Everyone who gambles in texas hold’em knows that a-k is one of the very best opening hands. But, it’s just that, a starting hand. It is only 2 cards of a seven-card equation. In nearly every situation, you will want to jump out guns blaring with A-K as your hole cards. When the flop arrives, you need to check out your cards and think things through before you just deduce that your overcards are the strongest.
Like most other circumstances in holdem, understanding your adversaries will assisting you in gauging your position when you have A-K and see a flop like 9-8-2. Since you bet preflop and were called, you assume your competitor is also possessing good cards and the flop may have by-passed them as poorly as it missed you. Your assuming will often times be right. Also, don’t overlook that most lousy players would not understand great cards if they fall over them and could have called with Ace-x and paired the board.
If your competitors checks, you might check and observe a free card or make a bet and try to pick the pot up right then. If they wager, you could raise to observe if they are for real or fold. What you want to avert is basically calling your competitor’s wager to observe what the turn results in. If any card instead of the Ace or King is shown, you will not know any more info than you did following the flop. Now let’s say the turn shows a four and your opponent wagers yet again, what will you do? To call a wager on the flop you need to anticipate your hand was the strongest, so you have to surely think it still is. So, you call a bet on the turn and 1 more on the river to find out that your opposing player has a hand of ten-eight and only had second pair following the flop. At that time, it hits you that a raise the bet following the flop could have captured the pot right then.
A-K is a wonderful thing to find in your hole cards. Just be sure you participate in them wisely and they will achieve you great happiness at the poker table.