Why you should study Ace high flops

I am a big advocate of studying the most common spots in poker, which for the most part I mean things like Button vs Big Blind, Small Blind vs Big Blind, etc. 

What that also means is studying the most common flop types. Wet flops, dry flops, paired flops, monotone flops, etc. The most common flop type of all being Ace high flops.  

A lot of people say things like "Whenever I have KK an Ace always flops", to suggest they are unlucky. The reality is that it should happen a lot of the time. 

Ace high flops make up 21.7% of strategically different flops. They are the most common type of high card flop. It's not that an Ace is more likely to flop than, say, a Jack, it's just that when a flop has an Ace it is always Ace high. When a flop has a King, it is not always King high. King high flops happen 18.3% of the time, Queen high flops 15.2% of the time, and so on. 

If you have a hand like KK, it is slightly more likely than 21.7% of the time that an Ace will flop, because you have two unblockers in your hand. When you have an Ace yourself, it is much less likely that an Ace will flop, around 16.3% of the time, because you have an Ace blocker. 

The other, more obvious, reason why you should study Ace high flops is because every reasonable range includes lots of Ace-X hands. When an Ace comes on the flop you should have plenty of top pair and so should your opponent. That is not the case when a flop comes four high. 

Finally, there is just something different about how Ace-x flops play out in real-life games. Some recreationals overplay them, others overfear them when they have strong hands like KK or top pair with a weak kicker. 

Either way, study the flop types in isolation, there are differences between Ace high flops and King high flops, just as there are differences between King high flops and Queen high flops, that are worthy of a separate investigation. 

We are just putting together the finishing touches to a new video course which replicates how I work with my 1-1 students. As part of it we delve into every major type of flop including Ace high, King high, monotone, paired and more. We have over 20 hours of footage and it should give you a solid foundation for how to study without a coach. 

If there is a certain board type you struggle with, drop me a line and let me know. We may be covering it in our upcoming course. 

Until then, good luck at the tables.

 

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