A very renowned poker player (I forget who, I think it was Doyle Brunson) once said that Ace-Queen in Texas hold em is a hand for suckers at the casino. I agree. Many beginning, or just plan mediocre, pokerplayers think it’s a huge hand. No doubt it is good, but too many people call gig raises with A-Q, and the person raising often has A-k, or a big pocket pair, like 10-1- or above. Even against 10-10 you’re still behind in the hand.

I was playing online poker recently and was dealt KK in the small blind. I made a nice sized raise and everyone folded and some guy reraised me all-in. well, he was a short stack and it didn’t cost too much more, so I called. If he had AA, well then, what can you do?

He in fact had A-Q. I was way ahead in the hand and was ecstatic. I also wondered why would this guy risk all his chips on A-Q offsuit?

Well, the flop came 10-2-Q, so I’m still feeling very comfortable. The turn brings a seven, still all good. Of course the flop brings up another dreaded queen, and I lose. I didn’t mind too much since it wasn’t a huge pot. But it annoyed me. This guy got lucky this one time, but if you play like that all the time, you will lose money in the long run. Keep that in mind.