Question about Premium hands preflop.

Just wondering what i should do when i get Preimum hands, such as AK, KK, AQ preflop.

I just had three lots of KK in the space of about 10 hands. Wow, luck you say? Well, i lost them all. I also lost with AQ and AK in the same run.

Is this just being unlucky or is there really a way to avoid playing hands like this?

If you bet them anything like the other hand you posted you probably let people draw out on you too cheaply.

This sounds more like a "learning poker" thread.

I don't know the hand Hillbilly is referring to but, all premium hands lose winning percentages the more other hands there are that stay in. That's part of the reason to raise preflop and have less players in on the flop and later. So, we're talking 2.5 - 4 big blinds, PLUS, one more for each limper, so if there's 2 limpers already in, raise 4.5 - 6.

On the flop it depends on the flop cards and the number of opponents.


At the same time, AQ and AK should be staying in against your KK in most situations since those are premium hands as well. In most cases you're going to win. But by the same token, sometimes you will lose 2, 3, 4 times in a row to them. That's just variance.

AA-KK-AK Premium Hands.

AQ = Not Premium Hand.

It all depends on the postition and game but 98% of the time you are going to want to raise quiet a bit with the premium hands.

raise and isolate is the way to go but its hard at micro limits as im sure ur finding out

If you're raising more because you have AA/KK that when you have AQ because "AQ is not a premium hand" then you're giving away information. If you're not raising AQ at all because it's "not a premium hand" you're playing pretty weak/tight.


If someone raises, I'm not often folding AQ unless I know their a nit and they've raised from early position. If kr1305 raises and someone calls with AQ and an Ace flops, that's just bad luck.

With A/A, A/K, and A/Q you want to see the flop with one or two opponents. If three people call me then I don't consider it a successful raise. The more people in a pot the more likely they are to hit weird stuff.

Ideally they'll be playing A/T or something like that and you'll both flop the Ace. And what you're trying to avoid is the J/8s guy calling and hitting two pair to your overpair or TPTK.

I play $25NL ($.10/$.25) and almost always open to $1, whether it be A/A or 6/6h. This disguises my hand.
If someone has already opened, I'd pop it to $3 with A/Q+. I'll do it with less on special occasions.

Now, with just one villain (ideally) in the pot, even if I miss the flop with my A/K or A/Q hand I'm making a continuation bet. They will have missed the flop 2/3 of the time as well and will often just cave at that point.

With three callers, I'm only betting if I hit or if they're especially weak (like if they check it to me when I'm last to act and I know they tend to fold to aggression).
With more than thee callers and I miss, I'm check/folding unless I have a juicy draw.

SavagePenguin said:

Ideally they'll be playing A/T or something like that and you'll both flop the Ace. And what you're trying to avoid is the J/8s guy calling and hitting two pair to your overpair or TPTK.

Click to expand...

which, btw, is why calling a raise with A/T is suicidal while calling with J8s in position is a perfectly fine play.