AK does not matter in freerolls and friendly tournaments. Do you agree?

[Vallet]

I noticed one feature this week. I have lost with the AK hand almost all the CardsChat daily tournaments and events in which I participated for several days.
Statistics
8BB all in loss with AK vs 47
10BB all in loss with AK vs 99
3BB all in loss with AK vs TT
97BB all in loss with AK vs 92
+ 1 time managed to win.
1 of 5. This is only 20% that I won't go to bed early. Absolutely any cards beat you. AK has no advantage if the opponent does not have AQ, AJ, AT and an ace with a weaker kicker.:shot:

 

[fundiver199]

It is true, that trashy hands like 74 or 92 has more equity against AK, that a lot of people think. In top of that a lot of people suffer from entitlement tilt. They feel, their opponent should be punished for playing trash hands, and then they get angry, when their AK gets cracked. But this is just simple math. All, it takes to beat A high, is a single pair. And 74 has as much chance to make a pair as QJ.

Also a lot of people fail to understand, that in some short stacked situations it is actually correct to jam any two cards or even call any two cards. If you are closing action in big blind, and someone moves in for less than 5 blinds, you are actually supposed to call with 74 or 92 and try to bust him. So the real problem for this player is not, that his AK lost to "an idiot calling me with 74". The really problem is, that he had led his stack get so short, he had no more fold equity.

 

[PPT]

Firstly only six hands is a terribly small sample size to be drawing any meaningful conclusions from.

Secondly, AK is not the bees knees. It has less chance of being a straight than almost any other connectors (since there's no upper cards) so you have a very high chance of missing. Its always worth remembering that AK is only "Ace high with a King kicker" pre-flop and Ace high doesn't win that many hands at showdown.

In two of the hands you described then heads-up you're behind anyway. Any pair beats AK heads-up, so your missing 2/2 is far from the realms of probability with them.

For the 47 and 92 both times the villain had "two live cards" so if they hit and you miss (as equal a possibility of course as the other way around) then you lose.

If its not heads-up and you're joining a three-way or four-way push then AK will be losing most of the time. Somebody will hit if its 3-way or 4-way instead of heads-up and there's a reasonable chance that somebody will not be you.

 

[David Gibson]

I have noticed this happening a lot lately too. I have decided to treat AK like any low pair and just limp in and see the flop. If the flop does nothing for me it is time to toss em.
I love when someone is bitching about me beating them with my "trash" hand. They want to tell me how to play while they suffer with short stack syndrome.
I still have the entitlement feeling once in a while too. Especially when I am in the dreaded variance.

 

[PPT]

Heads-up AK is worse than a low pair.

Indeed heads-up JT is better than AK versus a low pair.

 

[samersv]

People at lower levels tend to play 10s and Jacks similar to ak where they wanna get it in preflop to avoid having to fold if they don't hit/overs hit.

 

[steve01991]

This is fact, i play AK very tight, never an all in, you will lose for sure . remember 22 beats you, lol

 

[ga25x]

I believe AK in micro levels is overrated. Nevertheless in mtt if u have less than 15BB, it's a no brainer push all in preflop. If u are deep and have a lot of action before you, don't mind just folding it.

 

[fundiver199]

It is true, that trashy hands like 74 or 92 has more equity against AK, that a lot of people think. In top of that a lot of people suffer from entitlement tilt. They feel, their opponent should be punished for playing trash hands, and then they get angry, when their AK gets cracked. But this is just simple math. All, it takes to beat A high, is a single pair. And 74 has as much chance to make a pair as QJ.

Also a lot of people fail to understand, that in some short stacked situations it is actually correct to jam any two cards or even call any two cards. If you are closing action in big blind, and someone moves in for less than 5 blinds, you are actually supposed to call with 74 or 92 and try to bust him. So the real problem for this player is not, that his AK lost to "an idiot calling me with 74". The really problem is, that he had led his stack get so short, he had no more fold equity.

With all this being said 5 hands or 5 tournaments is obviously not a large sample. If we flip a coin 5 times, its certainly not surpricing or special, if it comes 4 heads and just 1 tail or alternatively 1 head and 4 tails. It wont always be exactly 2-3 or 3-2. So you are just noticing some completely normal short term variance.

 

[AllOut]

Props to the guy shoves 97BB with 92. AK is my favourite hand which no matter what, I give them its value. 4-bet, 5-bet or all in, just go whatever happens. I've usually been lucky with them however I suffer same thing these times. AK vs AQ, AJ and even against A2 - I lost back to back at tournaments and spin gos. AK loses value it is on downswings lately, don't play them aggressively )

 

[azforlife]

It's as simple as this, How much would you bet on a coinflip? Once you understand this principle, decisions become easier to make & you won't have such a polarizing view on AK, if action is dry PF chances are your 3 outs are live, with at least 2 Ks, 5 outs at least, straight possibility.
Also your title game needs work The MTT stakes are irrelevant & poorly describes your real question which Is, should I shove AK?

 

[venycyos]

These were normal results, I always take those. I always get angry too. Even you already made me very angry.

 

[moularaki]

if you have AK don't go all in in freerolls
raise and see what is the answer at the table

 

[LFC_yllnwa]

Statistics of winning or losing hands in poker, when we talk about combinations, it is absolutely not important and does not make sense or matter. I have seen more than once, when AA lost several times in a very short period of time... I think it's just a bad time of the game, when you bet on these cards. That is, a bad table for the game, rivals and other factors are not the best. If we're talking about Pokerstars, it's an absolute nightmare and horror.. I can sit for 2-3 hours without a single pair or AT and above, but then in another tournament, I can get 2 times AA at the start, then QQ and other monsters and constantly geting good cards to play. How it's can this be?? How can you keep statistics on this... I still don't believe in the honesty of this company, but they are the largest in the world and everyone tolerates it....

 

[iwont20]

~100BB stack is not played with AKs, and in other examples you had ridiculously small stacks. It's not worth to talk about being unlucky once your stack is under 10BB, as a lot of times you are getting called with a very wide range, and this range is not much worse with what you're supposed to push with. Once you set yourself up for the failure by allowing your stack to drop that low, only luck can help you. And in your examples it didn't.

To answer your question: AK matters if it's played right, and still it's not an invincible hand.

 

[MAGICUZ]

Winning AK is tricky because you will miss the flop two out of three times with this hand.However, AK is still one of the most profitable hands in poker.

 

[TeUnit]

AK is great especially if you know the villans can get it in with AJ.

 

[emzadii]

true. esp'ly in early stages, AKs/o is just another drawing hand in freerolls. even if you raise very big at early position, you get 2 or 3 loose callers, and you equity goes down the drain and you have to play hit-or-miss. if you shove 100bb and got call by A5s, you just have to leave it to the poker gods and hope the loose sticky-preflop caller(s) got punished. if not, on to the next freeroll.

 

[henriquemaduro]

I noticed one feature this week. I have lost with the AK hand almost all the CardsChat daily tournaments and events in which I participated for several days.
Statistics
8BB all in loss with AK vs 47
10BB all in loss with AK vs 99
3BB all in loss with AK vs TT
97BB all in loss with AK vs 92
+ 1 time managed to win.
1 of 5. This is only 20% that I won't go to bed early. Absolutely any cards beat you. AK has no advantage if the opponent does not have AQ, AJ, AT and an ace with a weaker kicker.:shot:

Against TT and 99 you got a little less than 50% of chance of winning.

 

[rabman50]

AK vs 47o is 65%
AK vs 99 is 45%
AK vs TT is 44%
AK vs 92o should never be all in with 97BB

Just my two cents

 

[WJMKAM]

When you hold AA, it is both exciting and scary when the other person goes all in. It is far more scary when you have AK. You feel obligated to call, but you know it is very dangerous. It loses a lot more than you would expect. If several people are calling before the person went all in, you can feel confident that at least one had either an A or a K.

 

[WJMKAM]

If you have AA and someone else goes all in, you feel excited and scared. AK is even more scary. If a few people limp in prior to the other person going all in, you can assume at least one of them has an A or a K. That lowers your odd even more. At the least a 10, J or Q which reduces the chances of straights for your AK. The more limpers, the worse your odds.

 

[Zapahlohotrona]

I would say that any hand is irrelevant in freerolls and friendly tournaments, because this is not poker, but a lottery.

 

[4MileKing]

In freerolls it luck up till you get to the final table and then players start playing real cards

 

[Baldy86]

i would always shove all in with AK in freerolls and micro tourneys . unless i have a perfect read on the opponent and know he has AA or KK . even if he has QQ i might call since it is a freeroll

you still have more than enough equity on junk hands and are 50 50 on pairs lower than QQ

thats good enough for me to ship it in a micro tournament