AK and allin's

I am needing some help. Every time I get AK if I end up all in I always lose. Your advice please anyone.

lately i have been just calling with AK wait for the flop and see what happens if you hit go for it if not proceed with caution

Hi.
when i play poker and have a small stack i allways do all in with AK.

But when i have a big or medium stack i play more safe..

AK is a coin flip in almost all situations. Pro's don't go all in preflop with AK, it's considered a beginer move. (Unless the tournament situation warrents, eg you're short stacked, very big stacked, or playing at a table with 6 or less players).

Online however, I personally don't mind this move if it's later in a tournament and you need to move up. Simply because you are either 50/50 shot at winning to QQ or lower pair.... or your a huge favorite to fools who will risk all their chips with AQ, AJ or worse. Which seems to happen a lot.

I generally think most pre-flop all ins are rookie moves. Unless short stack, blah blah the rest. At best you're betting your whole game on a pair, and how often does a pair win? I don't like to risk my game when I only know maybe 40% of my hand. And when u all in with AK, you're betting your game on kickers. The board doesn't go your way, you're through.
But that's me. I haven't made final table all week. And there's more than one way to play, thank goodness.

Why go all-in with AK?

1. You are about to be blinded out of the tourney or very close to it...short stacked in other words.

2. See above!

3. You somehow believe your AK has destiny and decide that it is worth the risk. At best if the other player has a pair you are a 52-48 dog. If they have AQ or less you can still get beat quite often.

4. Possibly go all in, but never call an all in without being short stacked.

Just my opinion. I believe too many players overplay their hand preflop and it costs them in the long run!

Amen! Depends on table and tourney position. Cold calling the blinds with AK should only be done against good experienced players when you are trying to change things up a little. Play it strong but don't be afraid to fold preflop or after the flop if you draw blanks.

i think if you make that allin move, you want it to be woth at least Q-Q at the end of a tourney, A-K is only good when you are up against like A-Q or A-J otherwise you will need an ace or a king in most situations and a lot of the time your oppoents 7-7 will very annoyingly hold up lol. just my ideas.

So if you're big blind and someone puts you all in before the flop (this person has been playing very stupid and loose), you woudlnt call? This seems like a huge rookie move. Chances are you have the best hand and you are giving up a pot to a possible J Q or something horrible that they are bluffing with.

Here is my take on it. Going all in with any hand preflop has it's dangers.

It makes the pot so big that it is hard to resist. Which can work in your favor if your hand holds up.

However having been on the end of a 10 streak of losses with AK in 40 hands...... well, I change my mind about going all in. Maybe call all in with one other person. But, AK in multiway pots.

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Anyway you have to realise that you have to give up chips with AK.

What do I mean by this.

Make a good raise. Then see how the table reacts. If everyone folds take a deep breath you just one a hand.

If you get multiple calls proceed with caution.

More importantly watch the end of the hand. See what the people stayed with that make it to the river. Whether you are involved or not.

If there is a huge raise and several calls. That is a tough decision. You have to gauge how the table is playing. Whi made the raise. Who called. Etc.

If there is only one huge raise and you are head to head. You pretty much have to call.

So how much is a good sized raise. Again the key thing is know your players.

Did X call with AJ to a 3x Pot bet. Did Y call the same bet with 98 suited. Who do you want in the pot with you and who do you want to get out.

Man. Lots of things to consider with just those to cards huh? LOL

I'm not an experienced player, but I've played enough to try a few approaches with AK. What seems to work best is to do like the pros, which is to raise about 3x to 4x the BB pre-flop. The idea is to try and reduce the competition on the hand, ideally to one other person.

Then, if you hit the flop, bet aggressively. If you don't, be prepared to fold. Not hitting means you have two overcards, but you're behind to any pair, and if someone has hit two pair or trips, you're almost dead.

The cost is that with fewer players, the pots tend to be smaller. The gain is winning more of them.

"Ending up" all-in and going all-in are two different things. It's so situational. Your position. The size of your stack. The size of your opponent's stack. The number of players in the hand. The size of the blinds relative to your stack. I will say this, I almost never go all-in or call an all-in before the flop with AK. I just think there's too many vulnerabilities to put my tournament life at risk on a hand that gets beaten by deuces without help. After the flop, it just depends on all the factors in place at that moment. In a ring game, I do play it a bit more freely.

I totally agree with you. Iv'e been busted on them more times and with poc. A's. I've had 2 pairs with A's & K's and get put right down. They look good buttttt they can bring you to your knees. Try not to let it get to me but its a chance you have to take to get any where. Well all I best let you go and hope to see you at the tables. Good Luck and Good Cards.

I've just basically learnt not to get my hopes up when I see them come. I'll pay alot to see the flop on AK but if I get no help then I'll fold pretty quickly.

Maybe I'm just whining but I never seem to hit with AK but they always hit when I'm against them, especially in Limit. I agree, getting all of your chips in before the flop is a weak play unless you are short stacked and in danger of being blinded out.

I think AK is definately one of those hands you like to raise with but should be hesitant to call with. At the start of a tournament when players are generally playing looser than they might normally play, trying to push people out of the hand preflop with AK isnt going to be a great option, but later on when everyone is playing tighter trying to squeeze their way into the money then AK becomes a great hand for me. If you can use AK coupled with a chip advantage over the shorties you will do well.

Ie. I'm in a nice spot with 60,000 chips, I look down at an AK, now the blinds are at 2,500/5,000. The guy in the small blind has 22,000 and the guy in the big blind has 12,000. Now you don't want to raise allin... that would be wasteful, instead you raise
12,000, Any good player without cards should stay right away from your bet, the small
blind isn't going to want to waste over half his stack unless he picks up something
pretty decent so he folds, and now you've got the big blind jammed in a beautiful spot.
Either he has to make an allin call, or fold and he can sit in for another 6 or 7 hands maybe before being ante'd allin.

its not AK, but someone went all in, and i had JJ, so i called. he shows AJ.

i end up losing when a Ace comes on the turn. ouch.

i have had more luck with ak than kk
preflop ak is at a significant disadvantage to only 2 hands
if we had a topic on qq you will hear about the bad beats to ak all day long

I never do allins whith AK because if any guy have AJ he will go too and you loose if a J come out.If anyone Have 99 he will go too and you loose if dont come out one of your cards.Thats why you not must do allin

I'm sure I won't say anything that hasn't already been posted, but I didn't read through it all. First thing to bear in mind is that AK is NOT a made hand, and should be played pre-flop, just as you would KQ, JQ, etc. I have folded AK lots of times when I felt I was beaten. Gut instinct, and common sense hand IMO.

Worst beating I ever took at a table was when I called all in with A-K and two other players called with me. One showed K-K the other A-A (221:1) Flop was A-K-2, screwedno matter what happened.