J
jimmylytle2
Rock Star
Silver Level
yes, I get really anxious when my AK gets called by any hand without an ace or king in their hand, because it is a coin flip with the randomizer software being used at the poker sites.
R
RunnesW
Rising Star
Bronze Level
AK is pretty drawing hand, when you get reraised after trash on flop just fold it. But ye, people have a lot of problem with that. AKs is basicly the 4th starting hand so i guess its a good one ;d Akorps : I might be wrong but i think its for the value
B
baudib1
Legend
Silver Level
I can't believe how's my threads there are about AK. It's ridiculous
Back to basics:
Ak is the premium hand you will see the most often. In fact, you will be dealt AK almost as often as AA, KK, QQ combined. Another way of saying this is that of your nut range (AK/QQ+), 47% of that is AK.
These hands don't come around very often. QQ+/AK is only 2.56% of all hands. If you're not getting full value from AK you simply won't win very often. Also, if you're not playing AK like a premium holding you will have trouble getting full value from KK/AA.
2. AK plays better when it sees all 5 cards. That's especially true in a flip situation. It's hard to get any value from QQ when you call preflop and the flop comes A-high.
You can occasionally win a big pot vs AJ/AQ/KQ type hands, but that's only when you both hit, which isn't very often.
When you add in any fold equity at all, AK becomes extremely profitable.
3. People get all in preflop with tons of AX/Kx and worse hands.
Back to basics:
Ak is the premium hand you will see the most often. In fact, you will be dealt AK almost as often as AA, KK, QQ combined. Another way of saying this is that of your nut range (AK/QQ+), 47% of that is AK.
These hands don't come around very often. QQ+/AK is only 2.56% of all hands. If you're not getting full value from AK you simply won't win very often. Also, if you're not playing AK like a premium holding you will have trouble getting full value from KK/AA.
2. AK plays better when it sees all 5 cards. That's especially true in a flip situation. It's hard to get any value from QQ when you call preflop and the flop comes A-high.
You can occasionally win a big pot vs AJ/AQ/KQ type hands, but that's only when you both hit, which isn't very often.
When you add in any fold equity at all, AK becomes extremely profitable.
3. People get all in preflop with tons of AX/Kx and worse hands.
Thinker_145
Visionary
Silver Level
No I was saying how can someone prefer having AK over QQ? I wasnt talking about a heads up battle between the 2 hands but generally QQ is so much better a hand than AK.Because it's a coin flip, and a coin flip carries a lot of equity in the right situation. It's a fist-pump snap shove in some situations, it's a fold in others.
It's not like I'm pulling this out of my ass. Read any poker book or training. It's widely understood that AK is a premium holding in the topmost tier of starting hands. Some charts will include QQ in that top tier, a few even include JJ although I wouldn't. Again, it depends on the situation, but there are many (almost always in a cash game, much of the time in a tourney) where I'm happy to get AIPF with AK in a HU pot. Where most people butcher this hand is overplaying it post-flop, not pre-flop.
And there's a term for that type of player in poker. They're called nits.And they tend not to win a lot of MTTs.
Look I will NEVER knowingly fold a 2/3 advantage but as I said in my OP there is always the chance the opponent is holding a pair which is 55-45 favorite over AK. Thats what seriously devalues AK for me.
Thinker_145
Visionary
Silver Level
Obviously thats why AK is so big to begin with. However people also try to bluff all-in in later stages so could not even have a A or K so we are back to the 2/3 advantage.
A 27 beats AK 1 out of 3 times, thats quite sick if you ask me.
P
Punter4444
Enthusiast
Silver Level
AK was most deceptive cards for me as beginner. i used to get tricked always thinking wow ive won the hand even before seeing flop. many times no a or k on table still i used to continue betting till river. now i have stopped this..i continue till turn that too if bet amt is not too big. however worth giving it a shot if bet amount is small many times u cud win with ace high
J
JohnnyBRivered
Rising Star
Bronze Level
It depends on the situation for me whether I would call an all in with AK there are some players that i would be comfortable calling all in if i had them well covered and some that i wouldn't. But mostly i would prefer to be the aggressor in the the hand and if possible stay out of an all in preflop flip unless I am short stacked. If someone else shoves chances are they don't have an AK so you would maybe be looking at in my opinion a pair or AX maybe suited cards or a random donk shove with any two and you have no chance to back out if it starts not looking good.
Jacki Burkhart
long winded rambler...
Silver Level
to me, AK is a great hand when you are at a point in the tourney that you are playing preflop poker. I LOVE AK when it's a preflop battle. I love jamming with it and calling people's all ins with it.
We hear that AK is a coinflip vs. any smaller pair....well that is only true if you get to see all 5 cards...
if you just take it to a flop it's a great way to be disappointed. You will miss the flop with AK 60% of the time. (not including when you flop a draw).
so.....as so many others have stated when stacks are deep proceed with caution....when stacks are not deep YAY for AK!!!!
We hear that AK is a coinflip vs. any smaller pair....well that is only true if you get to see all 5 cards...
if you just take it to a flop it's a great way to be disappointed. You will miss the flop with AK 60% of the time. (not including when you flop a draw).
so.....as so many others have stated when stacks are deep proceed with caution....when stacks are not deep YAY for AK!!!!
MediaBLITZ
Legend
Silver Level
It is a MONSTER speculative hand that is easily crushed when the flop comes - that's what some people miss.
So odd that a guy will play 66 and if it does not hit a set will gladly get out of the hand. The same guy with AK misses and all of sudden he wants to go all the way through the river with it.
Make notes on the people who get glued to their preflop hands and ignore the texture of the board - you found a fish.
So odd that a guy will play 66 and if it does not hit a set will gladly get out of the hand. The same guy with AK misses and all of sudden he wants to go all the way through the river with it.
Make notes on the people who get glued to their preflop hands and ignore the texture of the board - you found a fish.
U
Unfinished Business
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Yep. I hear you about AK being a marginal hand post-flop. The reason it is so dangerous comes down to mathematics. You only get AK holdings in about 1% of hands that are dealt. After a half hour of dumping garbage hands one after another, the psyche takes over and thinks that, hey, look, i finally got this wonderful hand and many of us overplay it, me not withstanding. I don't know the statistics on this, but i imagine it has to be one of the top tilt hands out there since so many people air the flop and then plunge ahead hoping to spike an ace or king on the turn or river.
J
Jeschant
Enthusiast
Silver Level
True, AK isn't so hot post flop when you miss, and it's sometimes scary if you hit, except most of the time a small pocket pair looks like crap to your opponent after the flop too, so a raise might chase him out. That said, I'm pretty sure I play AK horribly most of the time. Unless fairly near the bubble, I'm too happy to get all in preflop against one other player, hoping for at worst a coinflip. Lucky me, I get action from A-rag often enough in the freerolls and micros to make it work. I bet if I ever move up it won't be such a great idea.
Henry Minute
Legend
Silver Level
I agree with your expert analysis of the OPs post.
However, I do not agree with that post since from my reading AQ is the most fly outest hand in poker not AK.
NeverEnough
Rock Star
Silver Level
Yes. I will certainly open raise pre-flop, but if I get air on the flop & I think I am beat, I am folding. It's still just ace high.
AQ is another overplayed hand.
NeverEnough
Rock Star
Silver Level
AA would be a better hand to shove.
Karozi615
Visionary
Silver Level
It is really all situational people - AK suited is a monster hand in a lot of situations when playing poker. It is true that it is overplayed, but the most important thing to understand that generally speaking, AK is a monster preflop but as progress in the hand, it becomes marginalized. If your getting a lot of action on the turn you need to play your TPTK more defensively. The argument that small/medium pairs are calling and outplaying AK preflop is mostly wrong, accept situationally. TBH there are a lot of spots I would rather look down and see AK suited than pocket jacks.
Hellmuth:
Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AK
Group 2: JJ, TT, 99
Sklansky:
Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, AK, KQs
As you can see a case can be made that JJ is a second tier starting hand compared to AK. It's really about the situation more than it is the hand
Just my 2 cents
KAROZI
Hellmuth:
Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, AKs, AK
Group 2: JJ, TT, 99
Sklansky:
Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, AK, KQs
As you can see a case can be made that JJ is a second tier starting hand compared to AK. It's really about the situation more than it is the hand
Just my 2 cents
KAROZI
Karozi615
Visionary
Silver Level
I also want to add that I don't even consider AK a DANGEROUS hand. Obviously you can find yourself in dangerous spots, but AJ is more of a dangerous hand to somebody that doesn't understand relative value. That is, a newish player see's AJ suited UTG+1 in a full ring game full of rocks and gets 3bet. That's a troublesome spot caused by a troublesome hand that should have been folded some of the time.
I realize your taking a tournament prospective, I always take a ring game angle so my opinion impartial
I realize your taking a tournament prospective, I always take a ring game angle so my opinion impartial
etherghost
Visionary
Silver Level
I agree with you Henry. AQ is more of a fly out hand than AK. As a matter of fact, most newbies play A10, AJ, AQ and AK like it's all golden pass to winning the pot. In some cases it is but you have to know how to play those hands.
I've learned over the years that you have to be prepared to throw away even pocket rockets when it's time to do so.
Henry Minute
Legend
Silver Level
Negreanu didn't say they were bad cards, just that it isn't a hand i.e. a made hand.
AK is in the 1st or 2nd group of opening hands, depending on whether it is suited or not, so quite a powerful hand.
dmorris68
Legend
Loyaler
This. No way Daniel called AK a "bad" hand, that's just silly.
