[dovla]

AK suited or off - the biggest problem for all of us online players..

in online games many times people move with AK .. or forcing me to move with my AK ..
after 6 months of playing i realized the best option to do in these situations is FOLD! moving with AK preflop is a big gamble, and it is only necessary when you're short stacked with blinds coming to get you!

let's see the odds.. AK vs any pocket pair is underdog.. in best situation you are 0.17% favourite with AKsuited vs 22! and risking all your stack with only 49% is a suicide for me!

the best odds you have when you're against AQ,AJ or KQ, KJ - you are from 67% - 73% favourite there - depends of the suits..and it is likely you're going to win this..

vs 72 suited you're only 64% / 35%.. J10 suited will crash you about 40% of time..

AK is a powerful hand, but not a moving hand! good playing of ak for me is raising or calling standard raise in a 2 or maximum 3 players pot.. if you hit your pair with top kicker, then you have different options for acting.. if you don't hit anything, laying down to a big bet is the only right play!

so, my advice is : don't trust AK too much! it's worth only when you hit your pair! if you are broke on flop, the odds of losing all your stack if you call are VERY BIG!

[IvanDrago]

hmm I will have to disagree and re-agree, i have learned that due to my success lately at owning poker like theres no tomorrow this week alone i produced two nice FTed out of 5 MTT's i played. I found that the reason i did so well if the fact that im fearless, im not afraid to go all in if I think i have the best hand. Most pros will go all in with AK as well i've heard Chris (jesus) F. says that he is willing to take AK vs AA lol, or so apparently i've heard. In my opinion im willing to lose with AK if you got a better hand because if you run into AA or KK thats just plainly unlucky, and AK running into AA is no difference than your pair losing to a lower set. It happens. I never once regret my moves i make. But AK is only good if you hit sometimes, but you'll find out that a lot of people are willing to push all in with AJ or AQ, so i like my AK suited.

Now for the part i agree. I hope above i have showed you why i disagree, but i agree if you have a nice stack and your up against a CL. Then i will never play AK against that man.

Example: If i got 10k in chips and hes got 12k and the next highest is around 4k, theres no way in hell im risking all my chips against a CL when i got a nice stack right now with AK. He must be thinking the same way with his 12k stack against my 10k stack so i have to put him on a better hand. But if somoeone has the 4k stack im willing to take em out with AK, i just wont go all in with someone who has more chips than me because than i know hes gotta have a better hand, and im just asking for a beating.

-Drago

To the End!

[dovla]

i agree with that.. i would take my chances when i'm a CL or big stack against short stacks..

i would bully short stacks, because in later stages with big blinds they will move with any ace and you are big favourite there.. and if i'm against a pp i have my 50% there.. but moving against bigger stack in bubble time of any tourney or in early stages is not a clever move for me!

[Thinkerbell]

Ace? What's an ace?

Aw, you guys have it all wrong! AK isn't the hand, it's K, 9 through 2. In last night's league game, those crazy kings with weak kickers (which I would normally never play, except lately they just seem to be hitting) did right by me almost every time. Although, if the K, 9-2 is suited, that seems to kill the magic.

[tbs89]

im going to have to completely disagree with this statement for one reason. If youre not willing to commit your chips with AK then what are you going to commit your chips with? I do understand that its usually a race or gets drawn out on online more times than not, but "You have to be willing to die to live", says the great Phil Gordon. In this situation 7 times out of 10 youll have the better hand going to the flop, and im willing to take those odds. If you get drawn out on, thats just poker.

[BBP Guru]

Originally Posted by tbs89

"You have to be willing to die to live", says the great Phil Gordon.

Are you sure it was Phil Gordon? I read the other day in Dan Harrington's book that Amir Vahedi used to say that.

[dovla]

Originally Posted by tbs89

im going to have to completely disagree with this statement for one reason. If youre not willing to commit your chips with AK then what are you going to commit your chips with? I do understand that its usually a race or gets drawn out on online more times than not, but "You have to be willing to die to live", says the great Phil Gordon. In this situation 7 times out of 10 youll have the better hand going to the flop, and im willing to take those odds. If you get drawn out on, thats just poker.

you will win 6,5 times VS any random hand, and about 4,5 times against any lower pocket pair.

but for me those odds are for 50$ freeroll tourneys, i would never try my luck against tight player on big tourneys with whole stack preflop with a draw. but that's only my opinion, and i'm relativelly new in hold'em

[sunnypoker]

i'll keep it short.

AK, pushng wth AK is all about fold equity.
you can play it aggressively like AA, or KK.
sometimes your gonna get small PPs to fold, but if they call you are still 50/50

with you holding an A,K, it's unlikely your opponent has AA or KK, that's why you play A,K aggressively.
Of course if your opponents have the AA, and KK it's unlucky.
but in later stages of the tourney, u have to risk that and push your AK, for fold equity on any other hands