Get the most from your aces, even when they're no secret

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http://www.casinobuzz.com You have aces. You have the nuts. You have to get the most out of them.

Even when your opponent knows you have aces. Especially when your opponent knows you have aces.

Andy Bloch, a poker pro who graduated from MIT and Harvard Law School, faced that situation in an amazing hand in a $10,000 buy-in tournament. He drew aces under the gun, and Young Phan, a tight player, raised out of the big blind. Bloch reraised. Phan called.

The flop came: king of hearts, queen of spades, jack of hearts. "I know the only strong hands he'd play that way are aces, kings, queens, jacks and maybe K-Q," Bloch said. "He checked and I checked behind him."

The turn came a blank, at which point Phan made a bet equal to almost half of Bloch's stack. Bloch thought for a while, then called.

"Once I called, he knew I had aces," said Bloch, who is one of the playing pros on fulltiltpoker.com. "We had been playing with each other the last couple weeks. We had been at a final table together of a stud tournament and a lot of live games, so we were in tune with what each other was thinking."

The river came a low heart, so there were three hearts on board. Phan went all in, and since Phan had Bloch covered, Bloch would be out of the tournament if he lost - while holding the aces that Bloch knew that Phan knew he was holding.

"It was a pretty big pot and it was fairly early on the second day," Bloch said. "I thought for a long time. Someone asked for the clock on me. When someone asks for a clock on you, you have a minute to make a decision.

"At the time they asked for the clock, I wasn't going to call. He had to have me beat. But he knew I had aces. And I thought and I thought and I thought. With about 10 seconds to go, I decided he really didn't want me to call, so I called, and he turned over A-K.

"Half the people at the table were thinking I couldn't have taken that long to decide when I had two aces.

"I think they're hard to play. A lot of people misplay them. They don't get full value out of them. When their stacks are too big, they usually call too much. And when their stacks are in between, they don't get full value."

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Source: Casino Buzz
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