{"id":781377,"date":"2016-11-29T22:12:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T20:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/actions-before-the-flop-an-easier-way-to-play-a-k"},"modified":"2025-04-29T00:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T22:52:05","slug":"actions-before-the-flop-an-easier-way-to-play-a-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/action-against-flop-easier-budget-play-a-k","title":{"rendered":"Actions before the flop: An easier way to play with A-K"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/cards-1030852_960_720.jpg\" class=\"media-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14663\" src=\"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/cards-1030852_960_720-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"cards-1030852_960_720\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/cards-1030852_960_720-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/cards-1030852_960_720-768px-510px.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/cards-1030852_960_720-181px-120px.jpg 181w, https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/cards-1030852_960_720-700px-464px.jpg 700w, https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/cards-1030852_960_720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>There is already so much material released about A-K that its quantity can simply overwhelm. Today, some players just go all-in before the flop, while others try to just call and catch a pair on the flop.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, there are a few simple truths about ace-king:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>It is the strongest drawing combination in no-limit hold'em. This means that if you catch a pair on the flop, you will have the strongest kicker.<\/li>\n<li>You will get a pair (or better) on the flop only 1\/3 of the time. This means that 2 out of 3 times your combination will not improve.<\/li>\n<li>Any pair is a slight favorite against AK (except KK and AA, which are, of course, big favorites).<\/li>\n<li>It is a very big favorite against any other A-x hand.<\/li>\n<li>It is either an opportunity to double up or a tragedy through which you will be knocked out of the tournament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is a very simple way to play with A-K. It is called &#8220;Exploit or Fold.&#8221; If you can &#8220;exploit&#8221; it without having the worst hand, then raise, re-raise, or even go all-in. However, if you cannot &#8220;exploit&#8221; this combination because you are not ahead, then just get rid of it. In no-limit Hold'em, a good fold is always a very good thing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Example:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You have A\u2663-K\u2665 in the early stage of the tournament. The blinds are 25-50, and you have 2500. A player from early position raises to 150, what should you do?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The worst thing you could do in this spot is just call. Since you have a drawing hand, you don't want to let your opponents see the flop. Re-raise to 600. Re-raising will often force opponents to fold.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Example:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You have A\u2663-K\u2665 in the early stage of the tournament. The blinds are 25-50, and you have 2500. A player from early position with 2000 raises to 150. The next player, with 4000, re-raises to 450. What should you do?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Again, the worst option would be just to call. Re-raise or fold.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">One of these players probably has a pocket pair. The second player's re-raise signals that he may have a very strong combination, possibly a pair of queens. Queens are 57% favorites to win against A-K. And this number would be even worse for us if one of the raisers also has an ace in hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Can we force this player to fold? Even if we go all-in, a player with queens will definitely not fold. Moreover, we do not know the strength of the first player's hand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is too much risk that you have a worse hand. A-K is just a drawing hand. Just fold.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Example:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You have A\u2663-K\u2663. It's the late stage of the tournament, you have 50,000, blinds are 1500-3000. It's the bubble stage. From early position, you raise to 12,000. Everyone folds to the player on the button who has 200,000. He re-raises you to 39,000. Everyone folds to you, what should you do?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many players are happy just to make it into the money. Don't be one of those players. Tournaments are played to win. Forget the bubble and play to win.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You need to accumulate chips, and a better opportunity than with A\u2663-K\u2663 is unlikely to come.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Your opponent calls and shows A\u2665-Q\u2660. The flop comes Q\u2663 and you are out of the tournament. That's poker.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Veiksmai-pre-flop-Ar-verta-sp%C4%99sti-sp%C4%85stus-su-didel%C4%97mis-poromis-..png\" class=\"media-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14665\" src=\"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/app\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Veiksmai-pre-flop-Ar-verta-spesti-spastus-su-didelemis-poromis-.-300x191.png\" alt=\"actions-pre-flop-is-it-worth-setting-traps-with-big-pairs\" width=\"300\" height=\"191\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Example:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You have A\u2665-K\u2665, it's the middle stage of the tournament. You have 57,000 chips and are the chip leader. The blinds are 300-600. You raise to 2000, everyone folds to the cut-off, who has 24,400 and re-raises you to 12,000. Everyone folds to you, what should you do?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Your opponent is pot-committed, which means you would have to risk 24,400, which is 40% of your chips. Also, you are the chip leader.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A-K is an &#8220;exploit or fold&#8221; hand. There is no point in risking such a large amount of chips in this spot. We have only invested 2000 chips, so it's not worth putting in more in this unfavorable situation. Just fold.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Example:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You have A\u2665-K\u2660, it's the middle stage of the tournament. You have 57,000 chips and are currently in 7th place. The blinds are 300-600. You raise to 2000. Everyone folds to the cut-off who has 39,400. He re-raises to 8000. Everyone folds to you. What should you do?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unlike the previous example, your opponent is definitely not pot-committed. You have a great chance to use your stack to force him to fold, as there are only a few combinations with which your opponent would want to continue playing after another re-raise from you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Push all-in, giving your opponent a tough decision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Example:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You have A\u2665-K\u2660, it's the middle stage of the tournament. You have 20,000. The blinds are 200-400. A player from early position pushes all-in for 3000. 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 should you do?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unfortunately, this happens very often in tournaments. You think you played correctly, and suddenly someone re-raises you again and puts you in a very uncomfortable position.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Did you play correctly by calling?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">No. It would have been much more correct to re-raise to isolate the all-in player. This re-raise might have stopped the player in the big blind from re-raising.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In any case, accept the loss of 3000 chips and wait for a good opportunity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>Tip: Dominance is not that dominant in poker<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Players like to have cards that &#8220;dominate&#8221; their opponents. An example of dominance is when you and your opponent have the same highest card, but you have a higher kicker. A very common example is A-K against A-Q. Generally, in such situations, the player with the higher kicker is a little more than a 2:1 favorite.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unfortunately, the word &#8220;dominance&#8221; is a poor choice. Dominance means that you can control or manage something. You have nothing like that. With this &#8220;dominance,&#8221; you will lose almost one out of three heads-up battles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Does that really sound like dominance or just being a solid favorite?<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Where is the best place to play poker?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<div class='widget-card placeholder--card'\n     data-source-gql='https:\/\/scg-new-live.stellate.sh\/'\n     data-source-widgetjs='https:\/\/widget.affprojects.com\/widget.js'\n     data-shortcode='widget-card'\n     data-shortcode-text='[top-poker-rooms-for-post]'\n     data-props='{\n\"show_more_button\":true,\n\"show_more_button_text\":\"Show More Bookmakers\",\n\"show_more_text\":false,\n\"show_less_text\":false,\n\"vpn_notification\":false,\n\"show_more_items_amount\":null,\n\"scrollable\":\"always\",\n\"violet_bonus_text\":true,\n\"ab_testing_show_more_button_rework\":true\n}'\n     data-queries='{\n\"type\":\"TOP-Poker\",\n\"limit\":10,\n\"mobile_limit\":10,\n\"show_new\":1,\n\"button_text_type\":\"TOP\",\n\"language\":\"en\",\n\"project\":\"PM\",\n\"page\":1\n}'\n     ><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is already so much material released about A-K that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":615,"featured_media":14663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1607,1649,1658,817],"tags":[1101],"class_list":["post-781377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-101-winning-poker-moves","category-books","category-poker-strategy","category-uncategorized","tag-knyga-turnyrinis-pokeris-101-laimejimo-judesys-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781377"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1103742,"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781377\/revisions\/1103742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pokeriomokykla.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}