Explanation of Ace High
“Ace high” is simply a type of “high card hand”. It is the strongest high card hand, followed by King-high, Queen-high etc etc.
The term can also be used to indicate that a flush or straight has an Ace has its highest contributing card: the Ace high flush, the Ace high straight.
Example of Ace-High used in a sentence -> We called our opponent’s bluff and won the pot with our Ace-High.
How to Use Ace High as Part of Your Poker Strategy
The strength of Ace high will vary depending on the poker variant in question and the situation.
Ace high may sometimes go on to win the pot in Hold’em, but this rarely happens in Omaha since it is so much easier for players to make pairs.
In community card games where the board is especially co-ordinated, it’s unlikely that Ace high will win the pot. In spots where the board texture is dry, Ace high becomes stronger in the relative sense and is more likely to win the pot.
Ace high is also more likely to win the pot on paired textures (and especially double paired textures). This is a point of confusion for some players, since if the board has two pairs in Hold’em, we technically hold two-pair not Ace high.
This is an example of a common simplification players make in the way that they describe hand strength. Pair co-ordination on the board is typically ignored since all players have access to it. So for example -
Board: QQKK2
Hero: AT
Hero’s hand is most commonly referred to as “Ace high” despite the fact that it’s technically Kings and Queens with Ace kicker.
Ace high straights are the best possible straights and Ace high flushes are the best possible flushes. They are typically strong holding in most poker variants and may be strong enough to play for stacks with depending on the exact situation.
