Poker How To Play Ak

This article is in a series of articles that will look at various starting hands you can get in hold’em and what to do with them. It will focus mainly on preflop play, and will cover a normal 9 handed No limit game were you have an average chip size and a reasonable read on other players. While these articles do focus on no limit play, the principles can be applied to limit and pot limit games.

• Poker How To Play Ak
• Poker How To Play Akinator
• Poker How To Play Akai
• Poker How To Play Akali

The way featured Upswing Poker coach Doug Polk would play Ace-King in an ace-kingless board is as follows: Check-call if it’s a type 1 good board. Bet-fold if its a type 2 ok board. Check-fold if it’s a type 3. This article is in a series of articles that will look at various starting hands you can get in hold’em and what to do with them. It will focus mainly on preflop play, and will cover a normal 9 handed No limit.

1. How to play AK in Cash Games One of the beauties of Big Slick is the pre-flop pressure that you can put on your opponents. Unless one of your opponents has the rare holding.
2. AK is one of the best starting hands in 6-max No Limit Holdem Cash Game. It is a real profit-generating weapon if used correctly. In this article, I am going to share with you my guru insight and experiences on how to play.
3. You hold AK suited and you are in mid position. For this example lets assume you are in a tournament and you have 1,000 chips and so do most of your opponents. A player in front of you raises 90 chips.

efore we discuss situations with these hands the first thing you need to know about these hands is they are drawing hands. If you do not hit them on the flop and make a pair, straight or the like the hand has very little value. Yes, ace high can win a pot but generally only in a heads up pot, in a multi way pot if you do not hit you have a very weak hand and in most cases must fold the hand. Due to the fact that they are drawing hands obviously having the cards suited is a lot better then having them unsuited.

However despite the fact that you are effectively on a draw with them they are powerful hands. This is due to the fact if you do hit you will have the best kicker and if no one hits you are very likely to have the best hand. Also the odds of having a pair preflop are 16:1 against so if you get dealt A,K baring anyone having a pair you have the best hand preflop.
We will look at what you should do with these hands in the following 3 positions early, which is 1st or 2nd person to act, late position on the button or 1 off it, or in middle position.

Early Position:

From an early position I would raise with these hands. I would put in a standard raise of 3 to 4 times the big blind. If someone reraises you have to decide what hand they have. If you have A,K and you think they have any pair you are about even money to win. If you think they have A,Q or lower you are a huge favourite and should reraise. With A,Q or A,J you should most likely fold because you do not want to risk them having A,K and even if they have a pair you are only 50/50.

Poker How To Play Ak

Middle Position:

If no one has entered the pot then you should follow the advice of above. If limpers have entered the pot you must raise the pot to about the size of the pot. You should do this to stop someone limping with a marginal hand and out flopping you.
If one person has raised in front of you then with A,Q and A,J I suggest folding. With A,K you can either fold or raise depending on what hand you put your opponent on. Calling here is also ok, but if you do this you must be prepared to throw your hand away if you miss the flop.

If someone raised and at least one other has called the raise you should probably just flat call the raise. If you then hit the flop you are likely to have the best hand and if you miss you can get away from the hand cheaply. You could reraise here put it would to be all in to be effective. If you raised all either the raiser or one of the callers probably has a large pocket pair and if he calls you, you will be only a 50/50 shot.

Late Position:

From late position the decision set is basically the same as from the other positions.
I do not recommend limping with these hands on the button as this shows weakness in your hand. This means that if you miss the flop or the flop looks ugly the blinds will have no hesitant in betting the flop and you will have a hard time getting them of the hand. It is true you will probably get more action if you do hit the flop because of the limp preflop but overall these play cost you money in the long run.

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Playing AK on a Missed Flop

Poker How To Play Akinator

AK is a really tricky hand to play after you miss the flop. A big proportion of players will overplay and over value these hands, or even start building pots and bluffing in the wrong tables positions which is extremely dangerous. However, most of the time the failure comes from players mid-reading their opponent’s hands and strength post-flop. In this article I’m going to analyse a number of scenarios and provide tips for playing AK correctly on a missed flop – both in and out of position.

Situation 1: In Position

In position against one or two opponents who called your pre-flop raise, a continuation bet is the best play on a dry flop like 6h-8h-2s. It’s very unlikely anyone will have hit with their calling range. We’re probably putting our opponents on broadway cards, high suited connectors or mid-pocket pairs.

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A continuation bet ½ pot only has to work once in three times to break even, and each opponent only has a 30% chance of hitting the flop. Against a single opponent in a cash game I’m always continuation betting here, against 2 opponents I’ll need to know my table image better and the cards my opponents will be playing. Either way, with 2 checks ahead of me it’s extremely likely I’m still ahead so I’ll bet half-pot (e.g. $40 into a $75 pot).

If a player hits back at you it’s an easy fold, as he must have top pair or a set minimum – and he definitely won’t be on a draw.

If he flat-calls your raise then you’re still most likely ahead. If he’s checking the turn then again you should bet out a ½ pot bet. If his hand hasn’t improve by the turn (for instance if he’s holding QJ and still misses) then he’s folding to more action.

Barrelling the river

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Let’s say your opponent calls you to the river and it brings another blank card. This is a really difficult situation because whether or not you 3-barrel the turn is all about your read. For instance, ask yourself whether a player of this quality will be calling you on the flop and turn with a flush draw. A lot of weak opponents will however against good opponents this is unlikely.

So, on a board like6h-8h-3s-10d-2d it’s very likely you’re AK has showdown value against a bad opponent. In either case I’m probably checking the river. If he’s missed his draw he’s unlikely to check-raise you, and if even if you raise the river it’s negative chip equity because you’re only going to get called by hands that beat you.

If you believe youre opponent was on a draw but might have caught a small pair with a hand like Ah3h, you can 3barrel the river. Your bet needs to be carefully weighted here and I suggest a 2/3 pot-bet is enough to fold a marginal hand, yet not too much that it looks bluffy.

Situation 2 – out of position

Playing AK out of position in is alot tougher in cash games as you only have a 30% chance of hitting a pair on the flop – and if you miss and someone else raises you there isn’t a lot of flops you can afford to call with. So against multiple opponents I’m often going to check-fold my AK out of position.

However if you fancy playing aggressively there are multiple ways to play AK on a missed flop. Depending on the texture you can raise AK first-to-act on rainbow flops like 3d-Js-7h because it’s extremely unlikely anyway will have hit. Mid to late position players calling your pre-flop raise with suited connectors or JQ/KQ type hands have no chance. Thus, on certain flops you can raise AK out of position and take it down. A bad flop to do this though would be Qh-7h-10s.

If you get your AK called on a 3d-Js-7h flop you need to be bold and either check-fold the turn, or be prepared to 3-barrel as mentioned above.

Lastly, on a missed flop with AK out of position you can bluff check-raise. The player in position will likely be cbetting all flops anyway and if you check-raise here he’s almost always folding. This play is very straight forward because you’re folding to a call too!

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