Good articles on playing AKs and AKo

[Leo Bello]

Does anyone have links to articles or good discussions aout how to play this hand?
I keep changing strategies as I found out that AK is not as profitable to as it should be.
My winning range is around 52% for both hands. And sincerely it seems a lot less. I have the impression that AK is not a so good hand. The times I do a great raise I normally get everyone to fold or I am called and beaten by a better hand.
when I try to limp or make a small raise I end up with many callers and someone outdraws, normally with a hand like T9 or something less.

Anyway, I am not saying it does not win. I am just saying I think I should try to follow a better strategy. So, i would like to read more on people´s opinion about this hand.

[Gildersneeze]

With AKo, the way I play it that gets me the most consistent (winning) results is as follows. N.B.: Play assumes five or more players with average stacks for the blinds/antes.

UTG - Early middle: Limp/Re-raise. The non-suited nature makes me want to play this against the least amount of players, so I'll trail it around and hope someone raises, then I'll re-raise by a solid amount to get rid of players between me and the original raiser.

Middle-Late: 2x pot raise against limpers, re-raise a pot-sized raise, call any all-ins half my stack or lower, push on any re-re-raises to my re-raise (If I'm going to get all in with AKo, it's going to have to be pre-flop).

CO or Button: See above, and add "make a large raise from the button to try and take the pot right then if entire/large part of the field limps in."

Blinds: raise, re-raise, or call depending on my respect for other players and their bets. It's really a matter of position, here. I don't want to have to bet overcards out of position against a likely pocket pair, but with AK, you still have to call unless your opponent is all but saying "I've got them rockets, son."

With AK Suited, I'm going to get it all in there pre-flop. I'll raise from any position, and re-raise all-in if someone doesn't set me in first.

The thing to remember the most about AK, suited or not, is that it's a drawing hand. If you flop nothing (well, there's no way it can't be overcards if you don't pair aces or kings), you just have to evaluate your pot odds and drawing odds.

Just realize that you CAN get away from AK if you take a flop with it and it misses. if the flop is TT9 and you have someone respectable betting in to you, don't chase Aces, Kings, or the running straight. Let it go.

It's up to you if you want to draw if one of the Tens and the Nine is suited to your AKs, but remember that trips and two pair can boat up, and T9s, a hand that many people play, already has you boated.

Just remember, if you're going to get all your money in with a drawing hand like AKo or AKs, do it pre-flop. At least then if you lose, you made a move that you shouldn't feel bad about.

[evanski]

I agree you have to be aggressive with this hand, but it is not correct poker to always go all in with AKs if you can. If not sure what type of game you're playing in, but you need to be able to get away from this hand occasionally. You will run into aces and kings sometimes. You do not want that to be a situation where you always lose your entire stack, since you have only three outs against kings and are basically drawing dead against aces, suited or not. Pay attention to the people youre playing with. If a tight aggressive player comes back over the top of you with a big reraise, you may have to junk your hand. Good luck.

[hhboy77]

i think this is an important issue and i don't think you'll get a long argument from any big bet poker player when you say it's the hardest hand to play.

as a general rule, i think most people believe you should play the hand more conservatively in big bet than in limit. that's why i can't agree with what gildersneeze has to say. his guidelines seem to indicate that you should reraise with ak every time. my problem is that everytime you reraise, any player who knows what he's doing is going to fold hands that he's losing with and push you around with hands that you take a clubbing from. the only place where i think ak is a clear reraise is against a steal raise from a non-rock.

let's assume a 1-2, $100 buy in like a lot of the internet sites run. you're in early position. you limp with your ak, the person to your left pot size raises to $9 and there's one caller back to you. notice in this siutation, there's no players in the middle to reraise out. there's now $25 dollars in the pot, a solid reraise would be to $35.

my questions are:
- what do you do when he pushes all in?
- what do you do when he flat calls and you miss?

i think the problem in general with playing your hand so fast is that virtually everytime all the money goes in the best you can hope for is he has kk.

[Gildersneeze]

I actually DON'T like to get all-in at all with AK unless I've seen a good flop, but if it's going to happen, it's one of the four best starting hands in hold'em, so if there's going to be one to get in there with pre-flop, I'd rather it be Queens, Kings, Aces, or AKs.

[Gildersneeze]

If he flat calls and I miss, I'm going to have to see how the action on the flop goes.

If he bets into me decently, I'll likely lay it down. If he checks, I'll either check behind if I respect him or he's a known slowplayer, or bet into him if I know he's weak or weak-tight. Weak or weak-tight will only call with a solid piece of the flop (which I know I'm beat, so I'll check/fold the turn). If a tight-agressive checks to me, I'll put out a solid bet, and fold to a checkraise. Another call, and I'm checking the river to try and show it down for free there.

Honestly, it is a damn hard hand to play, and the most important part of it is to know when to lay it down. It's won more money for me than it's lost by a wide margin, so my style of play with it seems to work for me. I've been playing it that way for a good long while (around a year or so, but I play mostly live games rather than online), so I'm pretty satisfied with it.

However, just like ALL poker hands, and especially in No-Limit, there's no one way to play it correctly every time. I'm not saying I never slow-play it, but with five or more players at the table, I don't want to be playing it against the entire table. Four or less players will do fine, thank you.

[hhboy77]

well in the situation i describe, you don't have position. so when you check most players are going to bet. and while, ak is the fourth best hand to push all in with, any pair is better when it gets heads up.

as a rule, i feel that the guidelines for reraising with ak are that you have position on a weak player that you can outplay who raises without values.

[tewall]

The best info I saw posted on this forum was by Ignatius (sp?). He hasn't posted for quite awhile I don't think. I tried to search for something, but couldn't find it.

An important thing is the stack sizes. If the stacks are not too deep, then AK is a very strong hand as it is ideal for making a TPTK hand. If the stacks are deep, then it's not that good.

AKo plays much better heads up. It is the most senstive hand to the number of opponents, meaning it's relative value goes up more if you can get it heads-up than any other hand.

Sklanksy in his tournament book points out several reasons why it plays well all-in before the flop. One of the reasons is that it wins on the turn or river 40% of the time, which you might not see if you're forced to fold on the flop.

If you have AKs in position and the stacks are deep, you can play it either as a straight drawing hand, trying to make a nut straight or flush, or try to get it heads up and do well. Out of position draws are hard to play, so you'd like to get it heads up if you can.

One big mistake some players make is to push it when the flop misses. It's OK to take a non-commital stab at the pot, but some players get married to a hand when they may be drawing dead.

[kurtcobain]

I dont like the limp raise in early position w/ AKo. If you get called or reraised you're likely dominated, so you're basically bluffing. AK is not a great hand. If you raise preflop and hit the flop, you probably wont get much action unless you're beat. Big slick loses big pots and wins small ones, assuming youre playing decent opponents.

[tewall]

I agree if the stacks are deep. If the limp re-raise puts you all-in then it's fine.