How good is AK?

Seems that everyone is moaning about getting beat with AK these days. Is AK overrated or is it just a case of misguided expectations? How do you play AK? I look forward to your replies.

DownUnderDog

Being the loose beginner I am I play a raise preflop and call any re-raises. The group of players I usually play with are novices themselves so in my case an AKo is a fairly strong hand. Online I still do the same but currently I am only playing .50/$1 limit SNGs so the play there is fairly loose too. I guess that when I move up in the game I will have to change my strategy.

AK is a very strong starting hand and I always raise with it preflop. Ofcourse you only have a 36% chance you will actually hit something on the flop, so I don't expect it to be a sure winner like I expect AA to be(although I always loose with AA ). I don't have any problems with laying it down either after the flop if I don't hit and somebody shows aggresion cause I know I'm beat then.
The good thing about AK is if you do hit the flop, you will have top pair with top kicker and very often you will find yourself in a dominating position, thus giving you the best hand and maybe 1 or more persons with good hands calling you down to the river with hands like AJ or AQ.

So to sum up. If you hit the flop along with 1 other player you will often win a big pot.

Seems that everyone is moaning about getting beat with AK these days. Is AK overrated or is it just a case of misguided expectations? How do you play AK? I look forward to your replies.

Yes it is over rated.. Nice hand to start with but if you raise with it and nothing hits on the flop(be prepared to fold).. Heads up it needs to pair up vs any pocket pairs.. A,K suited is a tad better then A,K off suit of course.. but A,K no matter suited or unsuited needs help.

I have to agree with Twizzy on this one. You will lose many a times more with it than win with it. I like to see it if I am short stacked or in late position. Early postion it's according where my stack is and who I am playing against.

A K obviously wasn't a good enough starting hand last night in PS Freeroll , but it is a powerful starting hand. I'll raise it pre-flop when the opportunity is right almost everytime. Gotta be careful if you're backraised though, just try to get as good of a read on your opponent as possible if you're going to call it or push him back.

I love AK. Very often I get my raises called by AQ,AJ,A10, or even A-rag. Good spot to be in.

I love AK. Very often I get my raises called by AQ,AJ,A10, or even A-rag. Good spot to be in

LOL then by all means come play the opponents I play.. I hardly ever get the table to fold no matter what position I am in.

Out of interest, where do you play?

Nah, seriously, I hate those kind of tables where nobody folds. Leaves me open to a suck out.

To tell you the truth i like the AK suited better than the AA reasons being u have chance of straight roylstr8flush fullhouse etc.

AK is a very nice hand to have but some people put far too much faith in it. The only hands that beat it are AA and KK, but the downside to these is that they're almost impossible to fold if you feel the other guy has you beat. AK is the kind of hand where you try and steal the blinds with or take the pot after the flop. But for the love of God don't think you'll win every hand with it.

It is the best drawing hand. It is still an underdog to a pair of ducks. You need to be prepared to do a continuation bet on the flop and go from there so you are actually in for about 6BB for just playing the best drawing hand possible. Suited at least gives you some more out for the nut flush draw but you only get that about 12% of the time.

As everyone has said, AK is a great hand to be dealt, but it needs help. So I wouldn't bet the farm on it in early position, as there are too many ways to lose with it. However, that said, it's a relatively more potent hand versus large groups of people, compared to a lower pocket pair.

I think as people are saying, it's something of a "skill" hand. With AA or KK or even QQ, you get it, say a brief thanks to the poker gods, and then bet as you need to to maximize your winnings. AK requires a little more finesse, table sense, and as another poster mentioned above, willingness to fold if you don't hit the flop.