Hi all, I'm pretty much a casual player, but I'm not terrible. I mostly play in the £5 stakes 6-player sit-and-gos, and win more often than I lose just by playing a tight game and getting more aggressive in the later stages.

Problem is, I seem to have an achilles heel that I've had for years: I suffer a lot of bad beats when I'm holding AK.

Such is the regularity of this that when I get dealt AK, I actually get a bit scared because I feel the end is nigh.

Generally, because of these bad beats, I want to try to take the pot pre-flop with an aggressive raise. A lot of the time this can end up in an all-in, which might get callled by someone with a low pair -- and then invariably I end up losing to it!

I have to face up to it: I just don't know how to play AK. Do I flat call and pay just to see the flop? What then?

I think the problem for me is that it FEELS like a hand that I should push hard with to win the pot, but in practice it has almost always led to me losing.

In the event, I mostly end up panicing and pushing hoping and praying that everyone else folds, but this is not working.

I generally have an idea of what I want to do with most other hands, but AK remains a conundrum. Please help!

In cash games one does both and there are only the cases where one isnt happy to play it one way or the other because of ranges, styles, stacks. In tournaments the stack sizes produce additional thinking but i would play it mostly the same. Too boring to play only one way anyway.

Post some hands.

*my first post*

AK is sometimes overrated as a premium hand, which it is not. Try limping with it and it you receive a lot of resistance without hitting by the turn you're very likely beat already.

The raise pre flop is good to take the blinds, but if fail to hit you could end up thrown chips into an ever growing pot...

Hope this helps a little - keep us posted

lmfao this has to be a troll

You're looking at the problem with the wrong angle.

The question shouldn't be how to play AK but how to play against my level of opposition and against their range.

Should you raise pre-flop with AK ? there's no straight answer. Which position are you ? who limped ? What type of players are they ? And what are their ranges ? Are they straightforward players?

If say you raise from late position to 3-4x and someone who plays 80% of his hands call. He has a very wide range and we're ahead of most of his range. It should help you make decision on later streets. Maybe you should cbet any board if you saw your opponent fold to a lot of cbet. If he's a calling station, maybe you should just wait to be in a spot to take him to value town when you hit the flop with your AK and be ready to bet/call when you get raise and try to narrow his range. Or if you don't hit, bet/fold to a raise.

If you limped and a tight opponent who plays less than 20% of hands raises behind. You can narrow his range and maybe sometimes you dominate him because he did it with A-Q/A-J and sometimes you're a slight underdog against a lower pair to your K and in trouble against AA-KK. Then play more cautiously because you're most of the time not ahead against his range.

There are many spots like these and it gets trickier the more people there is in the hand but I'm sure you get what I'm saying. The way you should play AK, or any other hands for that matter, depends on how your opponents are playing.

If you get all-ins too often pre-flop and loses coin flips against small pairs then you must adapt. It means that you're playing against a field of opponents that are ready to do coin flips.

If your 3betting to often with AK, you have to understand when you're putting yourself in a pot committed situation and if you're opponent would be in a pot committing situation. If you get all-in too often pre with AK. I bet it goes like this often : small pairs raise, you 3bet, they 4 bet all-in and you call.

If you put more pockets pairs in their range, force them to take a flop instead of 3betting. Hands like 22-88, even 99 transform into set mining hands after the flop if bigger card hits the board. If you're in position, most of the time you'll be able to make them fold their hand even if you don't hit your A or K, depending of the board texture.

And besides, ask yourself what hands that you beat that could possibly call a 3bet. Let's say a very tight player raises from early position. Let's say you think he might do this with AA-KK-QQ-AK. And because he's tight you think it's unlikely he does it with AQ-AJ but let's put these hands in his range. If you 3bet. How often will you get call with worse hands than your AK ? if he's a tight discipline player and he's not pot committed, and considering you're own tight image (because you told us). You're 3betting into a player that will only call or raise you with the top of his range, which beats you and will fold the rest of his range.

When you try to put your opponent on a range, remember to count combos. There are 6 combos of any pocket pairs and 16 combos of any two cards for which 4 of them are suited. As the hand progress and with their action and board texture, you'll be able to narrow their range and have a better assessment of your equity in the hand.

Problem most ppl have with AK is that they immediately think : "Oh yeah baby I have a strong hand" and it makes them feel too cocky. They stop thinking about what the other might have and how the other plays.

Post a hand history that you think represents the problems you're facing. Asking how to play AK without giving specifics is asking how to play poker. I cannot tell you what you're doing wrong like that. A single hand history will reveal more about the problem than a thousand words.

**First Post**

You are assuming that you can play AK the same in any situations. As others have said it is all really dependent on the table vibe. For instance you may have a player on your table who will call anything pre flop with anything. Your AK will feel really week with a board of 678 won't it. Against a player who calls anything I would be terrified of that board. However if you are playing HU (for instance) and the player will only call with top 15-20 hands (as seen through his previous hands) then you could put 5xbb and if he calls you can safely assume he is holding a decent hand pre flop, if the same board comes out 678, then your AK is now stronger.

The point is each hand is different each player is different, so asking how to play one hand is a bit silly.

I think your definition of 'bad beat' might be a little off.

AK is a tournament flipping hand ... you are flipping or dominating (not dominated) pretty much everything out there except AA/KK. Yes, you are flipping against QQ and this is not a bad beat. Maybe a cooler, but not a bad beat.

In the latter stages of tournaments (especially SnG) you need to win a few flips to cash or even survive. As a tight player you must almost always see one of the players playing extremely loose and get come chips that you now need to get away from him by .. pause .. wining a couple of flips due to the binds jumping up.

If you are playing against a bunch of regs and they 'see' your style with AK then they will know to only call with pp or better in these spots .. thus the flipping begins. If you aren't creating any fold equity with your raises PF then you may need to change your approach and play smaller pots.

I've never really understood why the Pros are so willing to GII with AK on a Day 1 when 50+ BB deep in a $10K tournament. I think if you have some chips and wont go broke then go ahead and flip away against the short stacks. But when you have a decent chip stack (20BB+) then just play your normal game and let's see a Flop rather than letting fate decide.

Some will say this is the difference between a 'winning' attitude or a 'cashing' attitude and I don't necessarily disagree with that thought. Just like cash games .. If your bankroll can take the hits, then you can play certain spots differently. GL

In this situation, I would treat AK more like JJ/AQ than AA so to speak. You are about 60% against a normal calling range (loads of pairs and a few AQ/AJ). AK is still strong enough to stack off with when you are short, but you usually only have a slight edge. Most of AKs strength when shipped comes from blockers and fold equity (people fold JJ, some QQ and most AK to a 5B or 4B shove often enough to make it profitable) but in tournaments this does not apply.

The answer is, of course,,,,, "it depends". Poker should not be about a generic way to play....more a specific way you play given your position, cards, opponents, stacks.

"Generally" though....understand the basic element of a top pair type hand. They win early and against fewer opponents. If you don't (or can't) raise PF to thin the field, you are only asking for trouble.

Playing AK well definitely requires a nuanced approach. I think there are a couple main concepts that make AK such a strong hand, and understanding them will improve the way you approach your game.

1) AK tends to have a good amount of equity in a wide variety of situations, so take advantage of fold equity to win big pots without a showdown when possible. AK is one of the ultimate "semi-bluff" hands. The nuanced part involves recognizing when you really have fold equity, and when you don't.

2) AK often dominates other hands, allowing you to win big pots when you and another player both flop top pair. Especially as stacks get deeper, the nuanced part involves recognizing when you likely have someone's pair dominated, and value betting aggressively, but also recognizing when you may have been outdrawn, and pot-controlling or folding when necessary. This skill can be difficult to develop (at low stakes in general the bet-fold will be your best friend).

Also, with very deep stacks, AK'S ability to make nutted hands (straights and flushes) is huge. This point goes hand in hand with the semi-bluffing concept. When you flop big nut draws, bet aggressively into big pots when fold equity exists, but also recognize when you may have to take a more controlled line, such as when your opponent has a very strong range or is unlikely to fold made hands that have good equity against your draw.

I hope something in this post helps. Good luck.

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>2016

Post some hands. However, as general advice: if possible, get it all in preflop. If you don't manage it, and don't flop a pair, be wary.

Argghhhhhhh it happened again! I always bloody lose with AK!

I was on Big Blind, up to 200 and four-handed in a sit and go. I had AKs .

Opponent, an aggressive player who has been betting all night on loose hands, raises to 600.

I raise to 1000. He calls. Flop comes:

576

So I'm on the flush draw with AK, I push all in. He calls.

26

He shows a pair of 10s and I'm out.

I literally hate AK, seriously I only ever go out of sit and goes with this hand!

Don't min-raise in that spot. You are just begging him to call and beat you. Regardless of what your opponent has been doing, if you are in the late stages of a SNG and the blinds are large and you get AK suited - just shove it all in. This particular hand doesn't matter - but it is the way you played it that allow him to beat you.

Ok so basically what you're doing wrong applies to all hands you play. This one just happened to be AK.

You are not aware of stack sizes and bet sizing. Just because you figure you always lose with AK does not mean you don't make the same mistakes with other hands. It's probably just that you end up folding more with other hands and the mistake isn't as big because the pots are smaller.

Can you go into this?

In this case I had 4,700; he had 4,900 and the two others were something like 1,800 and 2,200.

Ok so basically this is the point:

The fact you didn't mention stack sizes first means a lot. Especially in tournaments your stack size is going to determine how you play the hand and is probably the most vital information needed. All I saw was you minraised him and then got it in on the flop (was it 2000 or was it 20000 on the flop?). So at first glance two overcards and flushdraw seems perfectly fine to get it in with, it's just that I sense a lack of planning in the hand.

You're in the big blind so I assume you were out of position on the flop. He makes it 600 and when you call you have 4100 behind with a total pot of 600+600+100 (1300). That is a stack to pot ratio of about 3,2:1. You decided to make it 1000 which makes the pot 2100 and with 3700 behind. That's less than twice the pot left on the flop.

So the mistakes in the hand were first of all the 3bet being way too small. You make it 1000 and he needs to call 400 more into 1700. You give him an excellent price for a hand like T8s to call and play pretty much perfectly in position on the flop with such a short stack behind. Now if you make it bigger, let's say 1700 (which would be a better sizing out of position) you only have 3000 behind in a pot that is 3500 if he calls. Are there any flops that you are going to fold with that little behind? If yes, that's terrible. If not, you might as well go all in preflop for 4700.

What if your stack was 10000. Then you could have made it 1700 and when he calls you still have chips behind so you can actually play some poker if he calls. His raise size is also a factor because he made it 600 instead of 400. If he made it 400 your 3bet can be smaller and the hand plays out different.

This applies to all hands which is why I think you are misplaying a lot more hands, not just AK. These are pretty much fundamentals and you need to sort that out.

Kelvis layin' down the lesson. Nice job.

I agree .. but I may also add ...

1) Do you see how your opponent can 'play perfectly' against you in your referenced hand? You min-raise OOP and then shove into a 'nice' Flop. This allows your opponent to safely exit the hand or feel even more comfortable putting in 'the rest' of the chips.

2) I assume 3 positions pay and the other 2 were much shorter. This may not be a bad spot to show some restraint and allow an aggressive opponent to hang himself a little by just flatting. Now YOU can play perfectly, at least on the Flop, and avoid bloating a pot. The min-raise gives your opponent a heads up that he can tighten your range and be more 'aware' rather then just do his normal thing as you described.

3) As Kelvis indicated, don't fret the (end of the) hand as played. You got it in with 2 overs and flush draw with 2 cards to go. You are making the 'proper' decision here whether it's shoving or calling a shove ... AS PLAYED, giving your opponent those 2 cards. You need to play more attention to the beginning of the hand and your tournament position at the time of the hand regardless of what your opponent ends up holding.

Are you still shoving if you miss your suit on the Flop? Then why not just shove PF? Why bloat the pot and then fold to a c-bet with your min-raise? GL

AK is a powerful hand, especially when the blinds are high relative to your stack just raise / reraise or jam with it. It is the 4th best hand in holdem.

Well I'll give a bit of unorthodox advice. Here it is: Don't commit one extra $1 to the pot postflop with AK unimproved.

Why? Not because you can't barrel and get lower pocket pairs to fold. But because AK is the full moon hand. Decent players see it and they go insane. If you're someone who finds himself constantly barreling with AK and not other hands, you're far from alone. It's like folks with AK are being forced to bet, raise, and call down with no pair. The vast majority of players would save a TON of money if they just check folded their unimproved AK.

This unorthodox advice might be better suited for the casual mom-and-pop playing poker that blow their brains out with AK because they don't understand poker that well, but for someone who is trying to learn the game and become a well rounded player, I think the advice of "Always fold unimproved AK" is absolutely terrible.

In a vacuum, absolutely. But it's a lot more than the casual mom and pop players who blow their brains out with AK. It's a LOT of solid players as well, including I would bet many on this site who wouldn't admit it or possibly don't even realize it.