Playing A-K in Texas Holdem
Everyone who competes in Texas Holdem knows that ace/king is one of the best starting hands. But, it’s just that, an opening hand. It is simply two cards of a seven-card formula. In just about every situation, you will want to jump out guns blaring with A-K as your pocket cards. When the flop arrives, you must to check out your hand and consider things completely before you just assume your overcards are the strongest.
Like many other opportunities in holdem, knowing your rivals will help you gauge your position when you have A-K and observe a flop like 9-8-2. Since you bet preflop and were called, you presume your competitor is also holding great cards and the flop may have by-passed them as poorly as it by-passed you. Your assumption will frequently be precise. Also, don’t omit that many bad players would not know good cards if they fall over them and could have called with Ace-x and paired the table.
If your competitors checks, you might check and observe a free card or lay a wager and attempt to pick the pot up right then. If they wager, you could raise to see if they are in or fold. What you wish to avert is simply calling your opponent’s wager to see what the turn brings. If any card instead of the Ace or King is shown, you won’t know any more info than you did following the flop. So let us say the turn shows a four and your opponent wagers once more, what should you do? To call a wager on the flop you need to believe your hand was the greatest, so you must truly believe it remains so. So, you call a bet on the turn and 1 more on the river to figure out that your opposition was holding 10-8 and only had second pair following the flop. At that point, it dawns on you that a raise after the flop could have captured the money right there.
A-K is a beautiful combination to find in your hole cards. Just be sure you play them intelligently and they will achieve you awesome cheerfulness at the poker table.