Everyone who plays holdem understands that a-k is one of the greatest opening hands. But, it’s simply that, an opening hand. It’s just two cards of a 7-card equation. In just about every situation, you want to jump out guns blaring with A-K as your hole cards. When the flop arrives, you must to check out your hand and think things through before you just assume your overcards are the greatest.
Like most other opportunities in holdem, knowing your opponents will help you gauge your situation when you hold A-K and observe a flop like 9-8-2. Since you wager preflop and were called, you presume your competitor is also holding great cards and the flop may have missed them as badly as it missed you. Your assumption will often times be correct. Also, do not omit that most bad bettors wouldn’t know good cards if they tripped over them and possibly could have called with Ace-Something and paired the poker table.
If your opposing player checks, you could check and observe a free card or make a bet and try to pick the pot up right then. If they bet, you can raise to observe if they’re for real or fold. What you wish to avert is basically calling your competitor’s bet to observe what the turn results in. If any card other than and Ace or King is turned over, you won’t have any more information than you did after the flop. So let us say the turn shows a four and your opponent wagers once again, what will you do? To call a wager on the flop you had to think your hand was the strongest, so you must surely believe it remains so. So, you call a bet on the turn and one more on the river to discover that your opposition has a hand of ten-eight and just a second pair after the flop. At that instance, it hits you that a raise after the flop might have won the money right then.
A-K is a wonderful combination to see in your hole cards. Just be sure you compete in them astutely and they’ll bring you amazing cheerfulness at the poker table.