I am constantly amazed at the number of players who have the any Ace mentality disorder. If you are a break even limit hold em player who consistently plays any hand that contains an Ace in it without consideration of the table composition and your position then you would easily become a winning player folding these hands preflop. Playing these hands is the biggest leak in the limit hold em game.

How many times have you seen a player call 2 bets cold with Ace-5 suited or Ace-9 suited? What about raising with these same holdings in early position? I see this consistently as well despite the fact that these hands are losers. They are easily dominated, only have a 6 % chance of making a flush preflop (if suited), and even when you catch an Ace on the flop the only time you seem to get any action is when someone either already has you beat or are too weak to fold a worse holding. Of course, that would be the other players at the table that suffer from the same exact any Ace mentality.

Even in the higher limit games I see a number of players who suffer from this disorder although it is not quite as prevalent as in the lower middle limit and low limit games. I look specifically for the players who cannot lay down an Ace-x preflop. It is such a common leak. If you see your opponent willing to play Ace-X off suit without regards to position, pot odds, table composition, style and position of the initial raiser, then you are sure to find other common leaks in their starting hand criteria as well. Not everyone you see playing Ace-x suffers from the any Ace mentality as there are certain times when it is correct to play such a holding such as first in from late position or defending a blind from a late position loose aggressive opponent. One could even make a defense of playing such a holding in loose passive game where free cards abound and flushes, two pair holdings, trips, and full houses will get paid off by much weaker holdings. Of course a good player can also isolate a weaker player such as a maniac with any Ace holding by being able to use his positional advantage in his favor.

Falling into the any Ace mentality is a huge leak as a result of how often you are dealt these hands. Expect to see an Ace in the pocket once every seven hands on average. Now you know why they are such big losers. They are dealt to you over and over again in a hold em session. But once you start playing them you will win just enough times to think you are playing correctly. What actually happens though is that most of the time you win with these holdings by default. It is those times you go to the showdown that the leak becomes more obvious. You win pots but they pale in comparison to the bigger pots you generally lose. Don't equate quantity with quality.

The any Ace mentality doesn't just affect a single playing style although the calling station is the most common. You can usually differentiate him from the rest fairly quickly though. The maniac also suffers the any Ace mentality but they, like the calling station, don't suffer only from this disorder but in playing too loose aggressively with any hand at all. The more common player who suffers from the any Ace mentality that can improve their game and results are the beginning players, intermediate players, and recreational players. Next time I will continue the discussion of the any Ace mentality.