Playing Big Slick In Early Position

I am forever getting hurt when I play Ace King off suit in early position.

6 times yesterday did I get stuffed. If I raise I get called and beat. If I call the big blind I get beat. Very rarely will i win, what is then best strategy so that I do not get beat and win a few?

You just need to be patient, the cards will come eventually. This type of thing happens to everyone so dont beat yourself up over it. AK is strong preflop but diminishes in its strength greatly when you miss the flop. So dont get married to the hand and end up losing more money than you should.

As Sklansky says, "Raise with a purpose." When you have AK in EP, the purpose of raising should be to build a pot, NOT to get others to fold. So if you get called and you hit an A or K on the flop, you win more than you would if you just limped. Now if you miss the flop OOP, you must play carefully. Consider a C-bet if you think it has a chance of working or consider checking. You also must think of what your opp called your PF raise with and could they have hit the flop. Use your reads.

People get so hung up on AK. Just remember that it's OK to fold AK when needed, especially when you miss postflop.

I dont know what stakes you play, but I have seen a lot of smaller stakes tournys have people go all in with AK. You need to decide if you want to do this. I play em with a healthy raise PF, size depending on my position and action so far, and I will happily (well, not so happily) let em go to an unfriendly flop and action in early play. I may let em go if I get reraised pre flop, depending on the raiser, and for sure if a RR gets called or RR again, before it gets back to me. Later when the blinds are bigger I play em more aggressive. Post some of your AK beats and lets see whats going on, maybe you are getting it in good and its just variance.

That's like me getting hurt with KJ...if you're getting burned, don't play those cards.

There's no one set rule on how to play any hand but if your a beginner raise more then a standard raise to isolate so you can get heads up on the flop. You can raise 4bb+1 for every limper or you could raise more out of position and less in position.

Deciding to just not play AK isn't the solution.

Unless you don't like money.

Ak is alright but it's not unbeatable.Too many think that it's this great hand or something.I mean sure yea chances are increased that your going to win the pot but it's not definite. Nobody says one has to raise at all when dealt Ak.

There other names besides Big Slick for that hand, one is Ann Kourokova. Looks great but rarely wins. I'm not sure statisically, but from seeing people over play that hand, more will "bust out" by getting all there chips in to early or chasing it to the end. Been guility of that myself.

Watching a video of Slansky, he also says to be careful how you bet out because you might never now where you at with that hand. Good luck playing it in the future, hope you're pulling more chips towards you than you were pushing in.

AK has great equity against pretty much any starting hand. It should be one of your more profitable hands overall, really. The trick is to not get dealt AK and start telling yourself, "Well, this hand is mine for sure." and throw chips around madly.

AK is one of my most profitable hands in tourneys according to my tracking software. It's not an insanely difficult hand to play, be willing to fold it deepstacked preflop if a tight player 4bets, be willing to fold it postflop when a flop like AJx or AQx rainbow comes down and your opponent appears to want to put all the chips in (again, if the stacks are deep). Don't get in the habit of double or triple barreling OOP when you miss against an opponent incapable of floating to steal, etc. Don't limp with it from EP, you are just giving everyone a great price to hit 2 pair against your TPTK with position on you to milk you. In essence, play poker goot.

If you can't win with ak from early position, then don't play ak from early position. There is no rule that says you have to play ak.

New rule, you have to play AK.

Don't play AK?...I'll play with AK almost everytime PF. Someone had some good advice earlier. "Don't get married to the hand". Make your PF raise, if you miss and the c-bet gets called, then slow down and be prepared to give it up and move on the next next hand.

How much are you raising? Raise at least 3 or 4x. On the flop you need to bet at least2/3 of the pot,if the flop looks safe or you know your villian is weak. Don't stall either. 3 seconds max. When you stall that shows weakness like you're trying to figure out what you might be able to make. If you get called more than likely they're on a pocket pair or made some kind of draw. You have to know your opponent and know that sometimes you gotta lay it down.

If you get called and beat, don't be raising that much in pf so your not invested in the hand so you can throw it away if you're "scared."

Be conscience of your opponents ranges, so you know what you're up against.

You cant rely on taking AK to a winning showdown every time either.

After reading this thread, I got AK dealt to me at a 9man SnG. I was BB. 3 limps ahead of me so I raised about 5.5x. I got called and the flop was K4x. I bet a little over the pot and got raised. I was already pot committed so I shoved. The guy flips over pocket 4s. Was this bad by me?

Little more specifics needed here. Your stack size vs rest of the field etc. Would be a good discussion in the http://www.cardschat.com/f59/

+1, I can't really say anything without the stacks/blinds as well.

If they were small, I would say 5-10BB raise would be good, but I doubt pocket fours would fold unless they cant afford the call (unlikely at low blinds.) If the blinds are pretty large relative to stack sizes, say 100/200 I might just shove to induce folding and pick up the blinds... I really doubt anyone is slowplay limping a big hand here, and even if they are and turn over pocket QQ or less we're a coin flip at worst.

One more general thing when playing AK... its a tricky tricky thing... make sure you're paying attention to the other players (skills, betting habits, tilt), your stack vs. theirs, blinds, antes, bubble, etc. All of these things are critical, also a lot of people shove with AK preflop against anyone who challenges their raise... its not always the correct move.

For AK I'm running my timer down debating whether or not to make the call for all of my chips, its NEVER a snap call for me.

I like this guy. Can we keep him?

Good advice...however...

...i'd recommend marrying Anna Kournikova

This is a good tip.
I agree with you.

As lektrikguy points out the key is the flop ( unless you chose to shove ) if the flop is coordinated you have to be carefull even if you get a top pair, also raise so much as the opponents need to have a decent hand to call you, you can even raise to 5 - 6x BB the hands you want to play against is AQ AJ e.t.c against any pocket pair you are an underdog pre flop but not with much only like (45% - 55%) so you need to hit if you get played back.

Hey thanks for the views and opinions from all - like the Anna Kournikova point .

Play slow but play them...!!!

Makes no sense to fold one of the best cards
you can get in your hand.

Raise a little to build up the pot and as time goes by you
will come over this bad thoughts.

Good Luck...!!!