AK over AA

A

audacity

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My two cents on why AK is better than AA

The Ace is unique, like no other card, it can be one of TWO values.

In poker you can win by cardinality- SYMBOLS match or ordinality- symbols are adjacent in the order they exist in the set.

The Ace having TWO potential values ? highest or lowest value ? a 1?

In my mind, the Ace is the ONLY card that can offer TWO potential straights

10 to A

OR A to 5

Thoughts?
 
Spaceman

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So, why is AK better than Aces exactly?
 
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don1980

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Pocket A's is the best starting hand. AK will cause you to lose all your money.
 
kratos

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I prefer AK too.I'm losing too much lately with pocket aces.
 
phantomjiujitsu

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AK is versatile but not a better starting hand, statistically.
 
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scubed

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audacity said:
My two cents on why AK is better than AA
Click to expand...
The following is not perfect, but I think it is close enough....
Mathematically AA is 91% favorite to win the pot when against AK
Mathematically any pocket pair is ~54% to win the pot when against AK
If you have AK you'll make a pair on the flop ~32% of the time
If you have AK you'll make a straight by the river ~32% of the time
If you have AK suited you'll make a flush by the river ~35% of the time

Pocket AA wins ~80% of the time.

Although AK indeed can be low or high straight, only ~32% of the time will you make a straight. Compare this to pocket AA which wins ~80% of the time. For this reason, my two cents along with a little math the AA is the most powerful over AK.
 
diadiavalik

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AA is a ready hand, and with it on the flop, I put the 2-3 BB. AK is the highest card with the oldest kicker, this hand is played differently, it depends on the position in the game. AK can also be thrown into the garbage!
 
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Definitely AA is much better hand. You already have pair and it is the highest one so for sure preflop you are ahead. It depends on you how and if you will use this advantage. AK is a hand which let me down several times. With AK you have nothing ready preflop and you should push aggressively to eliminate the possibility of multiway pot. Even if this is successful you can easily loose at the flop or at later stage even to a low pair and you have already invested good amount of money in the pot so the dilemma is serious. I don't say that AK is a bad hand. It is definitely good hand but i would take JJ or higher pair anytime over AK. AK is just more tricky to play.
 
vov4ik

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I do not know how for other players, but for me the best hand is AA, AK plays very badly for me, AA is a ready and excellent pair on which I can boldly go all-in, but there are also misses in the game but big part play is fine with me AA!
 
theRaven68

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AA is much better hand and its not comparable
 
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audacity

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I figure because it adds to probability of a straight.
 
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MrTerek

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scubed said:
The following is not perfect, but I think it is close enough....
Mathematically AA is 91% favorite to win the pot when against AK
Mathematically any pocket pair is ~54% to win the pot when against AK
If you have AK you'll make a pair on the flop ~32% of the time
If you have AK you'll make a straight by the river ~32% of the time
If you have AK suited you'll make a flush by the river ~35% of the time

Pocket AA wins ~80% of the time.

Although AK indeed can be low or high straight, only ~32% of the time will you make a straight. Compare this to pocket AA which wins ~80% of the time. For this reason, my two cents along with a little math the AA is the most powerful over AK.
Click to expand...


Dude, author is trapping all of you) U dont need to explain simple things
 
Eric Salvador

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I understand from a preference point you may like playing AK over AA. This however is something that math doesn't support. I notice quite often that players dislike AA because they haven't learn to obtain the skills to lay this had down. When in early stages of poker players have an understanding of the advantage of rockets but don't understand that I comes with slight vulnerabilities. Against the all other combinations its 84.8% favorite to win the hand before the flop. It's on average going to lose 15 out of 100 hands. You have to learn to lay this hand down when board textures run out as poorly as possible.

Let's look at AKs and AKo. AKs gives you a 66.8% against the field and AKo a 65.4%. Now just that 1.4% increase causes many players including pro to raise more aggressively when they have AKs. Now lets take that against AA and we get a whopping 18% difference between AA and AKs and 19.4% against AKo. You're logic is a mental aspect of the game you must overcome to be successful.
 
Nikolay Nakhaev

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Eric Salvador said:
I understand from a preference point you may like playing AK over AA. This however is something that math doesn't support. I notice quite often that players dislike AA because they haven't learn to obtain the skills to lay this had down. When in early stages of poker players have an understanding of the advantage of rockets but don't understand that I comes with slight vulnerabilities. Against the all other combinations its 84.8% favorite to win the hand before the flop. It's on average going to lose 15 out of 100 hands. You have to learn to lay this hand down when board textures run out as poorly as possible.

Let's look at AKs and AKo. AKs gives you a 66.8% against the field and AKo a 65.4%. Now just that 1.4% increase causes many players including pro to raise more aggressively when they have AKs. Now lets take that against AA and we get a whopping 18% difference between AA and AKs and 19.4% against AKo. You're logic is a mental aspect of the game you must overcome to be successful.
Click to expand...
Sir. Salvador, hello. In my opinion, I'm new to poker, AK has more opportunities: flash straight draw, old cyber cards? is not it?
 
kraemer

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The higher odds to make a straight are included in the calculations that show that AA is the best possible card combination... If You are more successful with AK ( over a hand sample that is statistically relevant ) then You have a leak in your game that You can fix so You will win more with AA than with AK in the end...

Here's where it becomes obvious in my opinion. Usually You will make a large bet preflop with AK or AA. Who is going to call? A lot of times You will find yourself up against a player with a pocket pair. Everytime this happens AK is a coinflip while AA is a huge favorite... Compare that to the odds of catching a 10 to A straight with AK...
 
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celoshida

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I think a lot of newbies prefer AKs over AA because they wanna hit a royal flush.
 
GRIN281289

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one suit of AK can be better AA
 
Lena M

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Hello.
Without a doubt, AA is the best hand. This is a ready pair and in my opinion this is a huge advantage over AK.
 
scorpi224

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i think suited AK are way better than A A because youll have potential for flush or straight but still A A is like the strongest hand in game so .-.
 
Batarang96

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I'm not sure if "implied odds" is the right term, but doesn't AKs offer more of it? The potential to lock in a straight or flush; a much stronger hand than the single pair that AA offers, the majority of the time. AKs has more potential for making big hands. That's about the only edge, other than being easier to get away from than AA.


Also, I'm curious how you all would rank AKs among the other hands? I'd put AA and KK way out in front, but I think it has an edge over the smaller pocket pairs.
 
DougPkrMonsta

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You can take the AK and I will take the AA.

I think what you are getting at is when the stacks are deep if you play a big pot one pair is likely to be behind (especially in multiway pots)... so you'd rather have AKs to make a flush or straight which can win big multiway hands.

To me I see it as: when deep-stacked your job with AA is to eliminate some players pre-flop and then make smart decisions post-flop - so you get more value with your hand than you pay off when behind.

Good luck!
 
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