Thinker_145
Visionary
Silver Level
Ofcourse if you are a short stack then its a great hand however if you are sitting comfortably in a tournament then you really have to be cautious playing AK and really should not have too much trouble folding it even pre-flop.
The reason is simple, if your opponent has any 2 cards other than A and K then you are at best only a 2/3 favorite which in my opinion is not really a very strong position to be in if you are committing alot of chips to a pot. But that is ofcourse still a good position to be in however the big problem with AK is that its actually slightly behind any pair.
From what I have seen of atleast micro stakes tournaments is that people WILL call a shove with middle pairs and even small pairs sometimes.
Even worse problem I have experienced is that big stacks are also willing to call a shove with middle pairs even when I have them covered or almost covered. If I am a big stack then I am never risking all my chips pre-flop with a middle pair but thats clearly not how several other people think it seems.
And then comes the problem of what to do if you are facing a big raise pre-flop with AK? Well if you call, dont hit a pair and the opponent shoves what do you do? You just fold and bam you are no longer in a really comfortable spot that you were on previously. So I think in that spot you have to make a decision to either fold pre-flop or just go all in and take a leap of faith.
I think when you are a really big stack but there are other medium/big stacks behind you then its best to try to get to the flop as cheaply as possible. Even AKs doesnt really have that much more value than AKo, previously I was like I am never folding AKs pre-flop but thats clearly wrong way to go about it.
I personally have suffered by over estimating the strength of AK and have seen people suffer as well countless times even when they really didnt need to take a chance. When you shove with AK and get called by a pair of 4's that really makes you sick.
What is your opinion about AK and how do you play it in tournaments?
The reason is simple, if your opponent has any 2 cards other than A and K then you are at best only a 2/3 favorite which in my opinion is not really a very strong position to be in if you are committing alot of chips to a pot. But that is ofcourse still a good position to be in however the big problem with AK is that its actually slightly behind any pair.
From what I have seen of atleast micro stakes tournaments is that people WILL call a shove with middle pairs and even small pairs sometimes.
Even worse problem I have experienced is that big stacks are also willing to call a shove with middle pairs even when I have them covered or almost covered. If I am a big stack then I am never risking all my chips pre-flop with a middle pair but thats clearly not how several other people think it seems.
And then comes the problem of what to do if you are facing a big raise pre-flop with AK? Well if you call, dont hit a pair and the opponent shoves what do you do? You just fold and bam you are no longer in a really comfortable spot that you were on previously. So I think in that spot you have to make a decision to either fold pre-flop or just go all in and take a leap of faith.
I think when you are a really big stack but there are other medium/big stacks behind you then its best to try to get to the flop as cheaply as possible. Even AKs doesnt really have that much more value than AKo, previously I was like I am never folding AKs pre-flop but thats clearly wrong way to go about it.
I personally have suffered by over estimating the strength of AK and have seen people suffer as well countless times even when they really didnt need to take a chance. When you shove with AK and get called by a pair of 4's that really makes you sick.
What is your opinion about AK and how do you play it in tournaments?