How to play AK

I swear, I dont think I have ever won with AK.

But to be specific, how do you play AK if the flop doesn't hit?
I guess my problem is I am over agreessive with this hand and tend to come out betting hoping to induce my opponent to fold. Clearly, it's not working for me.

[Pov]

Assuming you raised preflop, betting out against 1-2 opponents is standard - you have a reasonable chance of holding the best hand right now. If you have 4+ opponents then betting is probably wrong. Now you need to treat your hand more like a 3-4 out draw. With 4 opponents and a raise preflop you will probably have odds to see the turn but have to fold at that point unless you've picked up some other type of draw.

Know how you feel. Lost with AK from early position to AT unsuited from the button. Me UTG, all folds to Button, SB, BB called. I raised and Button called and he got lucky with the flop A,T,2. I knew he had two pair and I was steaming so much I couldn't let it go. I HATE when I do that!

Also lost with AKs on the button when CO turned over 77 and it held up.

At best AK is a drawing hand that I think many (including myself when I switch my brain off) forget to reevaluate post flop based on the range of hand we put our opponents on.

[BruinEric]

The Hold 'Em forums are filled with AK examples. Go to the one for the limits you play and read them.

Many situations are different. For every time Heads-Up you play aggro and bet unimproved into a caller who shows you middle-pair for the win; you have more times you flop A or K and a player calls you down with middle pair and/or top-pair, worse-kicker.

Against multiple players it gets tricky (for me). I often fold to action and realize my pre-flop raise was the right thing to do with the amount of information available to me at the time.

[uuDevil]

Ed Miller's Small Stakes Hold'em has an excellent section on playing overcards.

You flopped overcards. You may still have the best hand. If not, you have a weak draw. Should you bet?

Factors to consider: the size of the pot, the strength of your hand including backdoor draws, the probability the flop helped your opponents considering the number of opponents and flop texture, the probability of winning immediately by betting, the probability of increasing your pot equity with a bet, and the probability of getting a free card on the turn by betting.

[AKQJ10]

First of all, you haven't told us what poker variant you play. We can probably safely assume you're referring to hold 'em, but you need to state the scope of your question as most likely either limit hold 'em or no-limit hold 'em.

If you're referring to limit, here's a bit more discussion on the same factors uuDevil cites: http://poker.wikicities.com/wiki/LHE:Flop:Two_overcards

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I swear, I dont think I have ever won with AK.

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Your sample must be tremendously small or, more likely, your memory is working selectively as happens to us all. Flopping top pair top kicker and value betting to the river where middle pair and K8 pay off isn't nearly as memorable as all those 100 straight times you missed the flop. But AKo does hit the flop quite often, and when it does it's a strong (though not unbeatable) hand and needs to be played as such.

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But to be specific, how do you play AK if the flop doesn't hit?


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It all depends on the texture of the flop. If it comes down 225, by all means bet right into that sucker, but if your looking at a flop of 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 7 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. You might want to consider laying down big slick if bet into or raised, especially in a multi-way pot

[AKQJ10]

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It all depends on the texture of the flop. If it comes down 225, by all means bet right into that sucker...

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Even allowing for constraints of this medium (i.e. message board posts have to leave out a lot of detail), this seems dangerously simplistic. Yes, flop texture is an important factor. But so are pot size, number of opponents, and many other factors we've discussed above. In the Foxwoods $2/4, the likelihood is that that 6-8 people saw the flop. Therefore you have to consider it fairly likely that one of them played something like A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] or 6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], even for two bets or more.

Automatically folding there would be as big a mistake as automatically betting, so not advocating that you fold on a paired board every time once you reach a magic number of opponents. I'm just saying, like all poker decisions, it depends on many factors. But number of opponents is a huge one, because heads-up or 3-way, your AK on a 225 board may well be best. 8 ways, it's unlikely to be.

Thanks all for the replies. I will remember to include more detail next time i post about a hand.

I think as a beginner, I tend to overplay AK as well as medium pocket pairs with overcards on the board. But slowly, I am getting the discipline to fold these hands, mainly, I'll usually throw out a feeler bet, hoping to take the pot down right there but at the same time, trying to get a sense of what my opponents are holding.

[bholdr]

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Know how you feel. Lost with AK from early position to AT unsuited from the button. Me UTG, all folds to Button, SB, BB called. I raised and Button called and he got lucky with the flop A,T,2. I knew he had two pair and I was steaming so much I couldn't let it go. I HATE when I do that!

Also lost with AKs on the button when CO turned over 77 and it held up.

At best AK is a drawing hand that I think many (including myself when I switch my brain off) forget to reevaluate post flop based on the range of hand we put our opponents on.

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Check out SSHE chapter 'playing overcards', esp the section 'AK is not just a drawing hand'

I feel that AK (esp suited) is usually underplayed by novices- that is, they are too quick to give up when they miss the flop. even when the flop completly misses- no backdoor draws, etc, it's still usually a 6 out draw to TPTK (A LOT stronger, not just a little bit stronger, than KQ for example), and is worth playing aggressivly on the flop unless it comes out co-ordinated. which, i think is one of the nice things about AK- it's easier to lay down than say JJ when the flop comes out 678 or something threatening like that.

The biggest problem with continuing with AK on an uncoordinated board, IMO, is reverse domination- say a flop comes out 3 6 T and you're up against KT or A6- big trouble.