Ace kicker

sundeck12 · Aug 10, 2026

Can anyone please clear how to play rightly Ace with kicker upto 8, thnx

Semprini · Aug 10, 2026

What are you asking? Like if you have A8o and flop 428-rb for top pair?

koalapanda · Aug 10, 2026

The main issue with A2-A8 is reverse implied odds—you win small pots when ahead, but lose big pots when behind to a higher kicker. Keep Ax offsuit out of early positions, and if you flop top pair, keep the pot as small as possible!

Semprini · Aug 10, 2026

As I read your question again, perhaps you are asking how to play A-rag.

Usually fold it pre. We can occasionally open this from late position on a weak table, usually in a stack bully situation but we probably want it to be suited.

It can be a short stack all-in between say 7 and 12 bb, but we'd like to be on the blinds to see a weak table before we commit. Under 7bb probably a shove regardless.

Semprini · Aug 10, 2026

koalapanda said:
The main issue with A2-A8 is reverse implied odds—you win small pots when ahead, but lose big pots when behind to a higher kicker. Keep Ax offsuit out of early positions, and if you flop top pair, keep the pot as small as possible!

Agree. It's a generally overvalued hand. We really don't want to play this hand out of position and we don't want to play this hand if we are not the PFR.

fundiver199 · Aug 10, 2026

Top pair weak kicker like holding

on

is generally a hand, that wants to go for some pot control. Maybe get 1-2 streets of value but not 3 or more. The kicker issue is not that big a deal, if its a late position confrontation, like we opened from BTN, and BB defended. The kicker issue is more problematic, if we are playing against a tight EP range, for example after defending our big blind.

But note that on this board we not only have top pair but also some backdoor draws, and another Q will make us chop with AJ and below. So many things can happen here, that are not always bad for us, and we just need to play poker, like we do with any other hand. Ask questions like "if I bet, will worse hands call", if we have the initiative. And questions like "do I beat any value, and how likely is it, my opponent is bluffing", if we dont have the initiative.

nitesss · Aug 10, 2026

A good kicker can make a bigger difference than people expect. Small details like this can really change a hand.

Semprini · Aug 10, 2026

fundiver199 said:
Top pair weak kicker like holding on is generally a hand, that wants to go for some pot control.

Sure, but that's A5s (or let's say A-wheel-s). The OP is asking about A8- (including all offsuit). A8- is 112 combos, (did I count that right?) Of which A-wheel-s is just 16 combos, leaving 96 combos that your example does not apply to.

martDdart · Aug 10, 2026

if you bet on a flop with an ace and get reraised you are probably behind just fold.If someone else bets before you on a flop with an ace ,reraise and if you dont win there fold your ace with low kicker ,8 and lower.

Semprini · Aug 10, 2026

martDdart said:
if you bet on a flop with an ace and get reraised you are probably behind just fold.If someone else bets before you on a flop with an ace ,reraise and if you dont win there fold your ace with low kicker ,8 and lower.

That is throwing a lot of chips around in a really tricky spot. We will be more profitable if we just don't play A8o with much frequency at all, and never unless we are PFR in position.

fundiver199 · Aug 11, 2026

Semprini said:
Sure, but that's A5s (or let's say A-wheel-s). The OP is asking about A8- (including all offsuit). A8- is 112 combos, (did I count that right?) Of which A-wheel-s is just 16 combos, leaving 96 combos that your example does not apply to.

A2-A5 are considered wheel aces, because they can all make the wheel straight A2345 using only 3 community cards. So there are a total of 64 combos of those and only 48 combos of rag aces (up to A8), that are not wheel aces. And while the question of OP is very short and unspecific, I think, he is mainly asking about the situation, where all these hands flop top pair on a A high board and end up losing a big pot, because they are outkicked.

And the answer to that is pot control and sometimes folding, if you only beat a bluff, and your opponent is not bluffing enough to justify calling with a bluff catcher. Of course part of the answer is also to not get involved incorrectly with these hands, so we dont have them in situations, where they are not profitable to play. For example in a 100BB 6-max cash game without ante we should not not be playing any offsuit rag aces from any seat of the table against an UTG open.

Semprini · Aug 11, 2026

I hate to split hairs but your example WAS A-wheel-suited. That is 16 combos. And although I agree with everything that you say, A-wheel-suited is quite different than A-wheel-off and very different than A-rag general. I just wouldn't want anyone to mislead the OP into thinking that kickers aren't important when playing a naked Ace.

The wheel draw is also something to be careful with, certainly A5 has a little extra equity than A6 and any extra equity that we can have in our back pocket is nice, but always remember that the wheel is ALWAYS a gut draw. So be careful thinking "All right! A3, I have straight equity! Let's go!". Well you have less straights with it than you do with say 75 or even 85.

fundiver199 · Aug 11, 2026

Semprini said:
I hate to split hairs but your example WAS A-wheel-suited. That is 16 combos.

Just a misunderstanding, since I did not catch, that you meant suited wheel aces. And of course its true, that we should play suited wheel aces far more often than the offsuit varieties. But the kicker problem is still the same, when we see a A high flop.

lolpeura · Aug 12, 2026

Question: Im aware the danger A-low kicker is in a table of 7-9 people, but at what point is A-low kicker starts to be considered strong hand ? Like with table of 4-5 ?

Semprini · Aug 12, 2026

It's good in a heads-up game.

fundiver199 · Aug 13, 2026

lolpeura said:
Question: Im aware the danger A-low kicker is in a table of 7-9 people, but at what point is A-low kicker starts to be considered strong hand ? Like with table of 4-5 ?

The important is the position of the players involved in the hand, not how many players are sitting on the table. If it folds around to BTN on a 9-handed table, BTN is supposed to open a wide range. So if BB defend A4 and flop top pair, then this is a pretty strong hand despite the kicker issue. But if its HJ opening on a 5-handed table, then HJ is supposed to be on a tighter ranger, and if BB still defend A4, he need to be more worried about being outkicked. But not as worried as, if it was UTG opening on a 9-handed table, and in that situation A4 should probably not even be defended in the first place.

anshu143 · Aug 13, 2026

mostly i used to fold while playing this hand because no one knows what opponent having as even ace on table we have to fold until dont have two pairs.

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