Select Page
Poker Forum
Over 1,291,000 Posts!
Poker ForumTournament Poker

Playing AK early in SNG´s

Results 1 to 7 of 7
  1. #1

    Default Playing AK early in SNG´s

    Hey guys, i watched a low stakes STT training video last night. The coach explained, that he doesn´t like building a big pot with AK in the early (10/20) stages, if some player(s) are already in with a limp or raise. I agree, 1500 starting chips are not much and costs add up quickly (seeing some flops, failed conti bets and so on) and you are short very soon.
    Instead he wants just to call with AK - if he hits the flop it´s ok (proceeding with caution here too) and if not, then he simply folds. (remembers me of the easy to play low pairs) And his hand AK is also well disguised because he didn´t raise/reraise preflop.
    A mixture of caution and disguise.
    What do you think about not raising AK early in STT´s?
  2. #2
    Eric's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    3,458
    Location
    California, USA
    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel72 View Post
    if some player(s) are already in with a limp or raise. I agree, 1500 starting chips are not much and costs add up quickly (seeing some flops, failed conti bets and so on) and you are short very soon.
    Instead he wants just to call with AK
    If there are limpers then I almost always raise with AK. It isn't a trapping hand. If someone has already raised then that's different - sometimes I 3-bet and sometimes I just call.
  3. #3
    Agreed, just calling a limper w/AK is not good... I am certainly ok with just calling a raise with AK when there's only one person in the pot but with multiple people already in the pot I would much rather try and isolate with a 3-bet as you have an extremely strong hand, and there's already dead money in the pot up for grabs. If you pick up the pot PF, great. If you get a caller that's ok too and at these low blind levels the pot will likely still be relatively small. I would proceed with caution from this point on though, as you don't really want to build a huge pot with AK high if you don't hit.
  4. #4
    Eric's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    3,458
    Location
    California, USA
    One of the cool things about ak preflop is that it is only dominated by aa and kk.
  5. #5
    They say that you have "blockers" with AK, so it is less likely for other players to hold an Ace or King, or even AA or KK.
    AK only really fears AA (95%), because vs. KK it is still 30:70 and all the other stuff are at least coin flips or better!
  6. #6
    Eric's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    3,458
    Location
    California, USA
    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel72 View Post
    They say that you have "blockers" with AK, so it is less likely for other players to hold an Ace or King, or even AA or KK.
    AK only really fears AA (95%), because vs. KK it is still 30:70 and all the other stuff are at least coin flips or better!
    QFT. The 30% chance vs KK means AA is the only hand that makes us feel sick. Then again, we always feel sick when we see AA turned over preflop unless we have the other 2 aces.
  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel72 View Post
    Hey guys, i watched a low stakes STT training video last night. The coach explained, that he doesn´t like building a big pot with AK in the early (10/20) stages, if some player(s) are already in with a limp or raise. I agree, 1500 starting chips are not much and costs add up quickly (seeing some flops, failed conti bets and so on) and you are short very soon.
    Instead he wants just to call with AK - if he hits the flop it´s ok (proceeding with caution here too) and if not, then he simply folds. (remembers me of the easy to play low pairs) And his hand AK is also well disguised because he didn´t raise/reraise preflop.
    A mixture of caution and disguise.
    What do you think about not raising AK early in STT´s?
    I think AK is allways a hand to raise if nobody bets until our position or to pay a raise. Of course that, in case of earlier SNG, we should play that hand with caution: if anyone goes all-in we should fold; If we raise and someone pays we have to see if the flop brings the A or K (if not bring we fold at any raise)...

    But with AK we should raise, of course, in my opinion.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •