How loosely do you play AK?

[developer716]

I play very tight preflop with AK. Usually do small raises and that's all.
And all-in only shortstacked.

I wonder what it means to make a small raise???? when you have AK on hands and you have A3+K3=6 outs multiply them preflop 4=24% chance of dropping out of the right cards ! and yet you have outs for a straight =)

 

[DoloBrolo]

It really depends on the situation for me personally, AK has a tendency to get cracked by pairs in the early stages so I tend to avoid all ins despite the strengths of the hand preflop.

 

[alpinefever]

what is negreanus advice?

 

[stevenright]

basically playing scared hehe
Deep you shouldnt get all excited for it, thats obviously, but most here i think play turbos, so AK is exciting to chip up... but i always get the chills when someone with a bigget stack is about to call... even if they have A8 i am always beat by the river lol

 

[es530]

I like to play with AK, but depending on the flop is good Resign. all-in preflop with AK I think nice too.

 

[TheKAAHK]

Tournament poker is about specific situations & it would be impossible for me to pick any of the options in this poll because none of them even remotely describe the things I'm considering when playing it.

I mean there's the obvious things like open-shoving on a ss
but there's way too many variables in most situations to try to generalize what I would do with a specific holding

After reading the poll and some responses, this ^^ is pretty much my exact thoughts on the matter so I'm going to be lazy and just add a +1 to this.

 

[IntenseHeat]

I've commented on several occasions that I have seen more chips won and more chips lost with A-K than any other hand. This is mainly due to player's willingness to go all-in pre-flop with this particular holding.

While I'm generally not going to open shove with or get into a pre-flop leveling war with A-K, I am not always willing to fold it to another player's aggression. I used to be more willing to fold it. But the more I play, and the more I see the hands that certain players are willing to go all-in before the flop with, the harder it is for met to lay A-K down.

 

[JackGrey]

You have to know who your playing against... If I'm playing against a manian who raises before every flop I will 3 bet or shove over the top of him. If a bit raises I'm more likely to just call to see a flop. If a few people have already shoved in front of me, I might lay it down, especially deep in a tourney when you don't want to be playing a drawing hand for all your chips before the flop

 

[zarzar78]

AK is a premium hand but it's so dangerous even you got A or K on the flop, i always play it agressively but not pot commited to prevent call with speculative hands , after if i hit top pair on the flop i will c-bet 70% of the flop; either i will check or C-bet regardless of the number of oppenements and their statistics ( PFR ...)

 

[Himanshu]

If someone has Aces or kings then they are a massive favourite against Ace-King but that is a small chance of it Ace-King is my favourite hand in tournaments if i have to i will go all in with it from any position in general i 4 bet them and play them like aces from their on lol

 

[businessplay]

i go all in with ak when i am short stacked or when my chip count is 20 % less than the average chip count

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

If I'm deep, I try to win a medium pot with TPTK and exercise pot control.

If I'm short stacked I play it like the nuts.

But some situations early in a tourney call for playing AK quite fast preflop.

example.

first hand of a turbo SnG. I have AKs in the BB. UTG player min raises. 4 other players call including the SB which means if I flat I will be the 6th person in the pot. I don't really want to play AK out of position in a multiway pot.

I decide to just jam. unless the UTG raiser has precisely KK or AA I'm 50% or better to win, with significant dead money in the pot.

 

[fubarcdn]

I play it aggresively preflop hoping to eliminate the hands that usually suck out on me like small pairs and suited connectors and worse yet any two suited cards. If someone comes over the top I have a hard time folding itbut if that player is tight I can on occasion.

 

[PapaC]

Usually I play AK pre-flop with a raise trying to keep anyone from going alin and see the flop, but if I'm forced alin then I take my chances, because AK can stand alone and force like AQ to have to hit the Q. Alin with AK every time you get it is as bad as alin with 22. It just does not win all the time. How often you win with 22 alin

 

[RamdeeBen]

You can't vote because there are to many variables.

In general though, I'm happy to stack off with AK in micro tournaments but obviously depends on stack sizes etc and the player.

 

[GDZzz]

I play it very cautiously, I only 3 bet if the person who raised is loose. Late stages of the tournament however I will shove if I need to.

 

[Jacki Burkhart]

I'm quite surprised how many people mention not wanting to play it on the bubble. If you're not willing to play a top 5% hand on the bubble, then you are precisely the fish that good players are exploiting on the bubble. As such, you will sometimes cash but rarely for very much money.

Sylvain Loosli ?

(womp womp)

confused by this....more info? that is a link to his hendon mob stats.... does he have a certain philosophy on AK?

when you have AK on hands and you have A3+K3=6 outs multiply them preflop 4=24% chance of dropping out of the right cards ! and yet you have outs for a straight =)

That math is quite wrong.

if you hold AK you have about a 33% chance of hitting an A or K on the flop. if you miss the flop you have about a 23% chance of hitting an A or K by the river.

That is only your pair outs, not your straight outs. And sometimes even 1 pair is not enough to win with AK, but lets not forget sometimes you don't have to hit ANYTHING to win with AK. (like when you are facing AQ, KQ, 76s)

If this thread has taught me anything, it has taught me to play AJ, AQ quite fast on the bubble since some players are willing to lay down AK on the bubble. wow!

 

[SwiftHax]

Early in a tourney, I proceed with AK with caution because I won't be getting much action from worse. Even when I hit, it's not wise to put a decent chunk of my chips in the middle with TPTK, the risk I'm running is not compensated by the reward - I'm nowhere near a guaranteed ITM finish and the chances of busting early are high.

Later in the tournament with shallower stacks, AK is much more valuable and I play it much more aggressively and stack off or call shoves because people will shove and call with worse.

 

[PapaC]

I was looking through my treads and seen this one and wanted to say that today I was able to lay down AK to an alin bet. And he had callers so I got to see the flop and I would have lost and he had me covered, so by doing so, I lasted a little longer.

 

[revskip]

Depends really on how loose/aggressive the players acting after me are. Early in tournaments with a big M I will usually just raise it the same amount I am raising all my other hands and look to see a flop. If I miss on the flop depending on how loose the players in the hand are I often still continuation bet and look to end the hand there. If I get any playback then I usually check/fold unless I have real specific info that my opponent plays with nothing on C-bets.

Late in a tournament it is my favorite hand, easy push in a low M situation and easy to call an all-in with from smaller stacks who have pushed since you'll often be up against small or medium PP or AK, AQ AJ and even AT.

 

[Latwttb]

Table position and number of hands you are up against us key. Against one villain with position AK is very strong. UTG on a table if nine not so much. In that situation proper play is 3b raise folding to retakes checking to multiple callers.

 

[brokenlung911]

AK will kill you everytime but it's hard to lay it down because so many will push with weaker A's but sometimes its best to just fold it

 

[Lekoo]

AK is one of the best starting hands but it is not worth the risk. It depends on the table, opponents, tournament phase, blinds etc.
It is good to shove from late positions or raise big in order to let your opponent to make poor call (thinking that you are just trying to steal blinds) if he is shortstacked or the blinds are really big.

There are infinite situations and the decisions differ. Just try to avoid shoving if a rock has already made a raise.

 

[Mighty Racoon]

So many discussions have been had about AK over the years.

When I first started playing semi-seriously (about 8 months ago) I'd be willing to shove preflop with any AK (suited or otherwise), regardless of stack size, position and table dynamics. Suffice to say, I lost more of those hands than I won and I learned to respect AK as a drawing hand and nothing more.

I'll raise it in any position, with any stack (if I'm short-stacked it's an insta-shove) but not with a stupidly big bet. If you're deep stacked there's no point in getting all your money in pre - still good to see a flop.

If there's a raise before me, I'll reraise them: A) To see if they were just getting out of line, and B) To build a nice little pot for the times where I do hit and C) To grab myself a bit of fold equity. Then I'll cbet the flop (regardless of whether I've hit or not - stay consistent) as this will take down the pot more often than not. If they call, I'll proceed with caution and perhaps check the turn (if first to act)

If there's a raise and a re-raise ahead of me, I'll usually just flat call - I see no point in 4-betting and pricing yourself into a bad call later on in the hand. Better to flat and see a cheaper flop - decide where to go from there. Some may argue that I'm missing out on some fold equity there, but I just don't see the 3-bettor folding there. Maybe the initial raiser was getting out of line, but the reraise is a strong play and you can (almost) safely assume you're in a race.

Of course, and with any 'How do you play this hand?' question, it's entirely dependant on situation. If I'm deep-stacked and have a big chip lead then why sacrifice that to draw? No use putting someone all in with it with that kind of stack because most of the time you're going to be racing against the range of hands that can call (pocket pairs above 99 etc).

Definitely like to see a flop before the money goes in, but with any less than 10bb I'm shoving it hard.

 

[PokerFunKid]

A pretty good hand, worth a raise preflop. But when you miss the flop a simple pair of 2's already beat you. That is why i fold AK after the flop if i missed it. Only when i may have a flush draw, i will continue most of the time. Also when you think it is the right time to bluff, you can give it a shot. But if you bluff the turn, you have to keep in mind you also should bluff the river. Don't make your bluff to obvious. Try to think about a good hand you could have with this board, and play the bluff like you have that hand and how you would have played that hand. You should always know why you bluff.

A great video from Daniel Negreanu with some tips playing AK when you missed it after the flop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC1FaJR9RvU