John Smith Syndrome might be making AA a big loser for you

Premium Hands like AA might not necessarily be profitable for some players. It's a big claim to make, but bear with me.

Why?

Well, many otherwise fine players have John Smith Syndrome. It is a plague upon their bankrolls, and also renders them social outcasts. Pretty bad, huh?

Perhaps things will be clearer when I reveal that the John Smith that I named this syndrome after was the captain of the Titanic. As everyone knows, the Titanic was unsinkable. JSS sufferers believe that AA, KK, AK, and sometimes QQ or even JJ are unsinkable. They persist in this belief, even after they've hit the iceberg. This costs them money (by chasing a losing hand) and also makes them assholes (not to put too fine a point on it). JSS players tend to complain bitterly about getting their aces cracked, and often lose equity in a game not by tilting, but simply by driving away the fish.

The reverse of JSS is Ancient Mariner syndrome. These people basically believe they are cursed, and hence lose money by being too willing to abandon premium hands. This is not as serious, but is still a hole in your game.

Some examples that I made up. See if they seem familiar

Red AA on the button. Excellent. John Smith calls with six callers in front of him - to keep them in the pot and maximize his profits. Flop comes QsQcJs. He's got the over pair and the straight draw, so he calls two cold when it comes to him. No sense alerting the fishies too early, the bet doubles on the turn. Which is a Ts and the betting is capped before it gets to John. He has Aces! He's going take down a monster pot. That Rolex is looking pretty affordable now.

Yeah, I made it blindingly obvious - the iceberg has not only appeared (on the flop) but well and truly struck home (on the turn). Either Queen beats him by itself, several plausible combinations are also well ahead of him. Even his outs are pretty dirty. He'll be lucky to get a split pot. And yet he calls it all the way down, because it's aces.

The ancient mariner on the other hand open raises it from mid position with his aces. He sees the flop heads-up against the BB. It comes Q98. The BB bets into him and Mariner folds. He's probably drawing dead or slim against JT or Q8 or 99 or something.

These are kind of extreme examples, but hopefully you can learn from them.

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