Give me an ace, give me a king, preferably suited

[Nemo]

Good day everyone. I am a little hazy on AK and AKs. I understand their benefits...you can flop top pair and be unafraid of a kicker. But, how far should one take these hands? If it comes down to heads up, and the flop comes rainbow with no help to your A or K, and your opponent bets, do you stick around for the last 2 rounds, or just give it up? I've been having trouble figuring out just how to play these hands. They confuse me because they require help on the flop, whereas pocket 10s, usually considered a marginal hand, can win if the board stays relatively low. I know that there are approximately six million things I'm not considering, but if people would be so kind as to point out a few of them to me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Also, I think it could lead to some quality discussion.

Best,

Nemo

[WiredPair]

I'm still a newbie, but I will say that I think AK (suited or not) is one of the hands that people struggle playing the most. A lot I think depends on how many opponents see the flop and whether you caught any of it.

In your example, you say it is a rainbow flop, you are heads-up and your opponent bets. I further assume "no help" means no backdoor flush/straight draws, etc. I will also assume that you raised the flop with AK. If all of this is true, I don't think you're giving up much folding most of the time. If you showed strength pre-flop and your opponent still bets into you (assuming you have position on him and he bets out in front of you) he's telling you he's got something. The pot also isn't giving you any odds to stay and chase your overcards if its heads-up on the flop. Sit this one out and wait for the next hand.

Now, if the situation is a little different and you pick up some backdoor straight or backdoor flush draws to the nut flush and especially if there are more people in the pot, I think you can stick around. I'll let the veterans come in and give you better advice, just thought I'd start things off!

[rigoletto]

It often helps to think of AK as a drawing hand. If the flop is uncoordinated and your opponent bets into a preflop raiser he's likely to have a piece of the flop. As Wired pointed out: folding here can't be a big mistake if any.

On a ragged flop you usually have 6 outs (A's and K's), if you in addition to these outs have a gutshot draw or backdoor flush draw, the best play can be to raise the flop and take the free card on the turn if you don't hit. If you do take the free card, do not try to bluff river when you don't hit as you'll be called by most oponents.

against tricky agressive opponents who likes to play draws hard, you might want to raise the turn instead of the flop. This way you often get checked to on the river and get there for the same price as calling down, but win an extra BB when they don't hit their draw.

Hope this is of help!

[Ed Miller]

Playing AK unimproved headsup is very player and flop dependent. If your opponent is straightforward (bets and raises when he has a hand and checks folds or calls when he doesn't) then you can fold to any action. If your opponent is tricky though, then when the flop comes ragged, you, as the preflop raiser, are a target because he is going to put you on AK and put pressure on you to fold... especially if he's got some kind of draw. You can't just fold to him in that case... your AK will often be the best hand. But you need to use your best judgement about when your hand is good and when it is no good and act accordingly. That is to say... you have to play poker.