Are Suited Aces Really That Good?
Not all of them equally — and the order is not always the one you expect. In 26 spots A5s continues while the much bigger AQs is thrown away. The reason is not that A5s wins more often. It is that it takes an ace away from the opponent.
The number
First the part that is no surprise: the bigger the second card, the more often the hand is played.
| Hand | plays (of 3053) | folds |
|---|---|---|
| A2s | 782 | 2271 |
| A5s | 1231 | 1822 |
| AJs | 2013 | 1040 |
| AQs | 2711 | 342 |
And then the 26 spots where the order tips over: there A5s plays and AQs does not.
The spot where it tips over
In those 26 spots the range still continuing is tiny — six hands. And A5s is right in the middle of it:
What still plays here — 6 hands
QQ, KK, AA, AKs, AKo — and A5s. AQs is not among them.
Why that is not a mistake
In spots like these the opposing range is almost nothing but aces and big pairs. Against those, AQs is behind: it shares its ace with AA and AK, and it loses to KK and QQ.
A5s is behind too — but it removes something. Every ace in your hand is one the opponent cannot hold, which shrinks their range by exactly the hands that beat you. On top of that A5s can make a pair of aces and a straight, where AQs often only has its ace.
So it is not about which hand is prettier, but which one takes more away from the opponent. That is the same idea as with the queens: what decides is not the strength of the hand, but what it is up against.
Where this answer stops
26 out of 3053 is barely one percent. That is an exception which explains something — not a rule. In the other 3027 spots the boring order holds: AQs beats A5s, and A5s beats A2s.