flop of K K 5 is. In fact, boards like K K 5 or Q Q 3 probably mean you should check and consider folding to a bet. Other scary flops where you may want to abandon the hand are flops with three of a suit that you do not have or even suited connected boards like Js Ts 9d. Also keep in mind that fixed-limit hold’em is a game of big cards, meaning if there are two big cards on the flop like J T or K Q, then two pair or a big straight draw is a real possibility. If there are three big cards on the board, you should proceed with extreme caution.

Playing Aces on the River in Fixed-Limit Hold’em

If you’ve been betting the whole way, throw in that last bet on the river and are raised, you are probably sunk. However, at this point the pot will be so large that you will often be compelled to call. You are often getting better than 10-to-1 odds in this spot, meaning that even if your opponent will have a real hand 90 percent of the time that he makes this play it is mathematically correct to call. Your best defense is to keep your eyes open throughout the hand for signs that your aces are beaten so that you have minimized the damage before you reach the river.

Today’s word is “random,” and it’s more important to your poker success than you probably suspect. We’re going to learn something about random as a concept. And we’re going to talk about when to, and when not to, use random methods to make poker decisions. The last question was number 76. Let’s continue...

Question 77: Have poker tells become less reliable in recent years?

Less reliable, yes. Less profitable, maybe not. A percentage of players are more aware of tells these days, but they’re in the minority. And once you’ve seen an opponent reverse a tell, this can actually work to your favor. You know he or she is “tell aware,” and you can adapt your decisions in accordance to this. You can make money by using traditional tells against them—in reverse.

Question 78: What does it mean to randomize your poker decisions?

In the truest sense, randomizing a poker decision means that your choice is truly unpredictable. You might not even know what decision you’re going to make until you check, bet, fold, call, or raise. Why does that make sense? Well, in some cases, random decisions don’t make sense. If you’re playing heads-up hold ’em against an opponent who moved all-in before the flop and you hold a pair of aces, you never want to randomize. You just want to call. In that case, there’s no credible decision to be made. You could decide that you’re going to call 99 out of 100 times before the flop, but why? That would mean that once in 100 times you’d be folding and throwing away your expectation of profit. You should only randomize when two or more choices are reasonable—and only because you’re trying to be less predictable to your opponents.

Question 79: Should you randomize your bluffing?

Yes. If opponents can determine that you always bluff or bluff too often, or never bluff, or don’t bluff often enough, they can gain an advantage. Even if you bluff by predictable pattern, opponents may tune in to your behavior and beat you. The answer is to randomize your bluffing. By the way, this doesn’t mean you should randomize if other information leads you to a better decision. If you know an opponent is likely to call, you should seldom—if ever—risk a bluff. And if an opponent is especially unlikely to call right now, that’s a good time to bluff.

Question 80: Is there really a correct percentage of times that you should bluff?

For every situation, there’s a precise percentage of the time you should attempt a bluff. The exact percentage depends on the strength of your hand, the likely strength of your opponent’s hand, your knowledge of your opponent’s traits, the size of the pot, the relative size of the bet, and much more. Just to prove this point, suppose you never bluffed and only bet your very best hands. After a while, astute opponents might realize this and never call without monster hands of their own.

In this situation, continuing to never bluff is clearly wrong. You would obviously be able to bluff profitably at least once—because that bluff would be unexpected and would succeed, unless you were unlucky enough to face a huge opposing hand. And you can stretch that to two, three, or more bluffs out of, say, 100 tries. Just keep stretching your bluff attempts until you hit a point where you’re almost bluffing too many times. If you bluff more or less than that, the tactic is theoretically unprofitable

Question 81: Should you always randomize your decisions?

No. You shouldn’t randomize your poker decision if other factors point to a clear choice.

Question 82: Are deals truly random in online poker?

Most online poker sites use a shuffling algorithm in their software that simulates the distribution of random cards. The cards chosen are based on a random number generator (RNG) that uses a mathematical formula to create a sequence of numbers that is unpredictable to humans. Actually, if the formula isn’t strong enough, it may be possible to predict the numbers—and cards—that will be chosen next.

But, in practice, most credible sites use very sophisticated algorithms and may even modify them in accordance with other events (such as the number of hands being dealt on all tables throughout the site), making it even harder still to predict outcomes.

Even more-random methods (some say perfectly random) methods can be used to simulate shuffling and dealing of cards online. You can generate numbers by sampling nuclear decay, rather than taking the next number in a mathematical sequence. I don’t like methods based on non-mathematical methods like that, because it leaves the site unable to prove to experts later that the cards were generated fairly according to a predetermined, but practically unpredictable-in advance, sequence.

In general, online shuffles are much closer to random than those performed by dealers in real-world casinos. But, at least, you get to watch the human dealer—and that’s reassuring.

Questions 83: If I try hard enough, can I make my decisions truly random?

Probably not. You’ll have to do the best you can to be unpredictable. David Sklansky has suggested acting in accordance with the position of the second hand on your watch. You can also use the ranks and suits of cards to determine which action you’ll take. For instance, if the last flop I saw began with a club, I’ll do this; if it was a heart, I’ll do that.

Question 84: How does randomness affect my life at poker and beyond?

In poker and in real life, things aren’t always as random as they seem. It’s our inability to decode the sequence and follow the path that gives us the illusion that stuff just happens for no reason. The trick is to decide that you’ll treat life’s adventures as if they come from a freshly shuffled deck, making decisions about the cards you see and not worrying about how they got there. Sometimes you need to randomize your choices to be unpredictable; sometimes you don’t. That’s poker; that’s life.

Mike Caro is widely regarded as the world’s foremost authority on poker strategy, psychology, and statistics. A renowned player and founder of Mike Caro University of Poker, Gaming, and Life Strategy, he is known as “the Mad Genius of Poker,” because of his lively delivery of concepts and latest research.