There is already so much material on A-K that it can be overwhelming. Nowadays, some players just push all-in pre-flop, while others just try to call and catch a pair on the flop.
But there are some simple truths about the Ace-King:
- This is the strongest draw hand in no-limit hold'em. This means that if you catch a pair on the flop, you have the strongest kicker.
- You will get a pair (or better) on the flop only 1/3 of the time. This means that 2 times out of 3 your hand will not improve
- Any pair is a slight favourite against AK (except KK and AA, which are of course big favourites)
- It is a very big favourite against any other A-x hand.
- This is either an opportunity to double up or a tragedy that will see you out of the tournament.
There is a very simple way to play A-K. It's called "Use it or Discard it". If you can "Exploit" it without having the worst hand, then fold, beat it, or even go all-in. However, if you can't "Exploit" this hand because you are not ahead, then just get rid of it. In no-limit holdem, a good fold is always a very good thing
Example:
You have A♣-K♥ early in the tournament. Blinds are 25-50 and you have 2500. An early position player raises to 150, what do you do?
The worst thing you could do in this place is just answer. Since you have a hand that draws, you don't want to let your opponents see the flop. Knock it down to 600. Overbetting often forces your opponents to fold.
Example:
You have A♣-K♥ early in the tournament. Blinds are 25-50 and you have 2500. A player in early position with 2,000 raises to 150. The next player with 4,000 raises to 450. What do you do?
Again, the worst option would be to just answer. Punch out or throw out.
One of these players probably has a pocket pair. The second player's break signals that he may have a very strong hand, possibly a queen pair. Queens are 57% favourites to win against A-K. And this number would be even worse for us if one of the bettors also has an ace in his hand.
Can we force this player to fold? Even if we stop the All-in, the player with queens will not fold. Additionally, we do not know the strength of the first player's hand.
There is too much risk that you have an inferior hand. A-K is just a buying hand. Just fold.
Example:
You have A♣-K♣. Late in the tournament, you have 50,000, blinds 1,500-3,000. The bubble stage is underway. You raise to 12 000 from early position. Everyone folds to the player on the button who has 200 000. He beats you to 39 000. Everybody folds to you, so what do you do?
Many players are happy just to cash in. Don't be one of those players. Tournaments are played to win. Forget the bubble and play to win.
You need to accumulate chips, and you probably won't get a better chance than with A♣-K♣J.
Your opponent calls and shows A♥-Q♠. The flop opens Q♣ and you are eliminated from the tournament. That's poker.
Example:
You have A♥-K♥, the middle stage of the tournament. You have 57 000 chips and are the chip leader. The blinds are 300-600. You raise to 2,000, everyone folds to the cut-off, who has 24,400 and beats you to 12,000. Everyone folds to you, so what do you do?
Your opponent is pot-commited, which means you would have to risk 24,400, which is 40% of your available chips. Also, you are the chip leader.
A-K is the "use it or throw it away" hand. There is no point in risking such a large amount of chips in this spot. We have only invested 2,000 chips, so it's not worth putting more chips in this untenable situation. Just get out.
Example:
You have A♥-K♠, the middle stage of the tournament. You have 57,000 chips and are in 7th place so far. The blinds are 300-600. You raise to 2,000. Everyone folds to the cut-off who has 39,400. He beats the bets to 8,000. Everyone folds to you. What do you do?
Unlike the previous example, your opponent is definitely not pot-committed yet. You have a good chance of using your stack to force him to fold, as there are only a few hands with which your opponent would be willing to continue playing after another beat.
Push all-in by giving a difficult decision to your opponent.
Example:
You have A♥-K♠, the middle stage of the tournament. You have 20 000. Blinds are 200-400. A player in early position pushes all in for 3,000. Everyone folds to you in middle position. You call. Everyone else folds to the BB who has 15 000. The big blind pushes all in. What do you do?
Unfortunately, this happens very often in tournaments. You think you've played well, and then suddenly someone beats you again and puts you in a very awkward position.
Did you get the answer right?
No. It would have been much fairer to punch to isolate the All-in player. This punch might have stopped the player in the Big Blind from punching.
In any case, accept the loss of 3000 chips and wait for a good opportunity.
Tip: Dominance is not such a dominant thing in poker
Players like to hold cards that "dominate" their opponents. An example of domination is when you and your opponent have the same top card, but you have the bigger kicker. A very common example is A-K against A-Q. Generally speaking, in these situations the player with the bigger kicker is clearly the bigger 2:1 favourite.
Unfortunately, the word "domination" is a poor choice. Dominance means that you can control or manage something. You do not have anything like that. With this "dominance" you will lose almost one out of three heads-up battles.
Does that really sound like dominance or just being a solid favourite?
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