Ace-Jack suited is one of the strongest hands you can get dealt in No Limit Hold’em. You should expect to win a good amount of money with it (on average).

There are, however, some fundamental mistakes that you should avoid when holding this powerful suited Ace.

In this article, I will break down how to play this hand preflop and postflop so that you will be way on your way to making the most profitable decisions

Let’s get started.

How to Play Ace-Jack Suited Preflop

The advice in this section assumes you’re playing with standard 100 big blind stacks.

I will also reference positions throughout this section. Here’s an infographic you can reference that you may find helpful:

Unopened Pots

Ace-Jack suited is always worth raising when the action folds to you. Limping with it is very inadvisable because you will win smaller pots on average over time.

Against an open-raise

When faced with a raise, you should 3-bet with this hand almost every time.

The exceptions are:

• When you are in the Big Blind against a Middle Position raise
• When you are in the Big Blind against an Early Position raise
  

In these situations, you should mix between both 3-betting and calling.

Against a 3-bet

When you raise and face a 3-bet, Ace-Jack suited can perform well as both a call and a 4-bet bluff.

The hand works well as a 4-bet bluff when the 3-bettor’s range is somewhat tight. This is because Ace-Jack’s blocker effects are more pronounced against tight ranges, blocking half the possible combinations of Pocket Aces and Pocket Jacks, plus a quarter of the combinations of Ace-King.

These blocker effects mean that when this hand is chosen as a 4-bet bluff, it will face a 5-bet shove significantly less than, say, Queen-Six suited. Additionally, Ace-Jack suited also has a lot of equity against the range of hands that call a 4-bet.

Here’s a simplified way to approach playing Ace-Jack suited whenever you raise and face a 3-bet:

• Call when you are in position against the 3-bettor
• Mix between 4-betting and calling when you are out of position against the 3-bettor

The exception is when you are in the Small Blind and the Big Blind 3-bets. When that’s the match-up, you should always call.

Against a 4-bet

When facing a 4-bet, you will generally want to call with this hand. Since 4-bets are not usually bigger than 2.8x, the hand has good enough equity, great blockers, and playability in order to call profitably. 

That said, if your opponent uses a much larger 4-bet size than 2.8x your 3-bet, or if your opponent is extremely tight, you can certainly consider folding Ace-Jack suited.

3 Tips for Playing Ace-Jack Suited When You Hit Top Pair on the Flop

These tips are for when you’re playing as the preflop aggressor.

Tip #1: When in position in a heads-up pot, always bet for value

Example: You raise with As Js from the Cutoff and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes Jd 7c 4c and the Big Blind checks. Always bet in this type of situation!

This includes both single-raised pots and 3-bet pots. Regardless of whether you hit top pair with the Ace or Jack, your hand will be very strong, and extracting value becomes a priority.

Don’t slow play!

Tip #2: When the flop has two broadway cards and you’re heads-up in position, bet big

Example: You raise with As Js from the Cutoff and the Big Blind calls. The flop comes Jd Tc 3c or Ad Qd 7c and the Big Blind checks.

As the player who raised preflop, flops with two cards above Ten are extremely advantageous for you.

You are much more likely to have a strong hand (top pair good kicker or better) on these flops. Meanwhile, your opponent will have just a few strong hands, many medium-strength hands, and a bunch of hands that have totally whiffed.

To get max value with your strong hands and make your bluffs as effective as possible, you should use big bet sizes on these “double broadway” flops.

How big, you ask? I recommend betting at least 66% pot.

You can opt for pot-sized bets or bigger as well. The Lucid Poker Trainer (which allows you to look up the optimal strategy for any flop) has calculated that using an overbet is best on Ad Qd 7c.

Tip #3: Play more cautiously in multiway pots, especially when 3+ players reach the turn

Top pair is a strong hand, even in a multiway pot.

Compared to heads-up pots, though, your equity will be a lot lower. And it’s even worse when 3 or more players reach the turn after calling your bet on the flop.

This happens because the burden of defense is dispersed between multiple players. In other words, each player should be playing tighter when facing aggression in a multiway pot.

Thus, when multiple players actually do call, they have significantly stronger ranges than what they’d usually have in a heads-up pot. This means you should often proceed with caution on the turn, especially if the board texture gets a bit scary.

3 Tips for Playing Ace-Jack Suited When You Miss the Flop

These tips are for the two-thirds of the time when you don’t flop a pair with Ace-Jack suited.

Tip #1: Be more inclined to bet when you have some backdoor draws to strengthen your hand

Even when you miss with Ace-Jack suited, you will always have at least one overcard (the Ace). That’s a good start, but it’s not always enough to justify a bet.

If you have some backdoor flush or straight draw to go with your overcard(s), however, you should generally be more inclined to c-bet.

This way, if your bet is called, you have some nice escape hatches. You could get lucky and hit your Ace. You could pick up a draw and continue bluffing. Or maybe you’ll get very lucky and hit that runner-runner flush.

Tip #2: After defending your Big Blind, you should check-call on the flop if you have a backdoor flush draw

Having both an overcard and a backdoor flush draw will help you fight back against continued aggression.

Sure, you might totally whiff on the turn, but you might bink top pair or pick up the nut flush draw.

Example: Assuming your opponent doesn’t use an outrageously big flop c-bet size, you should continue with A J on a flop like Q 7 2.

Tip #3: When the board is connected and you have nothing, it’s best to fold

Example flops: 9 8 6 or 7 6 5.

Yes, you have a great hand preflop. But now you have been set into a part of the game tree where Ace-Jack doesn’t have much expected value (EV) at all, and that is fine.

Don’t feel like you need to win every pot just because you had a great hand on the previous street!

Final Thoughts

Those are the fundamentals that you need when it comes to Ace-Jack suited. Make sure to always apply them when playing so that they become ingrained in your thought process. This leaves more mental energy for harder decisions on later streets. 

If you enjoyed this article, you can let me know in the comment section down below, and if you have any other hand that you’d like me to cover feel free to tell me there as well.

Want to learn how to play another starting hand? How to Play Nine-Eight Suited In Cash Games.

Till’ next time, good luck, grinders!

The post How to Play Ace-Jack Suited in Cash Games appeared first on Upswing Poker.