[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've been devaluing AK lately. I don't play it quite as aggressively as I used to. I don't like reraising with it, even from late postion. This is probably bad, but I've folded AK 3 times this week preflop. Once to a raise and min reraise in front of me and twice to a min reraise behind me when I was in MP. In all but one case I was behind a big pocket pair. In the third case the person also had AK and we'd have chopped against a short stack who pushed with 77.
I personally like TJ Cloutiers take on AK being rather weak. He rates it as being below TT and recommends not getting your chips in the middle with it preflop in cash games.
I also enjoyed this article by Daniel Negreanu on the vulnerability of AK
http://fullcontactpoker.com/daniel/strat...&ucat=&
[/ QUOTE ]
From Negreanu's article - "The important thing to understand about Big Slick is that it's a drawing hand. Now if it's suited, it makes it the most powerful drawing hand you can be dealt in Texas Hold'em. But remember- it's a drawing hand."
That's basically what I always think. You're a dog to 22 preflop. In a cash game, I want to see the flop.
[/ QUOTE ]
There is a big difference in how playable the hands are though. Unless it hits a set, 22 can call a bet on the flop just about never. The same is certainly not true of AK.