Interesting stuff from the tables this week. Last week I wrote about a player getting himself into trouble in the patented pocket pair vs Ace-King spot, and the same spot returned to my table this week as well. A final table, no less.
This week I'll be looking at this spot from the opposite perspective. Last week I thought that a player overvalued his pocket sevens, calling down a large portion[...] Read more » The Problem With Ace-King...
a good decision indeed. have same experience also with AK and i can say that folding AK at this spot is really hard....for me i can shove AK if i am first to act...but calling a shove is going to be difficult because there are so many hands that can beat AK...
The best flops for AK(o/s) are TJQ (preferably rainbow or in suits giving you a nut flash draw), KKx and AAx, those are great because if somebody has an ace (or king), he will pay you a lot. But of course there are a lot more good ones (TPTK with nutflushdraw, etc.)
Joined: Mar '14
Location: Japan
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 8946
My Ace King (suited and unsuited) got cracked by an inferior starting hand 5 times today. Let me apologize for bumping an old thread. Many articles written by (a former) blogger “the prince of freerolls” can be found on the forum. He is one of my favorite bloggers. I wonder how he is doing these days.
Joined: May '08
Location: Germany
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 6786
One of the nicknames shows the problem. Anna Kournikova -> it looks good. And thats it. With AK one aimes at making top pair, top kicker. So one will miss often, and is left with ace high. And even if one hits, an opponent willing to play for a big pot has tptk beaten quite often.
Joined: Mar '14
Location: Japan
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 8946
Ace King, especially when suited, looks astonishingly beautiful. It reminds me of a pretty woman who likes to tease. I have fallen for it countless times. The problem with happy endings is that they are either not really happy, or not really endings.
Joined: Oct '16
Location: Argentina
Age: 69 (M)
Posts: 2596
AK are always a challenge, in early, mddle, bubble...with a big or a short stack. At the least a psico_challenge. In a page that are banned here, I readed a lot of a player DanPort, and he explained how to play AK in different situations. But always, as all moves in this game, have to adjust to the oponents, the timing and your feeling. There is no one recipe...
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 7371
Reading the way the table was playing, i think that you are right about a minimum raise being the way to go. At the end of the day, Ace King is only a nice hand if you flop something
Joined: Mar '14
Location: Japan
Age: 49 (M)
Posts: 8946
I ran pretty badly the other day. My Ace-King got defeated numerous times. Today is my lucky day. I cracked my opponent's pocket Aces with Ace-King of Diamonds. We both went all-in preflop, naturally. It was NL10 cash game, not a freezeout tournament.
