In my previous article, ‘How to play when the flop doesn’t go your way’, I talked about how you should play premium hands on tricky flops both in and out of position. Now I’m going to do the same with A-K.
Situation 1 – in position
You’re playing in a $5/$10 no-limit cash game. You raise As-Ks from mid position to $35 and the big blind makes the standard call and the standard check out of position on a 9h-8s-4h flop. Now, at this point you only have two options to think about (check or bet), and to make your decision you have to work out how your opponent plays.
Assuming the big blind is not playing a monster very slow preflop, he has a one-in-three shot of hitting the flop. This means that if you are playing a very straightforward player who will only play the strength of his cards (if he hits), then if you continuation bet, your opponent will fold two times out of three. A standard sized bet on this flop would be about $40 into the $75 pot.
The villain will now be faced with three options: raise, call or fold. When faced by a raise and you do not have a great read on your opponent, it’s an easy fold for you as there is just no point calling the size of his raise in the hope of hitting your six outs on the turn (when you may actually be drawing dead to a set/two-pair style hand). A check-fold is the ideal result for you, but a check-call will also allow you to take down the pot on a later street and lets you stay as the aggressor.
After check-calling, the villain will check the turn nine times out of ten. Once again you will have to base your turn decision on a read of your opponent, but this will also depend on what card falls on the turn. If you think the villain is weak on the flop, and was simply check-calling with overcards, a draw, or a weak underpair type hand, then you can double-barrel most turn cards. This looks strong, prices out most draws (as players usually do not check-call two streets with a standard draw), and more importantly gets weak hands (that still have you beaten) such as second pair to fold as they know they are going to have to face an even bigger bet on the river.
Higher cards such as a Queen, Jack or Ace are the perfect cards to double-barrel the turn with, as even if the villain thinks he was check-calling with the best hand on the flop, this turn card could have made your hand. Low cards or cards that fill up draws are not good cards to double-barrel on, unless you intend on representing the made draw, which means you will HAVE to bluff the river as well to make it look realistic, which is not viable against a calling station.
You also have to look at the hand from the villain’s point of view. If they have check-called the flop they look like they have a weak/drawing hand, therefore if the draw comes in (for instance the 7h hits, bringing both the flush draw and the T-J straight draw in this example) then would you as the aggressor really bet hard into the pot, or would you want to check back to keep the pot small? If they think you would check the pot with an overpair or top-pair type hand on that scary turn, then would your double-barrel turn bet look convincing? Probably not, therefore you have less chance of getting the villain to fold the turn.
Barrelling the river
Let’s say the villain check-calls once again on a 2c turn card, and the river brings another blank card, say a 3d, you will be faced with a very tough decision on the river. You are currently beating most missed draws (T-J, 6-7, most flush draws) and therefore still have showdown value with Ace-high, but do you think they will have check-called two streets with just a draw? You really have to use your own reads on the player to work out whether you can bluff a third barrel on the river. Most of the time I will give up with the hand on the river, unless I have a good read on my opponent. There is just no point stacking off more money than you already have when you have failed to bluff the opponent on the previous two streets.
If you decide you do want to bluff the river, you will have to put in the same sized bet as if you actually had a premium hand. Do not bet too big, as the opponent will assume you are trying to push him off the pot, and do not bet too small, as the opponent will be priced in to call. About two-thirds of the pot is a good size – it’s a bet that puts pressure on your opponent without risking too many chips.
There are many different ways of playing the turn and river and quite often checking back the turn is optimal instead of bluffing. When you bet the flop and are called, you effectively get two streets to hit your outs for the price of one. Checking back the turn will neutralise your aggression, meaning the out-of-position villain can lead the river with a bluff or the best hand, which is a downside, but in return you get two free cards to hit a hand.
Situation 2 – out of position
Playing out of position in a cash game is the hardest way of playing any hand, let alone A-K, in which you will only hit your hand on the flop one time in three, and there are so many different lines players can use to outplay you in position. The easiest way to play A-K is to bet if you hit it and check-fold if you miss.
Of course, the best thing is to avoid being out of position after the flop in the first place. Preflop, unless you are the SB raising into the BB, you will be in position on an opponent if you are open-raising, or you will be facing a raise out of position. Nowadays you don’t see much open-limping, therefore you will often be facing a raise from the cutoff/button when you are in the blinds. In this case, the best thing is to try to win the pot then and there with a three-bet. Do not make it as small as a normal three-bet in position (in a $5/$10 game you would probably raise a $30 bet to about $90 and a $35 raise to $110). Instead, make the raise larger, as you will be out of position the entire hand and would ideally like to push any questionable hands – such as 7-9 suited – out of the pot then and there. Facing a $30 raise, make it $100/$110 to play, or when facing a $35 raise make it $120/$135 to play.
When the flop comes, it really doesn’t matter what it is unless it contains an Ace or a King, as your hand will effectively have no value as Ace-high out of position! If you know the villain is quite loose preflop but is ABC and only plays the strength of his cards, then often a continuation bet on a low flop will be good enough to get the villain to fold his low pocket pair or missed Q-K/Q-J.
On a J-7-5 rainbow flop you can often c-bet successfully, as this sort of flop does not connect with too many hands very strongly (unless they flop a set or are slow-playing an overpair). Even mid pocket pair hands will probably only call one c-bet on this sort of flop, and fold a turn continuation bet for fear of an overpair. On flops such as 5-6-7 with two clubs, it is a lot less likely that a decent player will fold this flop in position even if they have complete air and are floating you to represent a scare card on the turn. Therefore it is usually easier to give up the pot straight away on the flop with your A-K.
Risky business
Another way of playing a flop that does not connect with your A-K is to get very fancy, and usually this is best done when stacks are deeper than 100BBs. After a three-bet preflop, you check the flop as if you are going to give up the hand. A lot of good players will see this as a sign of weakness and try to bet you off with a flop bet. But when you check-raise them, they will have effectively lost all control of the pot and will fold off all airball bluffs, and possibly hands that had a little bit of the flop. One downside of this is that if they have a drawing hand, the amount you check-raise to (for instance check-raise $160 to $400) will then give them good fold equity to reraise all-in if they’re sitting on a stack of $1,400-$1,600.
Most decisions on the flop will entail you choosing your line for every street. Therefore if you decide to go ahead and bluff the flop with A-K on a low board, you must be prepared to stick to your guns, and either check-fold the turn or double-barrel, and once again check-fold or third-barrel the river (with a slight deviation of plans depending on the board cards that arrive).
One option I have not covered is just calling preflop out of position with A-K. I hate this play. You are effectively turning your hand into a 6-7 style hand preflop, in which you are trying to flop a monster. If you believe you are playing your hand deceptively against a weaker Ace to trap your opponent, you will only find disappointment on later streets. If you hit your Ace or King you are unlikely to get paid off the full amount, as when you check-raise they will immediately put you on a hand such as a set or two pair, and will give up their weak top pair by the turn or river. In even worse circumstances you will flop your Ace but they will flop a better hand or hit their draw on the turn, which you will find extremely hard to get away from!
As with the premium hands I talked about in the last article, the key to handling tricky situations like this lies in repetition. Get to know what the other players at the table do in certain spots, and then imagine you’re playing your hand as if it were actually a much better hand on the flop. It will be a lot harder to bluff a hand if you are thinking that you are bluffing. The best bluffs are produced when you force yourself to believe you actually have the hand you are trying to represent. Think to yourself, ‘If I had A-A right now, what size bet would I put in, and how would I play this flop?’ When you think that, and pretend that you actually DO have the nut-nut hand, your bluffs will become a lot more realistic!
James 'james666' Sudworth is a member of Team PKR Pro. To find out more about him and to read more articles written by James, please click here