AK.....how good/bad are these two cards?

Urdadi

they are great on many levels

1) great for stealing blinds and bullying - but remember it is only A high
2) suited is better than off suit
3) great for providing more bad beats
4) great for ensuring increase in traffic in Area51

GaryQQQ

AK is statistically a slight underdog against any pair (apart from a suited AK against 22 when neither 2 is the same suit as the AK, in which case the AK is a very slight favourite, but it's still essentialy a coin-flip).

It will win 65% of the time against any random hand, so slightly less than 2 in 3. 

It will win 46% of the time against any two random hands, so well under 50/50.

As previous replies have stated AK is certainly not dynamite that should be pushed under any circumstances, the skill comes in how you choose to play it.

MAXALLY

Hand History #227926075 (22:43 27/01/2010)

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
markutd	Small blind		600.00	600.00	25779.37
kevtheco09	Big blind		1200.00	1800.00	15187.52
	Your hole cards	A K
jokev10	Fold
MAXALLY	All-in		7564.88	9364.88	0.00
ruppy	Fold
swiper13	All-in		10147.56	19512.44	0.00
markutd	Fold
kevtheco09	Fold
swiper13	Unmatched bet		2582.68	16929.76	2582.68
MAXALLY	Show	A K
swiper13	Show	A K
Flop
		4 Q J
Turn
		2
River
		J
swiper13	Win	Flush to the Ace	16929.76		19512.44

MAXALLY

The above hand happened on the bubble in a £400 B/H......

Just thought I would post it in this thread for general viewing. I know me or my opponent did nothing wrong at all, but after a bad month on the old BR, this kind of thing is now started to hurt my cat!  

IANMAC1

the big slick, connect big or slide right down hill, personaly it a great standing hand but found myself in alot of trouble with it.

IANMAC1

lol starting hand

TRIP5

Hey Maxally,

I'm not a massive fan for putting my money in on an AKo coinflip during an MTT but thats just me! Once when I finally hit the perfect AKK flop and I shoved the BB called with AA!!!
Saying that I am still a bit of a slave to AKs )

If you really believe that AK is your bogey hand then fold it and save your stack for when you feel more confident with your j10s or something...try folding the next 10 AK and log the results where possible, see if this gives you a different perspective!

At the moment you seem to be looking at these cards as an unlucky hand for you but still sound like you're betting them??? Try the otherway round, you never know, you might miss playing AK after all - or it might be the best decision you ever took (for a while anyay)...lol

Try not to get too down about it though, it sounds like a couple of days off would be a nice break for you..treat yourself instead and come back to poker fresh and replenished )

X

mackmack

whats THESE odds. recently went out of a tourny- called a small raise pre-flop with AK 3 players in pot,i flopped an A+K (A K 3) i pushed all in both players called. 1 player trip 3s, 1 player hit flush i came in THIRD. thats poker.

AIRWALKER

In Response to Re: AK.....how good/bad are these two cards?:

  AK is along with JJ the most hotly contested starting hands in poker.  Everybody knows that it is a good strong hand but the ways to play it vary from player to player.  It is definitely a raising hand and you should always raise with it.

Could anyone advise me on this please. If i have AK / AQ / or perhaps 10 10 / JJ  and i raise pre-flop, i often get totally useless flops. What do i do next? Especially if i have bet first. I will always have discipline to fold good hole cards if this happens and someone starts shoving a lot of chips in but will sometimes chase cards with low bets coming in. Is this right or wrong play? After it happens a couple of times i limp in with good hole cards instead for the rest of the game and raise when i hit a flop, and occasionally knock out the odd bluffer.

I don't want to waste my chips, but i don't want opponents to smell weakness either.

AIRWALKER

In Response to Re: AK.....how good/bad are these two cards?:

In Response to Re: AK.....how good/bad are these two cards? : Cheers for the post TEN. That is exactly how i do play it but every time i seem to shove with it at later stages of MTT it gets beat!...I have fair enough races with 10 10, J J and even 2 2. It is just the times when i am all in v say A 8 or A 7 of that ilke and the river normally pairs the villians weaker kicker which sends me to 'kick the cat' land.
Posted by MAXALLY

This is what normally happens to me, even in heads up lol

MAXALLY

ONE WORD..........AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

VILLIAN	Small blind		10.00	10.00	1950.00
xxxxxxx	Big blind		20.00	30.00	1870.00
	Your hole cards	A 9
xxxxxxxx	Fold
MAXALLY	Raise		60.00	90.00	1920.00
xxxxxxx	Fold
xxxxxx	Call		60.00	150.00	2110.00
Villian	Raise		90.00	240.00	1860.00
xxxxxx	Call		80.00	320.00	1790.00
MAXALLY	Call		40.00	360.00	1880.00
xxxxxxx	Call		40.00	400.00	2070.00
Flop
		A A 6
VILLIAN	Check
xxxxxx	Check
MAXALLY	Check
xxxxxxx	Check
Turn
		9
VILLIAN	Bet		20.00	420.00	1840.00
xxxxxxx	Fold
MAXALLY	Raise		80.00	500.00	1800.00
xxxxxxx	Call		80.00	580.00	1990.00
VILLIAN	Raise		540.00	1120.00	1300.00
MAXALLY	Raise		1000.00	2120.00	800.00
xxxxxxx	Fold
VILLIAN	All-in		1300.00	3420.00	0.00
MAXALLY	All-in		800.00	4220.00	0.00
MAXALLY	Unmatched bet		20.00	4200.00	20.00
VILLIAN	Show	K A
MAXALLY	Show	A 9
River
		K
VILLIAN !!	Win	Full House, Aces and Kings	4200.00		4200.00

MAXALLY

The above hand was on the 1st level of a bounty hunter!!!.

AK.....I REST MY CASE....where is my nurse?

MAXALLY

Question for SKY RICH.....any chance of getting this moved to the strategy or even general forum as looking back through it there are no conspiracies in it that I can see?. I have seen a few posts just recently about this subject but I don't think many people venture into here. (or carnt get out!!!)

No worries if not,

Cheers

DiggerMan

I had to trawl the deepest darkest depths of Area 51 ro find this thread and re-ignite it! why?

BECAUSE I HATE ACE KING!!!!!!!!!!

They say it's a good raising hand! Push with it they say! I say........

FOLD THE BLOOMING THING!!! GET RID OF IT BEFORE IT GETS RID OF YOU!!!!!

......

......

aaaahhhhhhhhhhh! That's better!

......thank you nurse, the sedative is helpi..........!

DiggerMan

layer	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
	Small blind		600.00	600.00	11638.75
	Big blind		1200.00	1800.00	1720.00
	Your hole cards	A K
DiggerMan	Raise		4800.00	6600.00	17945.00
	Fold
	Call		4800.00	11400.00	16522.50
	Fold
	Fold
	Fold
Flop
		3 9 K
DiggerMan	Bet		5700.00	17100.00	12245.00
	Call		5700.00	22800.00	10822.50
Turn
		A
DiggerMan	All-in		12245.00	35045.00	0.00
	All-in		10822.50	45867.50	0.00
DiggerMan	Unmatched bet		1422.50	44445.00	1422.50
DiggerMan	Show	A K
	Show	9 9
River
		10
	Win	Three 9s	44445.00		44445.00

WAINBARBER

Early in a tourney i regard AK as ace high but to me it becomes very powerful later in a tourney. I like the hand coz you are only ever in bad shape against KK or very bad shape v AA obviously. 50/50 against any other pair & dominating every other ace, so i think they are GOOD cards. That's my humble oppinion anyway!

MAXALLY

In Response to Re: AK.....how good/bad are these two cards?:

I had to trawl the deepest darkest depths of Area 51 ro find this thread and re-ignite it! why? BECAUSE I HATE ACE KING!!!!!!!!!! They say it's a good raising hand! Push with it they say! I say........ FOLD THE BLOOMING THING!!! GET RID OF IT BEFORE IT GETS RID OF YOU!!!!! ...... ...... aaaahhhhhhhhhhh! That's better! ......thank you nurse, the sedative is h el pi ..........!
Posted by DiggerMan

Lol Digsy.....not laughing at the BB (honest)....just the resurrection of this mighty fine thread! Oh, and welcome to my world

TORTUS007

MAXALLY- Have you noticed, the hand you posted at the top of this page 20/2/10.
Is very similar to the hand poor Darren lost his chips @ wsop.

MereNovice

In Response to Re: AK.....how good/bad are these two cards?:

MAXALLY- Have you noticed, the hand you posted at the top of this page 20/2/10. Is very similar to the hand poor Darren lost his chips @ wsop.
Posted by TORTUS007

Well spotted.
Could only happen online, eh?    ;-)))

MAXALLY

Another resurrection of this thread was needed after tonight's Vegas Semi Final......* SIGH *

PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancebig_K35 Small blind  40.00 40.00 2840.00 kidgirlgy Big blind  80.00 120.00 2720.00   Your hole cards A K       BozUK Fold     andrew1947 Fold     MAXALLY Raise  255.00 375.00 1436.00 DiggerMan Call  255.00 630.00 5260.00 big_K35 Fold     kidgirlgy Fold     Flop    A 9 3       MAXALLY Bet  240.00 870.00 1196.00 DiggerMan Raise  560.00 1430.00 4700.00 MAXALLY All-in  1196.00 2626.00 0.00 DiggerMan Call  876.00 3502.00 3824.00 MAXALLY Show A K    DiggerMan Show A 10    Turn    10       River    8       DiggerMan Win Two Pairs, Aces and 10s 3502.00

andybuck

In Response to Re: AK.....how good/bad are these two cards?:

In Response to Re: AK.....how good/bad are these two cards? : Not the nicest thing to happen, but I have also had the same thing happen to me on more than one occasion.
Posted by apollo_11

I Tend to shove with ak and dont like calling all ins,more often than not if you call an all in your at best 50,50

delaney09

i use to always like play AK until quite recent when ive started to think my whole game over and notice that when i pick up A K in any format i always go in with the opinion im either getting stacked here or doubling up which indeed did cost me a few high place finishes in the thursday 8pm b/h and the nightly 9:30 2k b/h and realised that if i didnt go so crazy with them with the opinion of never folding i would make a lot more then i do.... anyways to end this post in future i only plan to min raise A K in any format that way if i get an extreme re raise to call i can easily get away with minimum lost instead of commiting myself every time but i'll soon find out if i can do what i say when i come back to play online in a few months having more fun playing live at the moment