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Although ace-king is one of the strongest starting hands in Texas Hold’em, many players struggle to use it in a way that will maximize their profit over the long run.
Therefore, some swear that this is a hand that looks pretty but never wins, which is only a subjective opinion and is quite far from the truth. In reality, this hand can earn you a lot of money if you play it properly.
This guide will cover the most important tips for playing Ace King and help you build a solid strategy to approach this hand in various situations. So without further ado, here are our top tips on how to play big slick.
Ace-king is in the top 3% of poker hands, so you can comfortably make a 3bet with it against a raise from any position. The important thing to note here is that ace-king is not a made hand, and pretending it is and slowplaying it before the flop will cost you a lot of EV in the long run.
The main reason you should almost always 3bet AK is that part of the value of this hand lies in fold equity since it blocks the strongest part of your opponent's 4betting range (AA and KK). So, if you decide to call, you are wasting one part of its value.
If you raise AK and face a 3bet, 4betting this hand will rarely be the wrong move. However, there are some situations where this might not be the play that makes the most EV.
To determine if you should 4bet or call with AK, you should always consider the position of the player that is 3betting.
If you are facing a 3-bet from the blinds for, for example, BTN vs. BB, chances are that the player in the BB is using a bigger 3-bet size than usual because he is out of position. Because you are opening a wide range from the BTN, his 3beting range will be much wider than if you were opening from the UTG or HJ.
In this situation, calling would not be a terrible idea since you are in a position and getting a good price. This means you will under-represent your hand with calling, making your opponent bluff on many A-high and K-high boards.
In addition to this, by sometimes calling AK in this situation, you will include some strong hands in your button 3bet calling range which will help you balance it out.
At the end of the day, 4-betting is still the standard play that you should take most of the time with Ace-king against a 3-bet, but you can comfortably mix in some calls to strengthen your calling range and throw your opponents off guard.
In most scenarios, you will want to continue with your ace-king versus a 4bet. The only question remains in which way you should continue, by 5betting and going all-in or calling.
The answer to this question will depend on several factors, such as your position and the position of the player that is 4betting you, stack sizes, game dynamics, and potential reads.
For example, let's say you are in the HJ with ace-king and facing a 4-bet from the UTG player.
If you are playing against a loose aggressive opponent, and the effective stack is 100bb, going all in will probably be the right play.
However, if you are playing against a tight passive opponent and the effective stack is 200bb, you should probably avoid 5betting and instead just call.
The main difference between these two spots is in the villains’ 4-betting ranges. In the first example, ace-king is doing okay against the villain's 4betting range based on his style and the fact that you are only 100bb deep.
In the second example, based on the positions, the player's image, and the effective stack, it is safe to say that this player will not have a big 4-bet bluffing range in these spots, especially when you are both 200bb deep. His range will likely consist of premium holdings against which you are not doing very well with AK if you decide to 5-bet.
While most players do okay with ace-king preflop, many of the mistakes they make with this hand come after the flop. Let’s look at some of the most common post-flop scenarios with AK and how you should approach them.
This is the most straightforward situation you can get into after the flop with AK. The reason why it is so straightforward is that you should bet in almost all of these situations.
For example, if you have Ad Ks and the flop comes As 5c 9d, the right play is to bet.
Depending on the situation, you might use different bet sizes, but the important thing is to bet and avoid slow playing.
In general, you will want to use smaller flop c-bet sizings in 3-bet pots, and the same goes for when you are holding ace-king. The main reason for this is that there is already enough money in the pot, and even a small bet will ensure that both you and your opponent are all in by the river.
However, the important thing to note here is that you should bet around 33% of the pot against competent opponents if the board misses your opponent's range. By betting the same amount of money whether you hit the flop or not, you are balancing your c-betting range in 3-bet pots, making you extremely hard to play against.
If you use large c-bets, your opponent will have a much easier time playing their holdings and will fold bad hands while continuing with the top part of the range because the odds let him do that.
For example, let's say that you 3bet with As Kd and your opponent calls. The flop comes Ks 8s 3d.
If you use a 33% c-bet in this situation, you will force your opponent to call with most of his range, including Kx, JJ, TT, 8x, etc., all of the hands you beat. On the other hand, if you use a 75% c-bet, your opponent will probably fold most of the range you beat, which will cost you a lot of EV in the long run.
Now imagine the same situation, only this time the flop comes Qs 7s 3d.
In this situation, if you use a 33% c-bet, you are giving yourself a good price on the bluff, which means that your opponent only needs to fold a small number of times for your bluff to be profitable. However, if you use a 75% c-bet, your bluff will have to work much more often for your bet to be profitable.
Note that all of the mentioned applies when you are the preflop 3bettor.
Hitting the top pair with ace-king in a multiway pot means that you have a pretty strong hand. However, your top pair will not be as nearly as strong as if you were against only one opponent.
This is because with each player in the hand, the value of each hand goes down; in other words, equity is shared between three or more players instead of two.
In your case, the multiway pot means that there is a higher chance that someone has out flopped you than if you were heads up. This also means that the calling ranges are much tighter in multiway pots.
Because of all this, playing ace-king conservatively when you hit the top pair in a multiway pot will be the correct strategy.
For example, let's say you have AK in a 3-way single raised pot, and the flop comes Ks 7d 6c.
You decide to c-bet your top pair, and both of your opponents call, the turn is the Qd. In this situation, checking your top pair and keeping the pot relatively small would not be a bad idea.
It is essential to know how to play this hand when you completely miss the flop to build a solid overall strategy, and this is exactly what we will look into next.
When you miss a dry and disconnected flop with Ace-king, you will want to bet, especially if you are in position as the preflop raiser.
For example, imagine that you raised in UTG, and the player in the BB called you. The flop comes Qs 7c 2d.
In this situation, there are three reasons why you should bet:
To sum it up, your range advantage lets you take an aggressive line with many hands and take down uncontested pots on the flop or later in the hand.
It Is Okay To Check-Call In 3bet Pots
One of the things that most people get wrong about playing ace-king is that they think that just because they hold it, this automatically means that they have to be the aggressor throughout the whole hand.
This is not always the case. In fact, check calling can sometimes generate more EV than blindly betting.
For example, let's say that you 3bet AsKs, your opponent calls, and the flop comes Ts 6d 5c.
In this situation, it can be perfectly fine to check call instead of betting because if you bet first, there is a chance that the opponent will raise you with a draw and force you to fold the best hand.
By “only” check calling, you are allowing yourself a cheaper turn that might improve your hand.
Just don’t forget to play some of your overpairs in the same manner to protect your check-calling range on the flop.
Fold If You Don’t Have Anything Going
It is important that you don’t overplay your ace-king. If you do not have anything going for you on the flop, just fold and go to the next hand.
For example, you raise Ac Kc UTG, the BTN, and the BB calls, and the flop comes 8s 7d 6d.
In this situation, against multiple opponents, check folding makes perfect sense. Even more since both the BTN and the BB have a range advantage on this board.
Trying to push out two opponents from the pot in these situations is suicide and will cost you a lot of money in the long run. Just because you had a great hand before the flop does not mean it is still a good one after the flop, and you need to make peace with that.
If you are constantly trying to win pots in impossible situations with ace-king, you will nullify all the easy spots in which this hand helped you win the pot.
Once you learn how to play ace-king correctly, this hand will bring you money in the long run. However, if you don’t work on your ace-king strategy and instead rely on the sheer equity of the hand to bring you profit, you might leave a lot of EV on the table.
We have only scratched the surface of how ace-king should be played in this article, but since poker is a situational game, you will have to put in work yourself to drastically improve your approach with this hand.
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