Playing AK

[xOneCoolHandx]

It seems like lately, AK is getting crushed. Not just for me but for my whole team and even for other players in the tables I have been sitting at (not much of bigger sample size but still). For example, I was in a $100 GTD tournament yesterday on ACR (it was a dime buyin and unlimited rebuys for 16 levels, so that should tell you A LOT about the way players were playing). I had AK three times and LOST every single one of them and only once to a better hand (KK). On one of the hands, I lost to a J2s. He flopped a 2 but I turned a King and was feeling great until he rivered a Jack. The other hand I lost was earlier to a 10 8 by a player who literally pushed every single hand.

But that is not all there is to this rant. My teammate was playing in the Kickoff event and it was down to the final 20. He catches AK from the button and pushes. Only to be called by the BB with QQ. Just Monday, another teammate pushes in a league game with AK and is called by 77.

For about the last week and a half, I have been tracking my win/loss with AK (and posted about it in the trouble hands thread). I am at a 20% win rate winning 4 out of 20 pots. The crazy thing is that I only 2 of them have I gotten it all in and been dominated (the aforementioned KK and another AA). I feel like I am playing them correctly, but it does not seem to be a winning hand for me (of course I will continue tracking over 100 and 1000 hands for a REAL look at how they are performing for me)

I know AK is a drawing hand and that it is not always a push hand, I actually do not push often with this hand...that's not part of my style of play, but I also do not limp with this hand (nor very many others that I decide to play).

Please post any useful strategies for playing AK that you use in your game and also, if anyone else is seeing this trend, post too so I know that I am not the ONLY one seeing this.

 

[Edu1]

I'm not having problems with AK, good for me, and on strategy, I'm not doing anything new, you know the winning percentage with this hand is high, $ 100 GTD is a good tournament though

 

[cool3390]

It seems like lately, AK is getting crushed. Not just for me but for my whole team and even for other players in the tables I have been sitting at (not much of bigger sample size but still). For example, I was in a $100 GTD tournament yesterday on ACR (it was a dime buyin and unlimited rebuys for 16 levels, so that should tell you A LOT about the way players were playing). I had AK three times and LOST every single one of them and only once to a better hand (KK). On one of the hands, I lost to a J2s. He flopped a 2 but I turned a King and was feeling great until he rivered a Jack. The other hand I lost was earlier to a 10 8 by a player who literally pushed every single hand.

But that is not all there is to this rant. My teammate was playing in the Kickoff event and it was down to the final 20. He catches AK from the button and pushes. Only to be called by the BB with QQ. Just Monday, another teammate pushes in a league game with AK and is called by 77.

For about the last week and a half, I have been tracking my win/loss with AK (and posted about it in the trouble hands thread). I am at a 20% win rate winning 4 out of 20 pots. The crazy thing is that I only 2 of them have I gotten it all in and been dominated (the aforementioned KK and another AA). I feel like I am playing them correctly, but it does not seem to be a winning hand for me (of course I will continue tracking over 100 and 1000 hands for a REAL look at how they are performing for me)

I know AK is a drawing hand and that it is not always a push hand, I actually do not push often with this hand...that's not part of my style of play, but I also do not limp with this hand (nor very many others that I decide to play).

Please post any useful strategies for playing AK that you use in your game and also, if anyone else is seeing this trend, post too so I know that I am not the ONLY one seeing this.

Tbh I wouldn't play on ACR they're trash.

You seem like you're playing it right. Like you said its a drawing hand.

Thing a like that do happen but I don't trust ACR at all.

You might want to checkout Bet online or intertops

 

[xOneCoolHandx]

Tbh I wouldn't play on ACR they're trash.

You seem like you're playing it right. Like you said its a drawing hand.

Thing a like that do happen but I don't trust ACR at all.

You might want to checkout Bet online or intertops

I play on ACR because I had gotten a no deposit bonus to sign up. I liked ACR until the update. Now it seems like I take bad beat after bad beat there. I also have an account on BOL and I occasionally play in the CC freeroll. I like it there, it seems to have less "variance" than other sites.

I have not played on Intertops but I will check them out.

 

[xOneCoolHandx]

I'm not having problems with AK, good for me, and on strategy, I'm not doing anything new, you know the winning percentage with this hand is high, $ 100 GTD is a good tournament though

I'm sure it will get there over time. Just "variance" as they call it...lol. Just sucks to get knocked around with that hand so much AND to see other people struggling with it. For my part, I play it aggressively, but I try to not overplay it. I dunno. I'm glad it's kicking butt for you though. I will try to keep getting excited everytime I look at my pocket cards and Big Slick is staring back at me.

 

[Darth_Moola]

I do think this is a variance thing, but I think you might also consider how you expectations for the hand affect your decision making. I know sometimes when I get a good hand I can fall into the trap of feeling like I deserve to win. That makes it harder to let go when I am beat. Obviously, some of your situations are just bad luck with all-ins, but if you are also struggling with post flop play, maybe it's because of how the hand affects your belief in how you should play.

 

[danix]

Brother AK is a strong hand that deserves to be played aggressively but very carefully in situations where the villain pushes all the chips since in most cases the villain is paired, so AK advantage is gone. It also has variance, the deck that doesn't help. The secret is not to fall in love with that hand when you receive it and know how let fold.

 

[fickleberry]

A week and a half sample size is nothing. Variance is a real thing, not something other people made up, so you can run bad for a while. You talk about a few games, but I have been on bad runs that lasted several months.

It's part of the game.

 

[Veritas]

You can read About it in the patch notes.
They changed the algorithm so that AK is losing more often now.

 

[vnnby]

AK is a strong hand that deserves to be played aggressively but very carefully in situations. The secret is not to fall in love with that hand when you receive it and know how let fold.

Absolutely right, keep calm and be attentive and very concentrate. AK is a strong hand, but a combination of five cards wins rather than two :ciao:

 

[nikolaevich87]

dyspression is a terrible thing !!! this in real life is rarely found when this happens, the meaning of the game is lost, it's good when everything falls into place!

 

[Jon Poker]

I ran bad for 7 months...hard downswing. Really started questioning myself and the online integrity. Got the time and nerve to get going again, threw up a small deposit- on ACR I might ad - and i started having normal sessions again. There are bad ones here and there but I see no reason for ACR to "rig" their RNG against players in a .10c buy in MTT....they have nothing to gain from that and most players will agree with me that the rakeback is all they care about. With plenty of action their generating enough money without rigging pots against all of their players

Edit:

To add on - I've had these impulsive thoughts and felt the same way you have before too...the issue with it is not realizing the truth. Once I quit crying about how many times my AK lost to 97o and started appreciating the fact of how good I got my money in - that's what I started focusing on.

So my advice to you and others who feel like you is quit whining - stop giving yourself excuses and reasons as to why you are losing with good hands - go over your performance and better yourself. Maybe you're missing something or playing the hand badly. AK vs QQ all in preflop is normal and unavoidable...for not having a pair you are still about a 40% chance to win the hand. What's not to love? Better than QQ vs JJ...

Not to be bringing up rounders but like Matt Damon said most players can remember with remarkable accuracy the bad beats they've taken - but can barley think of the biggest or best pots they've won. My point is its so true you dont even know it....how many times has your AK won for you in the past? How many times did AK get there on the Queens? It's easy to remember the horrible losses but even easier to forget the many victories.

Realizing this, keeping my play solid and concentrating moreso on getting my money in good - win or lose - has made a difference for me. Sure I hate seeing my KK lost to A10 - but somewhere around 75% of the other runouts, I am sending them packing that's the goal

 

[Tylor Mendez]

Honestly, there are situations to fold AK, like if you are near the bubble and your cash is worth more than your double up. Still, AK wins a lot too and you have to give it a chance over the long run because it is a top 4 hand. It is just variance being unkind to you. You have to grind it out and hope for the best. Sure, they will have pairs a lot, but they will also have AQ and AJ which are crushed by AK. Just a thought.

 

[AKQ]

AK is weak sauce
22 is a favorite 52.75%

AK is only strong against Ax or Kx
Ax Kx 25.95% to win
AK against j2
j2 offsuit 32%

Then you have to run it a million times instead of 20 to get a proper number

 

[Jon Poker]

AK is weak sauce

Certainly there is a proper way to play AK and a time to fold such a hand...but theres also a time where you should also fold aces. Does that mean you shouldn't play them? AK is the 3rd best starting hand in the game...not recognizing its value is not only foolish, it's bad strategy and will lose you money over the long run.

 

[Gloria_Legenda]

You should always consider the fact that not everything can be counted, consider if the whole game would be math.No one would play it)

 

[TravelerLloyd]

I am running bad right now. Done lost my entire bankroll in cash games, I am the sucker!

A week and a half sample size is nothing. Variance is a real thing, not something other people made up, so you can run bad for a while. You talk about a few games, but I have been on bad runs that lasted several months.

It's part of the game.

 

[Veritas]

AK is weak sauce

sure, that is why it's on of the best starting Hands in poker

22 is a favorite 52.75%

AK is only strong against Ax or Kx
Ax Kx 25.95% to win
AK against j2
j2 offsuit 32%

Then you have to run it a million times instead of 20 to get a proper number

well the strenght of AK is that you get all those smaller pocket pairs easily to fold because they fear bigger PP where they are dominated (80:20).
there are only 2 Hands that are dominating AKs which is AA (12:87) and KK (30:70)
against most pocket pairs your are flipping and you are ahead against any Hand that is not a pocket pair and like you said, also dominating vs Ax and Kx.


lets assume we 3bet pre with AKs in Position. we get to fold a lot of small PP like 22-77; the chances for 88-JJ that a overpair hits the flop and they don't hit a set is more than 50%; 88 has ~89%, JJ ~59%
out of 10 times, you face 9 times an overcard with 88 and 6 times with JJ. if we continue putting pressure on them, they have a tough decision to make because if we hit the overcard, they have most likely 2 Outs.
It could also be the case that 2 or even 3 overcards hit the flop which makes it even harder for 88 or 99 to continue.
so the strenght of AK is not the A high Showdown value, it is the pressure you can put on your opponents. if you hit, they are hoping for 2 Outs to come.
so Play it aggressive and let them make a difficult decision for their tournamentlife

 

[xOneCoolHandx]

You can read About it in the patch notes.
They changed the algorithm so that AK is losing more often now.

Where is this?

 

[bigpappa325]

You can read About it in the patch notes.
They changed the algorithm so that AK is losing more often now.

Where did you read this? this is like admitting its rigged. If you can control the algorithm then its not random. People constantly look for validation its corrupt.

 

[BobbyMorton]

I have seen a few times players going all in with AK when nothing on the board crazy.

 

[pokerballsaa]

Where is this?

Where did you read this? this is like admitting its rigged. If you can control the algorithm then its not random. People constantly look for validation its corrupt.

Guys, don't believe everything you read online lol. He is clearly messing.

 

[martinf1971]

AK is a strong hand not a monster it becomes a monster when you flop AK5 rainbow until then caution needs to be adapted. Try and build a pot. AK only has 64% equity to start like others have said once a pair is shown this drops below 50. AK also as a starting hand only wind 25% of the time.

 

[Veritas]

yeah I was obviously joking

 

[BelFish]

This hand work good in late stadies of tourneys, when you have 10-15bb in stack. Just put all in and hope ))