overplaying AK

My third worst hand according to PT is AKo. It is a strong hand and it comes along fairly often, so I need to plug this leak. What are my optimum plays....

....early position, raising minimum 3xBB with 3 or more callers, both hitting the flop with top pair and missing the flop totally.
....late position in the same scenarios.
....against a possible straight draw.

My game plan when I see this hand is to try to isolate and play against 1 or 2 callers. So many times I pot size the flop whether I hit a pair or not. If I hit two pair I try to take it down right there as well so people can't hit their trips or straights. The problem is, if I have a pair or even two pair and they call, I can't tell if they have trips or a pair that I have outkicked. I would assume that if they are calling a large raise they have TT+, AK, AQ, AJ, AT, or even KQ/KJ. So then I have a dilemma. If I bet hard on the turn, they come over the top of me and I am beat but I have invested a good chunk of money in this pot, so I feel committed. If I check, they sense weakness and bet and they have the potential to push me off a pot with nothing. If I have nothing and they raise me, I can lay it down, but if they just call, I take it for weakness. At 25NL, they call you down with all kinds of crap, so it's hard to tell what they really have. I like to show strength even if I really don't have strength to milkthese guys. I still win my share of pots with this hand, but when I lose it's a doozy. Classic win a small pot/lose a big one hand.

Fnord told me yesterday that my style can potentially put me into precarious positions and I agree with him. This is definitely one of those that I frequently get into. I need to plug this leak because you should never lose money hand over fist with a premium hand like this. So it looks to me like I need to work on pot control (to make the hand easier to let go of when beat) with this hand. I have looked at hand histories and it looks like those back up this statement. Anyone care to share their lines that would help with pot control, while still maintaining control of the hand if possible?

I also face the same issues with JJ (#2 in my biggest loser list). 99 is number one, but most of that is attributed to one horrible free card I gave that let a guy hit a gutshot straight on me (although I have played other hands with 99 poorly).....

Thanks for the help!!

I raise with AK from any position (and ill reraise in alot of 10NL games). On the flop work out who you are up against. Are they nutcamping, sethunters or are they loose/passive fish. I usually bet out whether I hit or not at tight tables (but not always). At very loose tables I will not bother to bet out unless I have hit. If you hit you have TPTK so play it hard until an obvious draw completes or someone who isnt a maniac raises you big.

In late position I often like to take free showdowns with TPTK type hands because alot of the time you will be against someone who has either missed a draw against you, or is beating you. This doesnt apply to all opponents.

Im quite happy being called with TPTK by most players, but I will often fold it when I am raised.


Post lots of TPTK hands for specific details.

At first I overplayed AK a lot, then I underplayed it a lot, and now I realize that it's just a tough hand to play where sometimes going too far is the correct thing to do.

You shouldn't check fold every time it wiffs. That's just incorrect. AK plays efficiently against known ranges. Having an instinct for when your aggressive opponent is bullying with two cards that also wiffed is a very valuable asset to playing this misunderstood hand. Doing this and folding it dry against more passive opponents who are representing is good strategy for AK. Big slippery is a very "touchy feely" type hand that requires some time to master.

Could be variance. How many hands have you played? After 10k, KQs was my worst hand. After 13k, it was up to the top third. Over a small sample, it only takes a couple bad results to make a hand look bad. Now if AK is in your bottom 5 after 50k, I'd definitely take a look at it (although it could still be variance .... statistics is a crazy thing)

I have only tracked about 4200 hands, so it is a pretty small sample. I think I know what went wrong here. I didn't raise enough preflop, and this crappy hand had all the odds in the world to come along for the ride....and the call on the turn was probably crap too.

Texas Hold'em $0.25-$0.50 NL (real money), hand #136,215,017
Table Limon, 16 Feb 2006 11:21 PM ET

Seat 1: queegballs ($7.95 in chips)
Seat 2: Galapogos ($21.75 in chips)
Seat 3: ketkat ($12.25 in chips)
Seat 4: _INDY_ ($16.10 in chips)
Seat 5: Billy-Idol ($24.75 in chips)
Seat 6: VorShot ($25.90 in chips)
Seat 7: Toniamo ($42.10 in chips)
Seat 8: cardsman1992 [ KS,AD ] ($37.40 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
queegballs posts blind ($0.15), Galapogos posts blind ($0.25).

PRE-FLOP
ketkat folds, _INDY_ calls $0.25, Billy-Idol folds, VorShot folds, Toniamo calls $0.25, cardsman1992 bets $1, queegballs folds, Galapogos calls $0.75, _INDY_ calls $0.75, Toniamo calls $0.75.

FLOP [board cards 8S,KC,7C ]
Galapogos checks, _INDY_ checks, Toniamo checks, cardsman1992 bets $3, Galapogos folds, _INDY_ calls $3, Toniamo folds.

TURN [board cards 8S,KC,7C,4D ]
_INDY_ checks, cardsman1992 bets $7, _INDY_ bets $12.10 and is all-in, cardsman1992 calls $5.10.

RIVER [board cards 8S,KC,7C,4D,7S ]

SHOWDOWN
_INDY_ shows [ 5H,6D ]
cardsman1992 shows [ KS,AD ]
_INDY_ wins $33.85.

SUMMARY
Dealer: cardsman1992
Pot: $34.35 | Rake: $0.50
queegballs loses $0.15
Galapogos loses $1
ketkat loses $0
_INDY_ bets $16.10, collects $33.85, net $17.75
Billy-Idol loses $0
VorShot loses $0
Toniamo loses $1
cardsman1992 loses $16.10

This one, when he showed, I couldn't believe he called that raise ....the board looked okay but I didn't want flushes to call....that being said, I was out of position the whole hand, so VERY poorly played...just thought I could bully him out

Texas Hold'em $0.25-$0.50 NL (real money), hand #156,855,329
Table Atlanta, 21 Feb 2006 10:02 PM ET

Seat 1: cheekaboo ($23.75 in chips)
Seat 2: GetR1chOrDie ($11.00 in chips)
Seat 3: xrollax ($9.75 in chips)
Seat 4: slizzerd ($8.65 in chips)
Seat 5: brico x ($7.25 in chips)
Seat 6: ninnworx ($9.25 in chips)
Seat 7: holdembo69 ($15.65 in chips)
Seat 8: cardsman1992 [ KD,AS ] ($23.25 in chips)
Seat 9: anpe ($37.40 in chips)
Seat 10: SpecialK5005 ($15.70 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
ninnworx posts blind ($0.15), holdembo69 posts blind ($0.25).

PRE-FLOP
cardsman1992 bets $1, anpe calls $1, SpecialK5005 folds, cheekaboo folds, GetR1chOrDie folds, xrollax folds, slizzerd folds, brico x folds, ninnworx folds, holdembo69 folds.

FLOP [board cards 9S,6S,4D ]
cardsman1992 bets $2, anpe bets $8, cardsman1992 bets $20, anpe calls $14.

TURN [board cards 9S,6S,4D,7D ]
cardsman1992 bets $0.25 and is all-in, anpe calls $0.25.

RIVER [board cards 9S,6S,4D,7D,2D ]

SHOWDOWN
cardsman1992 shows [ KD,AS ]
anpe shows [ AD,9H ]
anpe wins $46.40.

SUMMARY
Dealer: brico x
Pot: $46.90 | Rake: $0.50
cheekaboo loses $0
GetR1chOrDie loses $0
xrollax loses $0
slizzerd loses $0
brico x loses $0
ninnworx loses $0.15
holdembo69 loses $0.25
cardsman1992 loses $23.25
anpe bets $23.25, collects $46.40, net $23.15
SpecialK5005 loses $0

So why does my normal play work here (outside of position)? Surely they don't put me on a 7? 6X was to chase out the crap in the blinds and maybe take down pot there....

Texas Hold'em $0.25-$0.25 NL (real money), hand #193,987,720
Table Honolulu, 2 Mar 2006 11:49 PM

View Previous | Next hand for this table.

Seat 1: Bigski1 ($23.90 in chips)
Seat 2: MentalBadger ($9.40 in chips)
Seat 3: kamilche ($33.85 in chips)
Seat 4: cardsman1992 [KD,AC] ($32.10 in chips)
Seat 5: Schoer1010 ($32.15 in chips)
Seat 6: apokerprncss ($33.20 in chips)
Seat 7: -sparks- ($35.15 in chips)
Seat 8: nocturnick ($80.50 in chips)
Seat 9: texas85cj ($9.30 in chips)
Seat 10: DSMMEM ($19.90 in chips)



ANTES/BLINDS
apokerprncss posts blind ($0.15), -sparks- posts blind ($0.25).

PRE-FLOP
nocturnick calls $0.25, texas85cj folds, DSMMEM folds, Bigski1 folds, MentalBadger folds, kamilche calls $0.25, cardsman1992 bets $1.50, Schoer1010 folds, apokerprncss folds, -sparks- calls $1.25, nocturnick calls $1.25, kamilche folds.

FLOP [board cards 5S,7H,7D ]
-sparks- checks, nocturnick checks, cardsman1992 bets $3.50, -sparks- folds, nocturnick folds.

SHOWDOWN
cardsman1992 wins $8.15.

play AK like AQ etc. Raise if first to raise. Call if calling a raise. Auto raise any c-bets when the flop is rags.

Biggest leak is playing AK like a big pp. Thus i dont reraise as too many players want to 'see' a flop regardless then wont realise their AQ is no good.

Originally Posted by Miffed22001

Auto raise any c-bets when the flop is rags.

I disagree. If someone leads into you on the flop for 1/2 pot or more, I would probably find a fold with an unimproved AK, unless I really think hes full of air. Especially if a weaker/passive player bets the flop, I think this is usually a good indication that they have a hand. Also, a good player mightcall down a flop raise with a mid pocket pair, leaving you in an awkward position on the turn with a pot that is way too big and dangerous for unpaired overcards.