How to Play Ace-King in Cash NL

For many people, including me, playing AK is tricky. However, if you are not showing a profit with it, then something is definitely wrong. If you play it correctly, you should be able to make a lot of money since it is such a powerful hand.

Many people get lost on the flop when they miss with AK (particularly out of position) and put in a continuation bet and get called. It is such an easy hand to overplay in 3-bet pots and start spewing left right and centre, if you’re not careful.

Hopefully in this article you won’t get into these sticky situations:

Preflop

AK is a hand that you want to be 3 betting  at least 90% of the time, calling roughly 10% of the time and of course raising from any position. It is a super strong hand and you want to start building the pot right away and discourage others from cold calling.

I have read many articles that say that AK is not an all-in pre flop hand without going much further. I have to politely disagree with that bold statement. If you are playing 6-max and you and your opponent have less than 100 big blinds (even up to 130), then you should be 4 betting and 5 betting all in ALMOST ALL THE TIME with AK and be prepared to lose your buy in. It is just as simple as that. The reason for this is that 6-max games are generally quite aggressive, particularly 100nl stakes and up. Players tend to overplay hands like AT/AJ/AQ, 99/TT/JJ and even completely trash trying to bluff you out quite often and AK has really good equity versus those types of hands. There is also some fold equity in that hands like 99/TT and even JJ may fold if you show enough aggression, particularly versus weak players.

Here is one example of such a player who overplayed his hand:

***** Hand History for Game 651721330 ***** (Betfair)

$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em – Sunday, February 14, 01:28:05 ET 2010

Table Neon 115 (Real Money)

Seat 5 is the button

Seat 1: baffo52 ( $124.03 USD )

Seat 2: ljones ( $54.85 USD )

Seat 3: BrasilNut ( $74.80 USD )

Seat 4: Lpresidente ( $63.63 USD )

Seat 5: Attentaet ( $38.90 USD )

Seat 6: plankton99 ( $93.83 USD )

plankton99 posts small blind [$0.25 USD].

baffo52 posts big blind [$0.50 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to BrasilNut [  Kd Ac ]

BrasilNut raises [$1.75 USD]

Lpresidente folds

Attentaet raises [$6.00 USD]

plankton99 folds

baffo52 folds

BrasilNut raises [$73.05 USD]

Attentaet calls [$32.90 USD]

BrasilNut wins $35.90 USD

BrasilNut shows [Kd, Ac ]

Attentaet shows [9d, 9s ]

** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, 2c, 5d ]

** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]

** Dealing River ** [ 2h ]

Here is another example of really bad play by opponents and how re raising with AK is such a great move in this spot:

***** Hand History for Game 584960126 ***** (Betfair)

$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em – Sunday, October 04, 12:47:29 ET 2009

Table Gemini 200 (Real Money)

Seat 5 is the button

Seat 1: tuffeuffe ( $34.14 USD )

Seat 2: kjhk ( $79.09 USD )

Seat 3: BrasilNut ( $57.75 USD )

Seat 4: jjfduiyfuid ( $16.60 USD )

Seat 5: buriramboy ( $9.08 USD )

Seat 6: TO PAIDI ( $93.92 USD )

TO PAIDI posts small blind [$0.25 USD].

tuffeuffe posts big blind [$0.50 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to BrasilNut [  Kh As ]

kjhk calls [$0.50 USD]

BrasilNut raises [$2.25 USD]

jjfduiyfuid folds

buriramboy calls [$2.25 USD]

TO PAIDI folds

tuffeuffe folds

kjhk raises [$9.25 USD]

BrasilNut raises [$19.75 USD]

buriramboy calls [$6.83 USD]

kjhk calls [$12.25 USD]

** Dealing Flop ** [ 5h, 2h, 6s ]

kjhk checks

BrasilNut checks

** Dealing Turn ** [ Th ]

kjhk checks

BrasilNut checks

** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]

kjhk bets [$26.91 USD]

BrasilNut calls [$26.91 USD]

kjhk shows [Qs, Ac ]

BrasilNut shows [Kh, As ]

buriramboy doesn’t show [9c, Kc ]

BrasilNut wins $79.66 USD from main pot

BrasilNut wins $24.99 USD from main pot

Attentaet wins $75.55 USD from main pot

Having said that with more than 130 big blinds, you should NOT go crazy with AK since you will often be coin flipping at best (vs JJ or QQ) or at worst up against KK or AA. Generally better to see a flop and take it from there….

The only times I will cold call with AK or call a 3 bet (extremely rare) without 4 betting is if up against an extremely tight player such as player below who only raises 9% of his hands but I will 3 bet some of the times. The main reason why I do not want to 3 bet him there is that if he happens to 4 bet me, his 4 bet range (1.6%) is so small that he almost always has me crushed, even with AKs.

***** Hand History for Game 649668057 ***** (Betfair)

$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em – Wednesday, February 10, 01:58:15 ET 2010

Table Gemini (Real Money)

Seat 4 is the button

Seat 1: VLAD79 ( $101.72 USD )

Seat 2: CAPTAIN 01 ( $52.90 USD )

Seat 3: TO PAIDI ( $26.31 USD )

Seat 4: B1nulnul ( $126.55 USD )

Seat 5: BrasilNut ( $112.79 USD )

Seat 6: Kolesnik ( $5.00 USD )

BrasilNut posts small blind [$0.25 USD].

Kolesnik posts big blind [$0.50 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to BrasilNut [  Kc Ac ]

VLAD79 folds

CAPTAIN 01 raises [$1.75 USD]

TO PAIDI folds

B1nulnul folds

BrasilNut calls [$1.50 USD]

Kolesnik calls [$1.25 USD]

** Dealing Flop ** [ 2c, 6s, 6h ]

BrasilNut checks

Kolesnik checks

CAPTAIN 01 bets [$5.25 USD]

BrasilNut raises [$12.00 USD]

Kolesnik folds

CAPTAIN 01 raises [$25.68 USD]

BrasilNut folds

CAPTAIN 01 wins $18.93 USD

CAPTAIN 01 wins $27.80 USD from main pot

Here is another example. This time Schlumpfine only raises 12% of his hands and I have position. I like calling here sometimes since my super strong hand is disguised. Also, enourmoUUS in the small blind is quite aggressive so he may think it is a good opportunity to ‘squeeze’ and raise here to take down the pot and I can wake up and push all in and confuse the hell out of him.

***** Hand History for Game 644521064 ***** (Betfair)

$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em – Sunday, January 31, 09:32:51 ET 2010

Table Neon 74 (Real Money)

Seat 3 is the button

Seat 1: BrasilNut ( $50.10 USD )

Seat 3: skndrgl ( $46.70 USD )

Seat 4: enourmoUUs ( $50.45 USD )

Seat 5: Spence500 ( $46.65 USD )

Seat 6: schlumpfine ( $59.11 USD )

enourmoUUs posts small blind [$0.25 USD].

Spence500 posts big blind [$0.50 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to BrasilNut [  Ac Kc ]

schlumpfine raises [$2.00 USD]

BrasilNut calls [$2.00 USD]

skndrgl folds

enourmoUUs calls [$1.75 USD]

Spence500 folds

** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 8h, 2d ]

enourmoUUs checks

schlumpfine bets [$4.20 USD]

BrasilNut folds

enourmoUUs folds

schlumpfine wins $4.20 USD

schlumpfine wins $6.20 USD from main pot

Post Flop

You will only hit a pair 1 out of 3 times but that does not mean that you shouldn’t try to take the pot down with a continuation bet. If you showed a lot of strength pre flop you have to carry on the momentum. Certain flops are better than others when deciding to cbet. Flops with many draws and connected cards are not great as they are likely to hit many of your opponent’s ranges.

Uncoordinated flops like Q48, T35, 335, 934 are the best to cbet. If you cbet and are called, then you have to slow down and reassess. Worst turn cards to turn cbet (double barrel) are cards that pair the board, particularly top pair or low cards that do not change the texture much and which decrease your pot equity. Best cards are cards higher than the flop highest card and ones that complete draws (if you want to represent that draw). This also has a lot to do with your opponent’s tendencies. If they are fishy calling stations, it is generally not a good idea to try to bluff them out. This is when having your hud pays for itself. Generally, players who fold more than 40% in 3 bet pots to continuation bets are profitable to cbet bluff.

If you do hit a pair, it is usually the best hand and you need to obtain value from weak pairs and draws and be prepared to go broke. Generally, top pair top kicker in 3 bet pots is the best hand, unless you have a very strong read.

See below a hand where I hit my top pair and did not slow down after even a scary turn card completing a possible flush.  Nasty river though!

***** Hand History for Game 644394814 ***** (Betfair)

$50.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em – Sunday, January 31, 06:18:19 ET 2010

Table Neon 41 (Real Money)

Seat 5 is the button

Seat 1: psihosss ( $15.94 USD )

Seat 2: Gun Sen ( $68.78 USD )

Seat 3: vinik ( $18.60 USD )

Seat 5: anexitilos ( $45.70 USD )

Seat 6: BrasilNut ( $51.00 USD )

BrasilNut posts small blind [$0.25 USD].

psihosss posts big blind [$0.50 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to BrasilNut [  Ac Ks ]

Gun Sen folds

vinik calls [$0.50 USD]

anexitilos raises [$1.00 USD]

BrasilNut raises [$4.25 USD]

psihosss folds

vinik folds

anexitilos calls [$3.50 USD]

** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, 3d, Kh ]

BrasilNut bets [$6.00 USD]

anexitilos calls [$6.00 USD]

** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]

BrasilNut bets [$12.00 USD]

anexitilos calls [$12.00 USD]

** Dealing River ** [ 9s ]

BrasilNut bets [$28.50 USD]

anexitilos calls [$23.20 USD]

BrasilNut wins $5.30 USD

anexitilos shows [Js, Qs ]

BrasilNut shows [Ac, Ks ]

anexitilos wins $89.40 USD from main pot

Missed flop/turn cbet example:

***** Hand History for Game 461362516 ***** (Betfair)

$100.00 USD NL Texas Hold’em – Friday, January 02, 04:50:20 ET 2009

Table Fluorine 78 (Real Money)

Seat 1 is the button

Seat 1: einss ( $98.50 USD )

Seat 2: BrasilNut ( $150.15 USD )

Seat 3: rant ( $164.37 USD )

Seat 4: scooore7 ( $63.90 USD )

Seat 5: god1010 ( $18.95 USD )

Seat 6: cardgames ( $48.50 USD )

BrasilNut posts small blind [$0.50 USD].

rant posts big blind [$1.00 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to BrasilNut [  Ks Ad ]

scooore7 raises [$3.50 USD]

god1010 folds

cardgames calls [$3.50 USD]

einss calls [$3.50 USD]

BrasilNut raises [$14.50 USD]

rant folds

scooore7 calls [$11.50 USD]

cardgames folds

einss folds

** Dealing Flop ** [ 5h, 9s, 3d ]

BrasilNut bets [$19.00 USD]

scooore7 calls [$19.00 USD]

** Dealing Turn ** [ Qc ]

BrasilNut bets [$116.15 USD]

scooore7 folds

BrasilNut wins $116.15 USD

BrasilNut wins $73.00 USD from main pot