This article discusses how to play when you start out with an Ace-King combination. This combination is very strong whether you are dealt two cards of the same suite or off suite. There are only two starting hands in Hold’em that are stronger than AK - AA and KK. Other hands are at least the same strength as AK. However, though this hand is so powerful, it can cause problems for those who are inexperienced and don’t know how to play it right.

How to play with this hand:

1) It is not wise to play with the whole buy-in on the pre-flop if you are playing against an unknown opponent. 2) You should play your whole stack on the pre-flop if you are playing against an unknown opponent if he has stack no more than 60BB. 3) Raise on the pre-flop or re-raise if there has been a raise.

The following examples are all taken from real games.

Example 1. Standard drawing: top pair, top kicker (TPTK) and a flush draw on the flop.

NL50 Stacks: Hero ($51), button ($65)

Hero is in the first position with AKo, all black. You raise to $2, button calls your bet, the rest of the players fold.

Flop: Ad-6h-2h*, pot ($4.75)

You have a top pair on the flop, a top kicker and there are two hearts on the board. In this situation you should bet approximately the same size as the bank to protect your hand against a flush draw. If there is a rainbow on the flop, 2/3 of the bank is enough so as to not frighten the contender with an ace and lower kicker off.

Hero bets $4.50 and the contender calls.

Turn: 7h, pot ($13.75)

There is a flush draw on the turn, you have a bad position and it’s difficult to find out if your opponent has a flush or not. If you check, you show weakness. By doing so, your opponent, especially if he is an aggressive player, will easily win the pot, even if he has a weaker hand than yours. The best advice in this position is to bet a little more than half a bank. After a bet like this, your opponent, even an aggressive one, wouldn’t dare bluff. With that kind of bet, your opponent won’t be able to guess if you have a flush or not.

You bet $7.50 , your opponent raises up to $15 (Hero bets $7.50, Button raises to $15).

Your opponent made the minimum possible raise (this kind of raise is also called a flat raise). You only need to raise $7.50 in a pot of $43.75. You have very good pot odds now, but you have a bad position and you know for sure that the river will not improve your hand. If your contender is not bluffing, having two pairs will not save your game. You can also be sure that if your opponent is bluffing, he will continue bluffing on the river. You will have to fold whether he bluffs or not. You know that your bet on the turn reduces the possibility of bluffing. The best thing is to believe your opponent has a flush.

Example 2. WA/WB - way ahead/way behind

The example called WA/WB is a combination you’ll often see in poker. It means you are either strongly ahead or, on the contrary, strongly behind the opponent. In other words, the chance of changing one way or another is very small. NL10 Hero - BB ($9.60), CO ($12.80)

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