Which would you prefer to have in your hand if you are UTG jamming with 5bb?

Holding AKs or 99

At 5 bbs, it doesn't really matter but, if I had to pick one, I'd go with AKs.

AK because you are going to hit a pair 50 % of the time so if you are holding AK your pair is more likely to be good on the river. Whereas 99 your are a big dog if someone hits there over on you your relying on a two outer with 2 cards to come.

Originally Posted by mclaughlinph

AK because you are going to hit a pair 50 % of the time so if you are holding AK your pair is more likely to be good on the river. Whereas 99 your are a big dog if someone hits there over on you your relying on a two outer with 2 cards to come.

There is obviously lots of speculation to this as well there are other outcomes based on the cards and the number of people in the hand to consider. But if you hit with AK you are good alot of the time. With 99 you are relying on the other players to miss on there overs so it is proactive versus reactive. But with 5 BB id rather have AK.

At 5 BB I would take a lot of hands to jam with but I will ignore the 5 BBs and answer based on which hand I like to jam more and the answer is AK suited. Reason is, If we are playing push fold we are really using fold equity so we really are hoping no one calls and we pick up the blinds. In that scenario 72 off is just as good as any cards. However, we have to assume that sometimes we will get called and when we get called we are going to get called by the top range of hands. With these two hands, AK suited fares much better against the top of an opponent's range vs 99. Any 1010+ has a crushed with A9 plus broadways are flipping.

Take the range I just mentioned against AK suited and we have life and many times are good, we are only bad against Aces and Kings. The weird thing is 99 vs AK suited and 99 has more equity but against opponents all in calling ranges I would rather have the AK suited.

If money is far away then with these hands and with such a stack allin. If you see that you can get money, better fold. AK is a strong hand. From 99 to utg with a comfortable stack it’s more profitable to limp. Raise with AK. Raising utg from 99 is disadvantageous because if you do not get into the flop it will be difficult for you to continue playing if your opponent raises. In position 99 you can raise. In general, I think that AK is better than 99 because often you can outplay your opponent on a flop by bluffing. 99 is just a couple and not the strongest.