What is it about AKs?

I've witnessed so many players fall on their swords over this hand. If they don't go all in before the flop they call all the way to the river with nothing after the flop.
There's something about this hand that makes some players incapable of laying it down. It's like "this is such a great hand I deserve to win no matter what". It's a drawing hand people and if you don't have draw or a pair after the flop lay it down. A pair twos can beat you. Anyway it's fun to watch.

then dont tell them to lay it down, and collect from it

I saw some guy go all in with AK recently when he had over 4000 in chips and there was only 110 chips in the pot lol ,then he sat in the lobby steaming over his big loss when he had the "best " hand lmao he lost to JJ lol

I hate that hand almost as much as pocket aces. It's really too pretty and gets a lot of people in trouble. I like to try to see a flop cheap with AK and if I don't get at least a pair or maybe a four card draw, I fold when the price of the next card goes up.

There is a simple solution to playing AK properly(IMO), play it as you would play a small PP, limp in EP only calling a 3xBB bet if someone bets(folding to any raise larger than 3BB) and raise in LP then c-bet the flop.

Thats my take on AK.

AK is a great hand at two points in a tournament.

1) When your table is full of lag-tards who will call an all-in with any ace
2) Late game when the blinds are huge


That's when AK really shines.

When you're in a cash game, and you get to 4-bet that light 3-betting a$$hole! *That's* when ace king really shines.

What's the old joke?

AK = Anna Kournikova

Looks really good, but seldom wins.

here is a link to a great discussion of AK

value of AK suited

yep, you have an ace AND a king in your hand, making AA/KK unlikely, and you at least have an almost coinflip against anything else, if not totally dominating it (AQ/AJ)
personally i usually just hope the 3 better folds, but if he calls you arent too bad off either uusally. kind of like a semibluff with a nut flush draw preflop, only you have even better odds.

I hate stupid AK threads almost as much as stupid AA threads.

AK is a STRONG hand. Play it that way.

This is an AK suited thread. Its totally different.

It's soooooooooooted

Sorry my mistake.

^_^ Sorry, my newbfish spelling isn't up to par.

AK suited or not if you don`t hit after the flop best bet is to lay them down. Any pair is gonna beat you unless you fish till then end and get lucky.

So in a .50/1 NL game with 100bb stacks I raise to $4 from the CO and the BB calls. The flop comes Q 7 4 rainbow. The BB donks for $3. Do you fold, call, or raise?

Same set up but this time the BB checks? Check behind or cbet?

Same basic setup except this time you're called only by the button. Do you cbet into him or check / fold?

I say that in none of these situations where your AK missed the flop should you give up and fold after the flop.

Seriously do you people only ever win pots when you connect with the flop? Seems like a tough way to win $$ to me.

The first example: BB comes out betting $3. What, you assume he's bluffing?. Then to call would be dumb right?. So you raise right? This is just the sort of thing I was referring about in my thread. If you just call then your chasing, which again I see all the time with this hand. He could easily have Queens. He certainly might have called your $3 raise with KQ.
I would fold.

The 2nd ex: I might take a stab at the pot but if he calls now you have problems.

The 3rd ex: This would depend on the player. I might bet 50% of the time as a general rule. If I do check and he bets I fold.

Yes, 80+% of the time a 1/3 pot donk bet into a PF raiser is a small pocket pair or maybe 2nd pair that wants you to go away quickly and cheaply. Depending on my opponents aggression I might either call and reevaluate on the turn or I might make it $10 to go and we'll see how much he wants to continue OOP. Call passive straight forward players and raise more aggressive move makers.

In the 2nd hand I have no problems, I'm still in position and he still has to act first after the turn if he calls my flop bet.

The 3rd hand is actually the worst for me if my cbet is called because I'm OOP and won't know where I am even if an A or K hits the turn.

Yes, 80+% of the time a 1/3 pot donk bet into a PF raiser is a small pocket pair or maybe 2nd pair that wants you to go away quickly and cheaply. Depending on my opponents aggression I might either call and reevaluate on the turn or I might make it $10 to go and we'll see how much he wants to continue OOP. Call passive straight forward players and raise more aggressive move makers.

The 1/3 bet I didn't catch..not paying attention I guess. Yes that is weak.
You are an aggressive player and you would be tough to play against in a ring game. I play mostly MTTs and just today I see I guy with 11k chips, bb is at 200 chips and he goes all in preflop from the co with AK. Hes called by the sb with 14K chips who has KK and he goes down in flames.

You can put the same preasure on your opponent prer-flop with 7-2o

but post flop you need to have connected before you can really turn up the heat.

You may hold AK and be sure that your opponent hasnt connected but you arnt a HUGE favorite at this point especially if there are several callers As its more likely that some of them hold Aces or Kings meaning that there are fewer cards for you to draw from.

Pre flop its a mgreat hand .. maybe even worth an all in call. But Post flop it looses its value if it dosnt connect.. especially if the pot is being rised big

Can you please drop the railbird avatar in here, I find it a tad offensive to have anothers forum posted as your avatar. There are plenty of forum members here who are members there too, (including myself) but its just not cool imo.

Seeing a flop cheap is good but you seldom get these kinds of hand and not raising lets everybody see a cheap flop. Yes if you don't connect you can fold but I find that if you raise most poor hands should be gone and those are the ones that might hit the bad flop so you still have a chance to be good even if you don't pair up. Yeah sometimes they call with 5-6 suited but I think that's a mistake on their part and even if they get lucky this hand those plays won't hold up forever. You want to bet with the odds and fold if you don't have them. Otherwise is just random chance.

usually if I don't get something on the flop and someone bets I will fold AK or not.

AK is tough hand, wjere many people fall but i thin kbest way to play them is raise enough that you get informaition for other hands and i wouldnt get all my chips in the middle b4 flop in big pot. Comment if you want .

You are never really unjustified in sticking a lot or all of your chips in with AK, especially suited. It is a tremendous hand because if you pair, you automatically have top-pair w/ top-kicker. Even if you are up against a PP, you are almost even money, unless of course it's AA or KK. But AK is a tremendous hand

In fact, Doyle Brunson actually prefers AK over AA or KK. He says the latter hands are too difficult to get away from and as a result you do one of two things:
-win a small pot
-lose a big pot

With AK, its the opposite. If you completely miss the flop and someone leads out all in, it's an easy fold.

I have won alot of money with with AK and have lost alot of money. Early in my poker playing I fell into the alure of the famous AK and chased the draw to the river. I have learned the hard way If you don't hit on the flop fold.

alot of players dont know how to fold AK
they think if they hit any of them they are winning
AK gets you in trouble
they play them like aces

Early in a tourney it's a good raising hand but if you miss and are up against more than one opponent you almost always have to lay it down. I might even fold it preflop if a raise is too big in front of me or if there is a reraise behind or in front of me. No need to put a lot of money on an incomplete hand when the blinds are small. I'll save my super aggressice AK play for when the blinds are hi and theres an ante.

As with any hand it depends upon position--who your playing with--and how much you have in your chip count. I think its worth seeing a flop--but I will dump it against a HUGE preflop raise with multiple calls--especially early in a tounament(you'll surely lose to 9 2 offsuit). Good luck

They are!! you have made 9 so far!!

Hi All,

In my opinion, unless you hit with the AK, it is as worthless as any other unpaired hole cards. My play usually involves a pot bet to lessen the field and then take it from there. I have at times, deep into a tourney, just folded it to save my chips so I could cover the high blinds.

Beatlebug

i think ak is a strong hand but its totally overated, people cant just lay it down no matter what, its funny tho, over the years i've learned to sometimes fold this hand preflop ,. when you are in late position and ur oponent makes a very strong bet, because i've seen the big slick get cracked so many times by a pocket pair even deuces.

I agree with you a hundred percent on this. Especially early in a tournament when the blinds are relatively small and no ante, they play it like it is AA, they reraise a reraise with it and if they call all in's preflop with it. What people fail to realize is that it is only going to hit a little over a third of the time, and if you are up against 22 that doesn't seem like great odds for such a wannabe great hand. I understand reraising with it in position and gambling with it if you have a large chip stack, but why put your tournament life in jeopardy when you have an incomplete hand. Yeah it sure does look pretty preflop but after the flop (which is where true poker is played) it isn't always that pretty. I would rather have 22 than AK any day because at least then i can lay it down if i don't hit a set. So many people want to see if their card will come on the turn or river and i don't understand it. Just like the other day a guy got what he asked for against me, He raised in the cutoff with AKo and i had K-10s on the button, i cold call his raise and the blinds fold. the flop comes 10-6-2 rainbow. he makes a continuation bet, i raise 3x his bet to see where i am at. Here is where he makes his worst decision. A smart player knows he needs to make one of two decisions here, either reraise to represent that you have a bigger hand than you really do or fold. He decideds to just cold call and on the turn the Kc comes out putting a straight and flush draw on board, he checks so of course i make a near pot size bet just in case he has QJ and is playing donkey poker or just in case he has AA he might think i hit the K and thought i was good, and he check raises me all in and shows down AK. He could have saved himself a lot of trouble not overplaying and chasing his hand, but as most idiots do, he got into trouble and got knocked out with the worst hand. sorry to talk so long, but i feel very strongly about people who overplay AK and AQ, so that is my spiel, i will let it go now. Gl on the felt.