Which would you prefer and why?

[binions]

1. Holding AA on an unpaired board? or

2. Holding AK and flopping top tair, top kicker on an unpaired board?

[pzhon]

I strongly prefer having AA. Lower overpairs will be far behind, but will like the flop. People with overcards to the board may think they have up to 6 outs while they need to catch twice. If an ace or king comes on the flop, it is rare to get a lot out of a player with a lower pair.

[TripleH68]

Interesting question in that AK has more ways to improve and potentially limits your opponents outs.

Of course before the flop gimmie the rockets.

[binions]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting question in that AK has more ways to improve and potentially limits your opponents outs.

Of course before the flop gimmie the rockets.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, and it's easier to get away from AK when you flop undercards than it is AA.

The point about using one of the board cards is huge. With AA, they have 3 cards they can use against you, with TPTK, they have 2.

[binions]

[ QUOTE ]
I strongly prefer having AA. Lower overpairs will be far behind, but will like the flop. People with overcards to the board may think they have up to 6 outs while they need to catch twice. If an ace or king comes on the flop, it is rare to get a lot out of a player with a lower pair.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but think about all those times you make money off weaker Aces and weaker Ks when you have AK and an A or K flops. Sure, sometimes they will hit their dangler, but give me dominated any day. Plus, a dominated made hand is more likely to pay all the way to the river than overcards.

[Weatherhead03]

Answer is obvious..AK may think he has top pair top kicker until he sees the AA

[xniNja]

Am I right in assuming when holding AA there is no ace on the board? This is actually a tough question which I think deserves a conditional response... action preflop being the most important condition.

I'd much rather hold AK with an ace on the board when I'm pretty sure my opponent is on a weaker ace, than hold AA on a garbage board that my opponent is unlikely to call unless he has me beat with a set or two pair. It also depends on the game. Interesting question though.

[binions]

[ QUOTE ]
Am I right in assuming when holding AA there is no ace on the board?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes - situation 1 is AA as overpair. Situation 2 is AK as TPTK.

[CitricAcid13]

TPTK is better in my opinion, considering there is a lot of action preflop. This means that someone could be calling with KQ, AQ, AJ, or even A10 / KJ and pay you off in many situations. With AA, unless there is a K and someone has KQ, etc., you will probably not get called unless you are behind (two pair, set, etc.) It is controversial though.

[Weatherhead03]

What happens if there is a K on the flop and the person is raising and re-raising with TPTK with the AK that again makes AA way more powerful because the TPTK would raise and re-raise if an A came on the board thinking that they were way ahead with the top two pair.