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Never Fold Pocket Aces Pre-Flop? Not So Fast

There are no absolutes in poker. Learn that now. At some point, every rule in poker will have an exception, including “never fold pocket aces pre-flop.” Folding aces pre-flop sounds like a bonehead move, but in reality, there are some spots where it may prove advantageous depending on circumstances. Let’s take a look at a few of those situations.

Mega-Satellites

The #1 spot where a player may consider folding pocket aces pre-flop would on the bubble of a big mega-satellite event, especially if they are one of the medium or short stacks with other players shorter than them.

In this type of event, it does not matter whether you are the chip leader or have one chip left when the bubble bursts as you all get the same prize. For example, you are playing a $550 World Series of Poker Mega Satellite and have 15,000 chips remaining. The satellite is paying 18 seats to the $10,000 Main Event.

19 players are left and three players are shorter than you, with one player at the point of shoving with anything remotely reasonable. This is a spot where you will want to fold pocket aces pre-flop and try and fold your way to a seat. In the case of the WSOP Main Event satellite, you are folding your way to a $10,000 entry.

Extreme Profit By Making the Money

Let’s say that you are playing in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker and you are either right at or on the money bubble. You won your way into this event off several step tournaments, but you have about $55 invested.

If you make it to the money, you are guaranteed $15,542. That’s a profit of $15,487. You have enough chips where you can easily blind your way into the money. If you are a player that has plenty of money, this situation is not a big deal.

However, there are many amateur players where making a $15,487 profit is a huge score, especially if they satellited into the event. This is a case where the money bubble is a huge deal. There are some that will spout the tired cliche of “you should play to win, not to make the money. However, a more reasonable person is not going to fault you if you fold a pair of aces pre-flop and fold you way to a significant profit.

Significant Equity Jump

Consider the following situation. You are the short stack four-handed in a small $100 tournament. Fourth pays $1,000. Third pays $3,875 and second $6,783. First pays $8,100. You are in the big blind and dealt aces.

Under-the-gun shoves, the button moves all-in, and the chip leader calls from the small blind. In this spot, if you fold your aces, you could potentially make a significant pay jump should the chip leader bust both players. You would earn an extra $5,783.

If the money is not important and winning is your only goal, you might call and try and quadruple up, but I don’t like your chances of winning against three players. However, if the money is a factor, you give yourself a great chance to make a huge money jump by folding.

With the exception of the mega-satellite, a lot of these scenarios are based on profit-taking. In tournament poker, you’re often told that you have to play to win and while this is true, there’s nothing wrong with making the occasional safe play to lock up some guaranteed profit.

If your motivation is to win rather than cash in an event, then obviously some of these scenarios will not apply. However, there are plenty of others that will be perfectly happy with taking the safer route. It boils down to your risk tolerance and how important the money is to you.

The main thing to take away from this is that no situation in poker is absolute, including never folding poker aces pre-flop. Good luck at the tables.

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