While I
have been playing online poker for sometime now and I have noticed that many
people play A-K like if they were holding pocket Aces, I have seen people re-raise
pots that have already been re-raised, then you have the really aggressive poker
players that do the common move of pushing all as soon as they see an A-K.
I never
understood this move because they are still just two
cards. I mean Ace King is still just that an Ace and a King. All
they are is two cards; chances are good if you hold A-K, but at the end they aren’t
a pair or anything. I mean someone with a low pair has more chances if he
calls. Now don't get me wrong you have a good drawing possibility on the
flop, turn and river. But at the flop you’re still just a coin flip (50%
- 50%) at best against a pair.
Then what
if your up against pocket Kings then your really in the dog house cause you
have left yourself in really bad shape needing a 3 outer for an Ace or running
straight cards. So there you’re probably a 66% - 33% dog
there. Ace King is a good starting hand that can get you into a lot
of trouble really fast. Let’s say the flop brings a King to pair you
up, but someone hits trips on you. Can you really get away from a top
pair that easily if someone moves all in on you? You might go bust
because it’s a hard hand to get away from.
I play Ace
King very carefully. I raise the pot if there hasn't been a raise in
front of me but only just call if there has been a raise already.
If I pair on the flop then I usually bet about half the
size of the pot to see where I'm at in the hand (if my first raise got
callers). If I have caller (s) then I look on the board and see what
kind of draws are on the poker table. Be it a flush draw or a straight
draw, then tread lightly and see what the turn is. If it doesn’t help
any kind of draw then I make my bet about 3/4 of the pot to drive out the
players fishing on a draw. Now if you get to the river and there's no possible
straight or flush on the board you can assume you might be in good position unless
you get re-raised then you might have to dump it because you still only have
one pair. And you can guess that the person has you beat.
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