[sunnypoker]

i won't mention names, tbh i can't remember who it was anyways

anyways, i picked up an interesting play in the last freeroll from the player who was on my left (ie act one before me).

he NEVER seemed to raise preflop with AK.
now i don't know if cards just fell good his way or what but it seemed to have worked quite well in the freeroll
i saw numerous occasions of him havingg AK (a LOT of times in fact from what i remmeber)

i got introuble from it because he just limps with it all the time, disguising the strength, and consequently, me being the aggressive one (that i try to be), i always tried to punish him by raising when he limps, and i was the one who get punished because i didn't put him on AK (or in fact, AK AGAIN soon after when the same thing happened)

i honestly think it's a bad long-run strategy to never raise the AK but i may be wrong. whoever it was that did so, would you please give us tips as to why your strategy is so? because it worked well in the freeroll yesterday.

[BBP Guru]

AK really did not work well for me yesterday, so i'm definitely not the guy you are talking about. In fact i was the first one to make stupid bets with my AK and was soon out.

Limping with AK is not my strategy. But if a player is up against you, then its a whole different story. I personally wouldn't mind limping on a couple occasions when everyone has folded and i'm in small blind.

In short, it's important to know whom you are playing against. But as you say, limping with AK all the time isn't a good strategy. I agree.

[dovla]

limping with AK is not a good strategy for me (and the moving with AK is not a good strategy for me, too) .. sometimes you just can't put too much money on AK .. AK is hand for standard raise (3-5 BBs), and with AK you would like to be only in heads-up pot (AK is marginal hand for me in multi-way pot).

[Kylebikinas13]

suited or now, i always raise with ace king, its a very powerful hand to have pre-flop. sometimes, with a terrible flop, you're ace king will be rendered worthless, but you can get lucky, as i have in the past (i've also been unlucky with it) and if you raise as i do pre-flop, and a good number of people call, you can either continue to bet or wait til someone else does, but either way you can rake in a considerable amount of money from just that one hand. there are certain times that i've folded ace king though. if i'm in a tourney, freeroll or not and the tournament's just started, and i have ace king, and someone goes all in right before the flop. sheerly out of cowardice, i will fold because i do not want to take the chance of being kicked out so early in a tournament that i may have paid for.

[sensei24]

AK, maybe the toughest hand to play. You can raise or just call,depending on your position and your stack. It is a problem hand because it always atracts you to play it even if you don't get nothing from the flop and you call the big-blind hopeing to catch a pair.

[elon05]

I'm not the player fromt he tourney that you are talking about but I personally do not feel that AK is that strong of hand. Rememeber pre flop AK is an underdog to pocket 2's and is only 60 40 versus a worthless hand like
2 3. AK is only a big hand if it hits. And to call huge all ins early in a tourney like a lot of people seem to do is just crazy to me. Why risk your tourney life early in the tourney when you have nothing so far.

[Laurie]

I dont usually raise with an AK pre-flop from the beginning of play until about 1/3 in. Depending on position and player knowledge. Playing online player knowlege is factor one. Then you've got the guys who go All-In on anything just to blow it. Anyway I would push my J-J pre-flop before my A/K.

[ssmooth8]

Not only do people raise with AK but many go allin with it. If you say you are not an all inner with AK you are definitely kidding yourself. I could see maybe in a huge tournament with a big buyin to maybe hold of AK but in freerolls I don't see why not. Plus players go all in with basically any Ace - rag. For players to judge you on how you play your freerolls that's on them but I mean if you think you're that good challenge me. You know? I see people talking about me all the time saying they don't like how I play but hey play the game and beat me with your cards don't just talk. Odds are in the end I will most likely have the goods.

[Irongirl]

AK is a big drawing hand and I mix it up. I may limp with it. I may raise with it standard 3x - 4x bet first in. I may move all in with it if short stacked. It depends entirely on where I am in the tourney, what my table image is and my chip stacks in relation to the other stacks.

Ideally I like to pair the king on the flop rather then the ace.

The best thing I ever heard on AK came from Matusow. If faced with a raise and reraise in front of him he throws the hand away.

[Acorn89]

I think that its a good idea to sometimes limp with AK just to mix up your play. I also like to limp with AK when im at an agressive table. If your opponets are going to raise for you most of the time then theres no reason for you to do the raising. Plus you have the extra deception of just calling.

Another play I like to do with AK is call with it in late position when a there is a middle postion raiser. Theres no reason to raise here and if you dont hit the flop its easy to get away from