Nowadays even non-poker players have heard that the best starting hand at Texas Hold'em is pocket aces. That's great, but players sure have a different way of looking at the hand. Most players love them, some players hate them. The truth is that statistically Ace-Ace is going to make you the most money if you play them correctly, but many players just can't get it right. Aces are the best to start, but they will be beat - often.


 

Based on that news (you already knew that, right?) there are many poker rooms that offer an Aces Cracked Bonus. It's a little something for their players that everyone can relate to, a payback when you do get the best starting hand beaten.So what's the questions? Is it worth slow-playing your aces to attract more players (you just call, no raise) to try and lose?

First, let's look at the percentage of times you will win when you have pocket rockets against different caller numbers, assuming all players stay until the end:

• Against 1 Player  your aces will hold-up and win 85-percent of the time
• Against 2 Players your aces will hold-up and win 75-percent of the time
• Against 3 Players your aces will hold-up and win 65-percent of the time
• Against 5 Players your aces will hold-up and win 50-percent of the time
• Against 7 Players your aces will hold-up and win 40-percent of the time
• Against 9 Players your aces will hold-up and win 30-percent of the time

So there you have it, the more players, the less likely your aces are to drag the pot.

Again, you probably knew that. That points out how critically important it is to play your aces strongly and knockout most of your opponents. If all you get is the blinds, so be it, you won!

The Aces Cracked Bonus

The value of an Aces Cracked Bonus is heavily dependent on two things: the average number of callers you can expect, and the table limit. Let's look at a limit poker game first.The higher the bonus for getting your aces cracked, the better, but a standard payoff is $100 or a rack of $1 chips. You will rarely have more than three caller with the benchmark of no raise pre-flop and calls by all players on the flop and turn, and one call on the river.

Limit Games

In a $2/$4 game against a single player you will put $12 in the pot and drag $24 about 85-percent of the time. Overall the Aces are worth $23.00

Against 2 callers, you will put $12 in the pot and drag $32 about 75-percent of the time. Overall the Aces are worth $40.00

Against 3 callers, you will put $12 in the pot and drag $40 about 65-percent of the time. Overall the Aces are worth $51.00

This shows that the more players involved, the more your aces are worth, win or lose!

In a $4/8 game against a single player you will put $24 in the pot and drag $48 about 85-percent of the time. Overall the Aces are worth $31.80

Against 2 callers, you put $24 in the pot and drag $64 about 75-percent of the time. Overall the Aces are worth $49.00

Against 3 callers, you put $24 in the pot and drag $84 about 65-percent of the time. Overall the Aces are worth $65.60

Obviously Aces Cracked for a $100 rack of chips is worth slow playing for limits up to $5/$10.At $8/$16 you would put $48 in the pot total with the above example, so you double your money if you lose, double if you win against one opponent, and triple-up if you beat two opponents. This is a either/or situation profit-wise. You may make more by raising and beating one or two opponents that slow-playing.

No-Limit Games

No-limit games will also be different because you could lose your entire stack if you don't win. There is no good way to guess whether to slow-play your aces or not unless you really know your opponents. To maximize your win you'll have to know the average pot-size. If most pots are $50, then it's better to slow-play your aces if your stack is under $75. You'll either win a little, or get them cracked and win more. With a stack of over $75, it's probably better to put-in a raise pre-flop.

If your opponents are aggressive and the pots are over $100, it might be more profitable to slow-play even a stack up to $100 and hope to drag a pot of good size or get your money back if your aces get snapped.With a stack of over $100 it's probably always right to put-in a raise pre-flop and narrow the field. Then, if they get beat, you did what you could.