blonde poker forum

This is so tricky to play and I hate it if I'm re-raised after I raised with it pre flop.

The problem I have is that people will play A,K like they play Aces or Kings for example and treat it as the nuts already. The

amount of times I've folded Queens to shoves and found out I'm up against A,K really irrates me. I then sometimes go with my gut

instict and call a shove only to find I'm totally dominated agaisn't Aces or Kings.

Is their a rule thumb you use when playing Ace,King?

People are will to shove in cash games, tournaments and SnG's yet I'm usually not so forth coming. The only time I'm happy to shove

A,K is If I know a player is likely to shove with a weaker A,10+ card and if in tournament mode and low on blinds then it's very

easy to shove or call with I'm just struggling with full stack play.

Is it very player dependent?

Cash games: I'm willing only if I'm up against someone who I know will shove with a weaker ace.

Tournament: Only willing to shove or call a shove in later stages.


There is also speculation that A,K is worth a shove or call of a shove in early blind levels of tournament play, is this true? Who

does this? Also I see people quite happily shove A,K in cash games deep stacked and this is at all levels in poker not just micro

limits..

Last but not least, are you willing to take a "flip" vs a pair with A,K? What circumstances will you let this happen in ? If you're

quite sure you're up against any under pairs Queens and below when will you call a shove with or are you willing to do it every

time at any stage in a tournament or cash game for that matter?

I just find this hand so frustrating and can't see a correct way to play it at all. Is it profitable to coin flip vs under pairs

with full stacks or only profitable in tournament/short stack cash game mode to stack off with it?

Would love some Tournament players inputs on it and cash game players input regarding A,K in cash games.

Eh? See a flop first, see if you hit. After all, it's just ace high.

It depends....is my simple answer

Really...

Glad you posted this to be honest because at the moment i have a love hate for AK and will be interested in the feedback you get. obv none from me because i'm a small losing player who can't make day2 of deepstack..
 

Smell a level here and would not be surprised if young alex was in on it lol.
I'm here at Dtd playing poker for heros not poker for arseholes ;)

In a cash game, I'm "taking a flip" with AK 100% of the time as there's always dead money in the middle making it +ev. This stands for expected value. Sorry if you already know this but I'm just guessing from your post that you might not.

What this means is say you oppenent has moved allin for 100pounds, and you've raised to 10 already, that means its 90more to win 110 so if you're 50/50 to win the hand, you're going to make money on the call because you win 110 50% of the time and lose 90 50% of the time. There's loads of points you've raised- I can't answer them all now, I'm on a train. Also, loads of them are very situation dependant.

On a basic level, AK is the nuts, there'll be very few situations where it's correct to fold it pre in the mid-late stages of a tournament.

Also, shouldn't this be in pha?

tl;dr

completely new member, asking sensible questions

and that response is going to encourage the new member to post again James?

possibly.

Let see how it goes here as its general strategy rather than a HA

AK is 50/50 against which hands that move all-in for £100?

Yes that's right boshi. Always.

One of OPs questions was if you're sure your opponent has a pair qq or under do you always take the flip. I was answering that question. Just cos you're a crazy gambler who puts in 100s with K7o doesn't mean the rest of us are.

AK sure is 50/50 against QQ.

Lost of players put in 100 with small pairs. In the DTD 50/1 games loads of ppl 3bet 22 etc to induce a 4bet then they 5bet jam so imo calling with AK is very profitable against these scandi lagtards.   

Wow. I nearly bit n posted then. Reckon it's not in pha coz you knew I'd have ignored it. Deepstack next week and last time I commented on it only being ace high, AK hurt me in so many hands on the final simon won it proved my point.

Iv probably had as bad experiences as most with AK. Iv bubbled the DTD 150, 300 and lost a flip deep in the mini FTOPs main, all in 6 months (and I rarely play lol).

I wouldn't change my decision in any of these though. Every time I got it in based on opponents range, my perceived range and the odds I was getting. In short... What do we think the other guy has? Does he only ever have AA or KK? Or can we assign him a wider range, say 77+ and AJ+. What does he think I have? Will he fold small pairs if we shove? (always good to win chips non-showdown if your racing IMO). What odds are we getting? As Alex said, we've raised 10, it's 90 more to call into 110, so we're getting better than our hands odds vs  an average range.

You have to work out a few factors instead of just jamming it in because it's AK like alot of people do. It's alot like JJ, if you can work out when to get it in and when to fold, you won't love/hate

Answer is multi-facet.. depends on stacks..opponents..level of the tournament etc...

dont play much cash si mine is a tourney answer...

Early in tournaments to a raise i prefer flatting with position..im not interested in building pots at this stage and its nicely disguised.....as the tournament goes on if im a big stack i tend to play it aggy v medium and short stacks and carefully against other big stacks..if im short or medium ill be aggressive.

ak is good late in tournaments with higher blinds as its showdown equity in alipf coups is high.... so AK is always played hard at this point

these are very basic lines and i said its very situational for me..but AK and AQ remain the most overplayed hands...

i like this tbh

Haven't read the thread but I loooove ace king, and ace queen for that matter.

Can't wait to get them in at any available opportunity.

fyp

A big mistake inexperienced players make is confusing Immeadiate hand value with actual hand strength. A hand that is "ace high" could be a stronger hand than a hand that is "a pair of tens"

just like when sometimes a set is  bad hand, lik 5's on a  5h 6h 7h 8h Ts board

"taking a flip" is a hard one to quantify because we dont know for sure the other guy has a pair. If his range is for example TT+ and AQs+ then yh we've got like 45% vs that range - and you might decide for whatever reason not to take such a marginal spot, maybe its early and you don't want the variance, or you're a big stack against another big stack with some ICM considerations then that might make you wanna reject a pretty high variance spot - even though with the blinds, the raises already in you'd be showing a lot of profit getting the money in there with 45% vs the range.......

 start to throw some 77-99 and some AQo/AJs/KQs in there and all of a sudden we're in such strong shape vs his range that folding or not going all in when the equity is there right then becomes a very large mistake

Fair point. Apologies.

The thing is I think it's pointless discussing such a vague and generic questions like this/these. It is always going to be situation dependant, so there's little merit to giving a long thought out answer.

In the latter stages  of a tournament I seldom lay AK down (depends on the action and from whom )...but then again..Im a Station !!

nice when people 3b fold it to you 4handed tho

what a toasty life :P

but thank god shaun king can tho aye buddy ;)
oh dave you tosser

Now Now Boys...thats gone  ... Shaun has talked to me about the subject and its all cool and put to bed.

Sleeping dogs and all that   !

i play AK like aces or kings, i think your going to struggle to make a big stack if you don't play these hands and take flips to win tournaments. im not the best cash game player because i try to play cash like i do tournaments and it doesn't work. fist pump shoving ak every time

bet you dont first hand in a a 10k buy in comp with 200xbb+ starting stack when you 5 bet and get 6 bet you know your AK is no good

stop and go the flop ldo :D

Haven't read the thread, but I quite fond of toffee flavoured ice cream.

I have only read the title of the thread but the answer is far too often for my bankrolls liking

i offer tution martin for you i wont even charge 6 figures