How to play AK?

How do you play AK in the later stages of a tournament? Is it a calling hand or a shoving hand? How important is position?

In early / mid stages I generally raise 3-4x and leave myself enough chips to fold on the flop / turn should there be significant action.

On the bubble though I never quite know what to do, unless I'm shorty - which is shove.

It's pretty situational, so there's no simple road map. Even on the bubble when you're short, there can be unusual circumstances that mitigate against shoving. For instance, what if there are multiple tiny stacks and a meaningful payout for min-cashing?

The way you ask this question makes it sound as if you're looking for a formula way to play poker. That's not ideal. If you understand the underlying issues it will just come natural how to play certain hands.

Stacksize- When your stacksize gets below 10 bb in general you are just looking for opportunities to double up or steal blinds. This is achieved by becoming tighter but shoving any hands that you do play. You want to play atleast 1 hand per trip around the table though there may be times that is not possible. Also if you have no opportunity to steal, meaning someone has already raised the pot the better the hand needs to be to push. So A10 when I have 10 bb and someone raises i'll probably fold, ak I'd probably push absent a strong read because that is a very good hand in that situation. I may consider folding ak if there is a tourney I am about to make the money with multiple stack sizes and someone already entered/raised the pot.

If I have a good stack I'll usually raise 2.5-3x BB. If someone 3 bets me I'll make my decision based on my read of their play.

Position, stack size, and reads. You always want to put yourself in the shoes of your opponent and put your opponents on a range of cards and make your decision from that.

Hope that helps, please ask a more specific question if you need more.

The worst thing to me is holding onto AK and not being able to let it go...Example: playing in a tournament @delaware park on saturday.ante 400 sm 2k big 4k and I was utg+1 so the guy to my right just limped in and a guy in late pos limped in also. Flop came and it was 2,8,6 rainbow..Guy to right bet 15k.(had about 80-90k) the guy in late pushes(100-120k) it was a 5 min stare down and the guy ending up calling...flipped over ak...the guy in late had 2,8....he just couldn't lay it down and live another hand...

Most people seem to forget AK is nothing without a flop unless you're very short handed. I'll always race it with any pocket pair...unfortunately online it seems that I lose more races than I win against it!!

I agree with it being very situational. I'll give you an example of where I did laydown A,Ks on Friday night. I was playing in a $1.00 Turbo R/A tourney on Lock poker. There were a total of 302 people who entered and by this point I was in money but not at the final table.

I was on the button with 15.5 BB which was second in chips at the table. The cutoff was sitting with just a tad under 10 BB. The table folded to him. He shoved. And it was a quick shove too.

My fear was that he was sitting on either KK or AA and honestly, it was a bit of feeling as to what I thought he had. But if he has either hand, then I'm really far behind. Even if he has lower pocket pair, then I'm putting 2/3 of my stack at risk for a coin flip. The only way I'm seriously ahead if has a drawing hand.

The blinds folded too so I was not able to see his hand but I don't regret the fold. In case you're wondering, I finished second in that tourney. Folding A,Ks may seem like being a nit but I'm far from that but in this situation where I thought about it for a good 30 seconds and I'm pretty sure it was the right move.

Oil_Fan said:

I agree with it being very situational. I'll give you an example of where I did laydown A,Ks on Friday night. I was playing in a $1.00 Turbo R/A tourney on Lock poker. There were a total of 302 people who entered and by this point I was in money but not at the final table.

I was on the button with 15.5 BB which was second in chips at the table. The cutoff was sitting with just a tad under 10 BB. The table folded to him. He shoved. And it was a quick shove too.

My fear was that he was sitting on either KK or AA and honestly, it was a bit of feeling as to what I thought he had. But if he has either hand, then I'm really far behind. Even if he has lower pocket pair, then I'm putting 2/3 of my stack at risk for a coin flip. The only way I'm seriously ahead if has a drawing hand.

The blinds folded too so I was not able to see his hand but I don't regret the fold. In case you're wondering, I finished second in that tourney. Folding A,Ks may seem like being a nit but I'm far from that but in this situation where I thought about it for a good 30 seconds and I'm pretty sure it was the right move.

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Terrible fold.

Oil_Fan said:

I agree with it being very situational. I'll give you an example of where I did laydown A,Ks on Friday night. I was playing in a $1.00 Turbo R/A tourney on Lock poker. There were a total of 302 people who entered and by this point I was in money but not at the final table.

I was on the button with 15.5 BB which was second in chips at the table. The cutoff was sitting with just a tad under 10 BB. The table folded to him. He shoved. And it was a quick shove too.

My fear was that he was sitting on either KK or AA and honestly, it was a bit of feeling as to what I thought he had. But if he has either hand, then I'm really far behind. Even if he has lower pocket pair, then I'm putting 2/3 of my stack at risk for a coin flip. The only way I'm seriously ahead if has a drawing hand.

The blinds folded too so I was not able to see his hand but I don't regret the fold. In case you're wondering, I finished second in that tourney. Folding A,Ks may seem like being a nit but I'm far from that but in this situation where I thought about it for a good 30 seconds and I'm pretty sure it was the right move.

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Bad fold.

Put yourself in his shoes with AQ, KQ, QJs, JTs, Axs, Kxs and Qxs, and A9o or better and 77+. He's 10bb deep in the antes so if everyone folds he gains a significant increase to his stack; if he gets called he's still got decent equity against the things people are calling with, he's late position so he doesn't need that many people to fold as well. If you call there you're roughly 65% against his range, snap off and be happy about it.

Or to put it in a way less complicated: Never, ever, ever fold AK pre vs a short stack shove in a $1.00 mtt.

baudib1 said:

Terrible fold.

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Explain how I'm ahead against anything other than another drawing hand?

This is the only time that I can recall folding A,Ks preflop. This was late in tournament where the difference in making the final table and not making it is some serious cash.

Also it was more of feeling as to what he had based on the way he had been playing. If this was earlier in the tourney, then I'd have no problem making the call.

Oil_Fan said:

Explain how I'm ahead against anything other than another drawing hand?

This is the only time that I can recall folding A,Ks preflop. This was late in tournament where the difference in making the final table and not making it is some serious cash.

Also it was more of feeling as to what he had based on the way he had been playing. If this was earlier in the tourney, then I'd have no problem making the call.

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me said:

Put yourself in his shoes with AQ, KQ, QJs, JTs, Axs, Kxs and Qxs, and A9o or better and 77+. He's 10bb deep in the antes so if everyone folds he gains a significant increase to his stack; if he gets called he's still got decent equity against the things people are calling with, he's late position so he doesn't need that many people to fold as well. If you call there you're roughly 65% against his range, snap off and be happy about it.

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You're well ahead of a decent part of his range, slightly ahead of most of his range, flipping against a huge proportion of hands and only behind to 2 hands. Not to mention that late stages we should be calling off wider against short stacked shoves not tighter.

Call and be happy about it.

For relevance: I'm calling about 20% of my range there against a decent opponent.

doomasiggy said:

Bad fold.

Put yourself in his shoes with AQ, KQ, QJs, JTs, Axs, Kxs and Qxs, and A9o or better and 77+. He's 10bb deep in the antes so if everyone folds he gains a significant increase to his stack; if he gets called he's still got decent equity against the things people are calling with, he's late position so he doesn't need that many people to fold as well. If you call there you're roughly 65% against his range, snap off and be happy about it.

Or to put it in a way less complicated: Never, ever, ever fold AK pre vs a short stack shove in a $1.00 mtt.

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This wasn't a straight $1.00 MTT. This was a rebuy/addon turbo tourney. Making the money was around $10 to be made (top 36 got paid). Final 2 spots paid out $225 for second and over $300 for the win (sorry but I don't recall what making the final table paid).

Chip leader had 22 BB. I was sitting on 15.5 BB. Cutoff was at just under 9.5 BB with him sitting in 4th out of 10. Maybe I should have been clearer on the whole situation.

Yes, based on the math on the range he'd likely have, I should make the call everytime. However in this case, I made the decision to fold and I stand by it. It was purely based on the situation and how I had seen him play.

Also what I was trying to point out, there can be a situation where folding A,Ks maybe the right move but it's HIGHLY situation and should not be used as a rule of any kind.

And as I said, I'm positive this was the first time I had ever folder A,Ks preflop.

Oil_Fan said:

This wasn't a straight $1.00 MTT. This was a rebuy/addon turbo tourney.

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It doesn't matter. I get that the pay jumps in mtt's are ridiculous, I was playing a 2.20 earlier where tenth got ~50 dollars and first got over ~$1K for example. But it's because the pay jumps are so large that we have to put our money in in spots like this.

If, here, you have a hand like AThh or something, and you fold, all you'll do is miss out on money. You'll end up getting blinded out and you'll end up with a bunch of min and low cashes. If you call, barring weird beats you'll reach the final three much more often than you do when you fold. It isn't a situational spot here. Never fold.

doomasiggy said:

It doesn't matter. I get that the pay jumps in mtt's are ridiculous, I was playing a 2.20 earlier where tenth got ~50 dollars and first got over ~$1K for example. But it's because the pay jumps are so large that we have to put our money in in spots like this.

If, here, you have a hand like AThh or something, and you fold, all you'll do is miss out on money. You'll end up getting blinded out and you'll end up with a bunch of min and low cashes. If you call, barring weird beats you'll reach the final three much more often than you do when you fold. It isn't a situational spot here. Never fold.

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Again, as I've said that this has been the only time I've folded a hand like this. It had everything to do with how I had seen him play and what the situation was. I'm very well aware of the math in this.

A post mentioned earlier in the thread that this is just a drawing hand and it is thought the best available. In checking my history, it wins for me 71% of the time. This was just me posting on why I think there can be a situation that can call for a fold of A,Ks. But again, I would never use it as a rule for any situation.

Oh and I need to apologize for what ended up being a thread jacking.

On Carbon im scarred to death of this hand. 7x straight now I have eitherknocked myself out or crippled my stack with, it just seems impossible to miss that many times LOL. But in the 15K on sunday, AK busted out my QK so it must win sometimes JUST not for me LOL

Not even carbon now ME AND THIS HAND ARE ABOUT TO GO

Revolution Gaming Network - $0+$0|15/30 NL (10 max) - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

MP: 1,435.00
MP+1: 1,325.00
Hero (CO): 1,335.00
BTN: 4,350.00
SB: 1,410.00
BB: 860.00
UTG: 1,365.00
UTG+1: 2,730.00
UTG+2: 3,120.00

SB posts SB 15.00, BB posts BB 30.00

Pre Flop: (pot: 45.00) Hero has As Kc

fold, UTG+1 calls 30.00, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 100.00, BTN raises to 310.00, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 1,335.00 and is all-in, BTN calls 1,025.00


Flop: (2745.00, 2 players) Th 5h Kh

Turn: (2745.00, 2 players) Jh

River: (2745.00, 2 players) 6d

Hero shows As Kc (One Pair, Kings) (Pre 74%, Flop 63%, Turn 0%)
BTN shows Ac 9h (Flush, King High) (Pre 26%, Flop 37%, Turn 100%)
BTN wins 2,745.00

@Oil Fan I can see where you are coming from but I'd agree with everyone in that calling was correct. Certainly not a snap call though, one of those calls where you "hover over the call button for a few seconds and close one eye when you click" kinda calls.

yeah i understand your point but honestly in this situation when he only had 10bb i think i would snap call with AKs every time. Granted some of those times he will have AA or KK but the majority of the time people will shove on the button with 10bb with a very wide range of hands, and most of them you have crushed.

doomasiggy said:

If, here, you have a hand like AThh or something, and you fold, all you'll do is miss out on money. You'll end up getting blinded out and you'll end up with a bunch of min and low cashes. If you call, barring weird beats you'll reach the final three much more often than you do when you fold. It isn't a situational spot here. Never fold.

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From what I have been reading and videos I have been watching I don't think it is nearly as clear cut as you are suggesting. ICM might be a big factor here along with weighing out risk vs. reward.
I might be wrong but I think I am learning.

I really don't like the AK so if I can limp in that is what I do most of the time. If I raise pre flop most all the time I will get all small cards and some one will have called with that bs in there hand. Just like KK I will push with that but most of the time a dam A will hit the board and you know someone played that. I don't think there is a right way or wrong way to play anything. I have played a 5/6 and beat AA & AQ & AJ, made a straight. So you really never know I don't think.

Caesura said:

How do you play AK in the later stages of a tournament? Is it a calling hand or a shoving hand? How important is position?

In early / mid stages I generally raise 3-4x and leave myself enough chips to fold on the flop / turn should there be significant action.

On the bubble though I never quite know what to do, unless I'm shorty - which is shove.

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In pretty much each and every late spot, A,K is a jam/call regardless of postion and bubble or not. Postion isn't imporant if you're dealt A,K, it's quite straight forward espically when late because AVG stack sizes are quite small so A,K is a Raise/Call/Shove

I don't recommend raising 4x in middle stages of the tournament and even 3x might be questionable depending on avg stack sizes/antes/dead money in play etc. As a rule of thumb, I'd class "middle" stages as 30-50 BB stack sizes and I'm usually never opening more than 2.5x unless for some reason; there is no antes in play, even then, I'll likely just 2.5x it.

FWIW I'd be pretty happy getting A,K AIPF early in a tournament in "most" cases.

Now this is why I love Americans.

I would say your read on the players at table is the most important factor. For instance if they limp in, and your read is that they are weak. Then I would push. If they are strong, tried to see the flop as cheap as you can.

dan abnormal said:

Not even carbon now ME AND THIS HAND ARE ABOUT TO GO

Revolution Gaming Network - $0+$0|15/30 NL (10 max) - Holdem - 9 players
MP: 1,435.00
MP+1: 1,325.00
Hero (CO): 1,335.00
BTN: 4,350.00
SB: 1,410.00
BB: 860.00
UTG: 1,365.00
UTG+1: 2,730.00
UTG+2: 3,120.00

SB posts SB 15.00, BB posts BB 30.00

Pre Flop: (pot: 45.00) Hero has As Kc

fold, UTG+1 calls 30.00, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 100.00, BTN raises to 310.00, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 1,335.00 and is all-in, BTN calls 1,025.00

Click to expand...

Your example here & OP are quite a bit different. OP is talking about players all being on shortstacks <15bb, your hand example is 50bb deep (effective stacks).

aa88wildbill said:

I would say your read on the players at table is the most important factor. For instance if they limp in, and your read is that they are weak. Then I would push. If they are strong, tried to see the flop as cheap as you can.

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So if they're limping on 10-15bb's & we hold AK & we think they're weak > we shove. but if they're 10-15bb's deep & are limping, we limp along with them with AK if we perceive them as being strong? Wouldn't you feel comfortable shoving 15bb's over some other shortstacks' limps?