value of AK suited

I think too many people put a lot of value on AK suited (or not suited for that matter). Is it really worth going all in pre flop unless you are forced to by blinds or short stack????

I choose to limp with any AK and if one hits the board, I must assume I am ahead and can continue betting.
If one doesn't hit the board, I can choose to get out if I think I am up against a pocket pair.

Am I losing opportunities to win pots by limping with this hand??

SEVEDUB SHALL SEE YOU AT THE TABLE

You don't understand the hand's real value: fold equity. See here for previous discussion.

AK is such a strong hand because the only two hands in poker dominate it, AA or KK. Against every other hand AK is either a huge favorite, on the good end of a 60-40, or just a small underdog (against any pocket pair QQ or lower). So you should raise with AK from any position, whether suited or unsuited. As far as going all in with it preflop, if its early in the tournament, you should assume your opponent has a high pair, so you should probably fold it. Later in the tournament when the blinds get high you should go all in preflop with AK if you can.

As I have posted here many times, in many threads, Big Slick is the most overplayed hand in holdem. Most of the value of AK is preflop, where you can isolate opponents by applying pressure. Once the flop comes out, the ace and the king are just 2 pretty cards unless you hit something with them, and should be treated as just that. So often, people will make a huge c-bet with them when they completely miss the flop. Mike Sexton said it best-" Every minute of every hour of every day, someone somewhere is going allin with Big Slick and losing."

Maybe. But that's it's nature: it's value is preflop. Play it hard and fast preflop, and you should be able to narrow it down to one opponent, where a c-bet should take it down (of course, flop texture has to be taken into consideration). It is a HUGE hand and should be earning you more money than QQ overall.

You got to love it when AK is played wrong against you!

I must agree AK's value is preflop but post flop...read the play and decide what to do then.

Take this afternoon's Freeroll late stage about 40 people left.

Short stack is UTG + 3 and raises 2BB with AK.

I had late position with QQ of cos I call.(didnt want to scare him and every one else folds)

Flop comes Q 6 9 rainbow. He goes all in and i call. I had placed him on a small pocket that may have hit the flop.

Turn and river immaterial (a 6 on the river giving me a full house)

The best is he was furious...called me a donk and that I stole the pot.

What a joke! had he gone in all in preflop I would have called anyway as he was short stacked but his play was atrocious.

AG is right, AK is a beast if you use it's biggest value: FE. Against opponents against wich you have none (donks or people already committed) it loses a lot of it's value, even preflop.

Plus this:


Is also very, very dependant on opponent and preflop action.

It's like any hand. Its value depends on your position. If you are UTG its not the "be all end all", but if 4th, 5th and 6th limp and you are on the button with it, then it's probably a monster.

Remember, about 33% of the time when you have AK the flop will bring either an ace or a king. That's a pretty big %. And during this 33% of the time when you hit, you have a HUGE hand. Someone might have top pair and a weaker kicker and in this case you have great implied odds since he will like his hand. Depending on the scenario, I'll usually just check fold AK if I miss the flop.

i love AK, however if nothing comes on the flop u gotta fold it. AK suited tho gives you that flush draw...go big with that hand

I might disagree with YOUR play on this hand. It worked out for you, but you didn't hit that set and fullhouse because of your great skill. You got lucky. And your opponent is obviously a poor player. All good things for you. But in general, why would you limp pre-flop with QQ? You don't raise here, you miss out on info. Furthermore, you DO want others to fold. You'd be up a creek if you let a couple more players in and the flop happened to bring an A or K. I don't doubt that you're a good player, but to give this results-oriented scenario as proof of a well-played hand is off base. It worked out well for you, I would contend, in spite of - not because of - the fact that you didn't really play it very well. How would you have felt had he hit a set of nines and your queens didn't improve? With your play, you have very little info to go on.

Just my opinion.

In my opinion, AK suited or off suit is overrated. But, it is still a very quality hand, and thus I usually 3x the bb raise it during the early stages of a tournament. If you think about it though, say you're doing a 9 man sng and it's shorthanded, if you're shortstacked you just have to push and hope for the best, because the most likely case is that you're a big favorite.

Whatever you say. AK suited is the 4th best starting hand in poker... really only 1 hand has it completely dominated and thats aces.. against kings you have your outs and against any other hand you are well in it.. so id say its a pretty darn good hand to have..especially suited..

AK is a stong hand but I also feel that way to many people over value it preflop. After all it is still a drawing hand, however I don't agree with limping with it ever because yoyu are setting yourself up to be drawn out on by any number of weak hands that you would have made fold with say a 3XBB raise. Then with a continuation bet after the flop you can acess your strength again and decide what to do next. By the way I say 3XBB because it enough to get weak hands to fold while only risking a minimum amount of chips and allowing yourself to still have enough incase you have to fold after the flop. Also by always betting 3XBB you disguise the strength of your hand so when you do connect the it is less likely for your opponents to put you on a hand.

This was a great read on AK. I like the hand but agree that it is quite worthless when nothing hits on the flop. I try and remind myself not to get attached.

When nothing hits the flop, c-bet.
Depending on the size of your preflop bet and the texture of the board, your c-bet will win you the pot most of the time, especially if it's a paired board.
Yes, bet into a paired board when checked around to you.
Usually the first one to bet on a paired board takes the pot.
Sorry to sidetrack a bit, but this little tidbit of seldom known/forgotten info was burning a hole in my brain

Unless you have that person that hit trips and is trapping with a check raise. I guess it should be easy enough to get out of that as well though if you have nothing but AK.

I can't say this enough, if the board is relatively dry, then a c-bet improves those odds.
sure it may be beat preflop by any PP and that's where the 1/3 odds come into the mix.
And the facts are c-betting increases the odd of AK winning.

You'd better recheck your "facts"

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 65.320% 64.47% 00.85% 1352291878 17843919.50 { AcKh }
Hand 1: 34.680% 33.83% 00.85% 709592683 17843919.50 { random }

So AKos actually wins 2/3 of the time against a random hand.

AKs is about 2% better.

Those are the real facts!

Seriously WV, you posting "real facts" in this thread is like -EV.

Sorry, man. You're probably right.

These threads have just been driving me crazy lately. Lots of people who need 50 posts offering horrid advice, I guess. Doesn't matter what I or anyone else says though. They're not reading anything, just adding to the stupidity and moving on to the next thread.

Yeah. Maybe I'll start posting my advice with some nekked pics of Jessica Alba. Think that'll get their attention?

To hell with theirs, you'll certainly have mine!

You're not helping the "every guy with less than 50 posts must be a retard" stereotype...

Just 2 more.

Do you even have a post in this thread?

Some interesting responses on this topic so far. I guess my question to the people who doubt the value of AK...what is a better hand to you other then the obvious ones of AA or KK?

I've been using pocker tracker to track my results for awhile now and i'll give you the results of my AK suited versus unsuited.

This is out of a total of 18,029 hands (i've only been playing 2 months and change) so judge for yourself how representative it is.

AA - Had 79 times...and won 83.54% of the time
AK suited - Had 53 times...and won 73.58% of the time
AK off suit - Had 140 times...and won 55% of the time

I was really surprised by the difference in suited versus offsuit too. Some of the posters are right here about it being a drawing hand..it is that. But it is also alot easier to walk away from AK or any suit then a hand then pocket AA or KK is. What I see alot in online games are people who just aren't willing to give it up and thats when they lose big.

A K is always worth going all in for. for me even if someone has the low pocket pair you even got the possibilty of hittin two higher pairs or if suited, even the flush. it is a very valuable hand. although i would chose to raise big but not all in as you could always bluff whats on the table. once ur all in ur committed and its too late for a bluff once its all out

Bodog freeroll today: SB with AK today I lost against 88 BB only two in the hand. Knocked out of tourney as a result

limp with suited ace x....i want to see a flop....i know i run the risk of letting some donk hit two pair or some crap like that but i am looking for a flush when i have a hand like that....and if i limp with an ace people who may have a flush draw themseleves wont think i have an ace high flush because i limped...try it sometime and see how it works for ya.

I agree with above that it's usally worthless if you not hitting an ace or a K on the flop. I really dislike the hand, probably even more than A J. It's a great hand, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't go all-in preflop, nor would I expect great things from it.

Ace King, suited or off, is a great hand. The reason for this is due to the fact that if you catch any pair, you have great chances of winning the pot, which i cant say about any other hand other than pocket pairs... If you catch a pair, its sure to be the highest on the board and you have the best kicker to go with it. This is why its considered to be one of the best, some say even better than Queens. Statistically queens win more hands, but you are capable of winning more money with kings since you wont feel as threatened as you would with queens. For example, if you get queens preflop you are hoping with all your might that an ace or king don't come on the flop because you know if they do, the person who called your raise is probably winning. With kings, you are first of all hoping for any of those hands, and you are capable of looking past the flop even if you are raised knowing that if he is bluffing you are beating him, and if he isnt your chances of catching aren't that bad either... Good luck at the tables .

Not anymore he doesn't

I think he would feel great, seeing as he hit a set of queens...

AK is a great pre-flop hand but after that if u dont hit get rid of it fast cuz it will usually get u into trouble.
i usually like either limp so i can get rid of it or play really strong pre-flop
many players overplay weak As sometimes

A few months ago I was in a hand at a 2-2NL table. It limped around to this kid in middle position and a big stack (about $400). With $12 in the pot, he pushed all-in for $400+

After everyone folded, he proudly turned over his AKo.



He couldn't understand why several of us laughed at him, and he defiantly insisted "I didn't want to get drawn out on".