Pokeriad / Learn / Pocket aces
Updated November 2026
Raise pocket aces every time you get them: about 3 big blinds, plus 1 more for each player who limped in, and re-raise if someone raised first. After the flop, keep betting while worse hands can still call, and slow down when the board or the betting says one pair is beaten.
You'll see aces once every 221 hands. They beat one random hand 85 times in 100, and against five opponents that falls to about 50, so who stays in the pot decides most of what the hand is worth.
| What happened | What you do |
|---|---|
| Folded to you | Raise to 3 big blinds |
| Players limped in | 3 big blinds + 1 per limper |
| Someone raised | Re-raise to 3 times that bet, or 4 times if you act first after the flop |
| They re-raise you | Raise again, or all-in with under 40 big blinds |
| Flop with no draws | Bet half the pot |
| Flop with draws | Bet two-thirds of the pot or more |
| Raised on a connected board | Count what beats you first |
Three big blinds when everyone has folded to you, and one more big blind for each player who limped, meaning they only called the big blind. At a $1/$2 table that's $6, or $10 with two limpers. Many online players open for 2.5 big blinds, and that works too.
Use the size you'd use with any other raising hand. A special big raise for aces tells the table what you have, and everyone folds.
If someone has already raised, re-raise to about three times their bet when you'll act after them on the flop, and four times when you'll act first. A $6 raise becomes $18 or $24. If they come back over the top, raise again. With 40 big blinds or less, just go all-in, because the chips are going in anyway.
They stay the favorite at any table size, and each extra player takes a big bite. The gold bars show what an equal share of the pot would be.
Chance of winning if everyone stays to the river
That depends on when the money goes in. If every chip goes in before the flop, more callers pay you more. You win a smaller share of a much bigger pot, and the chart on the right adds it up for a $100 stack.
After the flop it turns around. You still have one pair, and three opponents can each make two pair, a straight or a flush. With 100 big blinds in front of you the money can't all go in early, so raise enough to keep the crowd down.
Look at the three cards first and ask what could have improved. The same two aces want a different bet on each of these boards.
Big enough to get the stack you want in by the river. In a normal raised pot that's harder than it sounds. With $13 in the pot and $194 behind, three bets of two-thirds the pot add up to only $76. To get all $194 in, you'd have to bet slightly more than the pot three times in a row.
So don't plan on stacking anyone with one pair in a single-raised pot. Two or three good-sized bets are what the hand is worth, and when the money starts going in faster than that, your opponent usually has you beat.
When the board has connected with the hands that are still in, and the betting agrees. The chart deals aces against random hands on two different flops.
Chance of winning against random hands, all staying to the river
Count the two-card hands that beat you. On king-seven-two in three suits there are 36: 9 sets and 27 two pairs. On 9-8-7 there are 84: 48 straights, 9 sets and 27 two pairs.
Say you bet $9 into $13 on that 9-8-7 board and a player raises to $30. You have to pay $21 more to win a $52 pot, so you need to win 21 / 73, or 29% of the time. A flush draw gives you that, and a straight or a set doesn't.
In this $1/$2 game everything goes right and the bets stay ordinary. The pot shown is the total after that round of betting.
Everyone folds to you and you raise to $6. The small blind folds its $1 and the big blind calls.
The big blind checks. No draws are around, so you bet $8. They call.
They check. You bet $20, about two-thirds of the pot. They call again.
They check. You bet $45, about two-thirds again. They call with king-queen, and your aces hold.
You take the $159 pot, and you put in $79 of it: $6, $8, $20 and $45.
Three bets put $73 in after the flop. That's 38% of the $194 you had left, and top pair paid all of it. Bet too small on the flop and you'd never have reached that river bet.
Twelve spots in three rounds: before the flop, on the flop, and on the boards where aces start to look shaky.
Once every 221 hands. Six of the 1,326 possible two-card hands are aces.
Against one random hand, about 15 times in 100. Pocket kings beat them 18 times in 100, and a hand like seven-six suited wins 22 times in 100, more than any pair does.
In a cash game, no. Tournaments have rare spots near the prize money where busting costs more than the chips would win, and a beginner can ignore those.
Almost never before the flop. Slow-playing means checking or calling to hide a strong hand, and it invites cheap hands to see a flop that can beat one pair.
If someone raised, re-raise to about 4 times their bet, since you'll act first on the flop. If everyone limped, raise as well.
Two aces can't be the same suit. You hold two different suits, which gives you two chances at a flush draw if the board helps.
Win rates against 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 opponents come from 60,000 random deals at each table size, with ties shared. Head-to-head numbers count every possible board and every suit pairing. The two-flop chart uses 3 million random deals against random hands.
Aces are 6 of 1,326 hands, and 1,326 / 6 = 221. The bet that reaches all-in by the river solves (1 + 2 × bet share) cubed = (pot + 2 × stack) / pot. Raise sizes are the common rule of thumb.
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