How to play Ak

This is by far, the hand that's kills me, atleast 80% of the time. Postion doesn't matter here just asking a general overall question to get better playing this hand, because i've lost with it every way possible, lol. I ask because i don't know how to actually play this hand. I've raised, and if flop comes junk, which it usually does, depending on the stack, i've got and there's and there image and other things like that nature proceed the way i feel is best.
Now what is ur ak plan, like i said before postion really doesn't matter just want to get a better feel for the ak game, is all.

Ty all that reply

AK

I win more hands with AK then I lose. But I play it aggressive with them.
zipjr

Always aggressive

Play it hard or trap with 2 people in the pot. Regardless raise atleast 4x bb to limit limpers from the start. You hit top pair through a 6 x bb bet to test the power of the remaining players. If they call be careful after 4th and play it by feel either fold it if you feel they hit 2 pair or trips or reraise weak bets. Thats what works for me. Good Luck people!!! See you at the tables

AK is definately a very feely hand, which is probably why it's Doyle's fave, but a few pretty standard plays:

- At least raise 3x the BB pre-flop if you're first to come into the pot, pretty much regardless of position. If you get reraised its most often good to play back with it if you're out of postion (is pretty tricky to play OOP if you don't hit on the flop which happens 2/3 of the time) but if you're in position (i.e. reraiser is on the SB or BB) then depending on stack sizes (and if its a ring game or tourn among other variables) then you might want to flat call and see a flop with the advantage of position.

- If you are on the button or close to it and there are a couple of limpers behing you, ALWAYS raise at least the pot, as you don't want to worry even if you hit a K or A on the flop of a trashier K or A having hit 2 pair.

- If you are first to act or it has checked to you on the flop, then ALWAYS bet regardless of whether you've hit or not (I like a bet of about 2/3 - 3/4 the pot or maybe even more especially if you have a v. tight table image). You should follow through on your preflop display of strength and hopefully represent a big pair. If you get raised or check-raised then you can throw your hand away in good conscience and if you get called you have two overcards to draw to. And again, even if you don't hit on the turn in most cases you should follow through with more aggression (provided that you are first to bet and there is only one other person in the pot with you).


So basically play aggressively both pre- and post-flop but if you get played back at on the flop or turn then unless you have a specific read on your opponent throw your hand away. But also make sure you don't play it in the exact same way every time as your game will be too readable and exploitable.

Hope this helps!

jt

naruto_miu said:

Postion doesn't matter here

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Sorry, but I'm going to say that position always matters. Maybe less so if you're holding AK and will be the first one to raise the pot, but it should never be ignored. Also, playing the hand 'aggressive' and playing it 'tight' aren't mutually exclusive - AK is actually an ideal hand for the tight-aggressive style.

That said... I'd say AK is good for an open-raise it in pretty much any position. I'd be inclined to maybe make it a little more expensive from early position, to compensate for the fact that we'll likely be playing OOP the rest of the hand, and maybe make it a little more likely that we'll take the pot down immediately. It's often good for a re-raise in late position as well.

Against a single opponent, I'd pretty much always C-bet a flop with AK as well (actually, I'd C-bet with a lot of different hands, but anywho). It might be good for a second bullet on the turn, depending on reads. The catch is knowing when to throw the hand away - you'll need reads and some common sense for that.

What I wouldn't do is play it passively, unless I had a really good reason to. And I can't think of any good reasons to right now.

What i meant by "passive" Is say in late postion and it got raised preflop, now ur choices are simple, call, reraise, or fold, now that being said, the player that's doing the raising is a very aggressive/loose player. In this case if u reraise, he calls,if u flat call, and miss the flop, what are u choices, bet,check, or fold, if u check he bets, u raise, and he still calls, now where does ur ak stand against players like that? That's why i play it passive, but I get what ur all saying and ty for sharing all ur insight on Ak, Play.

AK passive play

I decided that passive would be my choice of play with AK in some cases. It really depends on what you are playing. In a razz room, well the rules have changed, but in a standard Texas Hold'em tournament I may tend to play tight-aggressive. Again it depends on the players, how long you have spent with these players to be able to read them, and also it does depend on your stack too. Obviously, the tendency to overplay AK becomes apparent when you are shortstaked hoping to double or triple up and in most cases players will play aggressively or slow play if they see the flop with an A or both A and king and will try to grab the advantage.

I can't disagree with aggressive playing of the AK, but there are times you have to consider baby sets like 333 or other hands that can put AK to rest in a hurry.

So many variations can happen, but it does seem aces show up alot especially in pokerstars and it is almost a sure bet if you have AK that another ace will show up. Unless you are just having a bad night or getting bad beats one after another, your chances with AK are generally pretty good in most cases, especially preflop.

If you have had good luck with AK, then of course the trend is to keep on pushing it with a 3x Pot bet and the appropriate reraise if the Ace, king or both appear on the flop and/or the turn. You are then home free are home-free and can move on from there.

I personally play it carefully and consider my stack and I also look at the other players I have determined are donks, bluffers and hard core fish. So all in all, AK can be a good thing or bad thing, but again too position makes a difference to me. I would rather be in the LP on an AK hole card hold.

Good luck with it.

AK is a good pre-flop hand because it is rarely dominated, and it often dominates.

When blinds are small, pushing too much with it may not be optimal. This is especially true OOP since the pot is big, and you still have a drawing hand that will miss the flop 2/3 of the time.

If the blinds are small, I usually play AK passively pre-flop OOP(in tournaments). Often I will just complete from the SB or check from the BB. This gives me several advantages:

1. I don't create a big pot OOP with a drawing hand
2. I disguise the strength of my hand if I hit the flop
3. I lose the least when I don't hit the flop

If in position, I will raise limpers to narrow the field. If there is a raiser, I will either call, or re-raise huge(depending on the player).

When blinds are so big that there is no money to get to the turn, I will open-raise(more from early position) and move-in to a raise from any position.

No matter what, if I don't hit the flop, I will very rarely continue with this hand. It is a powerful drawing hand, but if you have a lot of chips, you cannot just go all-in. Yet, you will miss the flop most of the time.

AK excells when stacks are short. Otherwise, just treat it as another drawing hand.

I can see where you're coming from, but especially pre-flop I don't think passive play is the road to AK success.

Aliengenius quotes this a lot: pre-flop with AK against one opponent, you're either way ahead against an unpaired hand or you're in a coinflip with a pocket pair. Unless your opponent holds AA or KK... but that doesn't happen too often. I know keeping this in mind really helped me: against one player pre-flop, AK is rarely dominated and is often ahead.

If you play AK passively before the flop, a decent opponent will bet into you on the flop more often than not, because your flat call makes it hard for them to credit you with a strong hand - certainly not one as strong (or potentially strong) as AK. So chances are you're often folding to hands that you beat - even tight players would often play AQ, AJ, or KQ this way even if they missed the flop, and loose players would have a bigger range again.

So, if you follow me, you'll probably find that passive pre-flop play is actually contributing to your problems on the flop - especially if you play hands this way regularly, and your opponents have had a chance to pick up on your weakness and exploit it.

Try re-raising from late position with AK - you might find you take the pot down there and then, or you might find that you get some more respect on the flop. It's not always the right move (I don't think anything is always the right move in poker) but it might be helpful.

AK is in my opinion the most over rated starting hand in holdem. i usually push 3x the bb but then if it doesnt hit and someone bets i always fold.... i play by the fit or fold rule.... but at the same time like everyone says its a feely hand and you really have to feel out the other players before i can say what i would do next.

Oz, I am not sure whether you are replying to my post, or someone else's. If it is mine, there is a huge difference in tournaments whether blinds are small or not, and whether you have position or not.

If I can be reasonably certain I will only have one opponent if I bet, I will do that even OOP (with small blinds). But very often, that's not the case.

Once again, blind size and position are critical how to play this hand, especially in tournaments.

Cheetah said:

Oz, I am not sure whether you are replying to my post, or someone else's.

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I was replying to Naruto, you must've been typing when I was

While I agree that M and position are important considerations in any hand, I still don't think low blinds should automatically mean playing AK passively pre-flop.

You don't have to hit the flop with AK in order to win the hand - if you're up against one opponent, there's plenty of chance that they haven't hit the flop either, and a C-bet may be all you need to take it down. It can even work with two opponents, depending on the action and the texture of the flop. And if you do hit... I'm figuring people know what to do if they hit.

The passive approach seems to be centred around losing the least amount of money, not winning the greatest amount of money. Like I suggested to Naruto, I think there's a detrimental cause and effect relationship here:

We're acknowledging that we'd rather not be up against mutliple opponents or facing difficult calls on the flop. But playing AK passively pre-flop creates exactly those conditions: most of the time the only thing the passive play facilitates is being able to get away from the hand cheaply, and we're sure to be leaking money if we play with that mindset regularly.

Oz, I think we are both missing the picture here.

In a donkament, there is no reasonable amount I can bet OOP to have a good chance to be against one single opponent who is not the most stubburn calling station.

I just fnished a SnG at a low volume site with regular VERY GOOD players. I finished first. The thing is, I can think how they think what I think! In a donkament, you cannot think. Period.
In that tourney, I raised a few times from early position with hands much worse than AK, and they folded most of the time.

So my AK plays I descrived are tailored for that typical situation most of us play in --- low buy-in donkaments. I don't disagree with your position if it is applied to the right conditions.