Everyone who bets in Texas Holdem understands that a-k is one of the very best starting hands. But, it’s just that, an opening hand. It’s just two cards of a 7-card equation. In nearly each new situation, you will want to jump out firing with A-K as your hole cards. When the flop comes, you must to reassess your cards and think things through before you just assume your cards are the strongest.
Like many other situations in Texas Holdem, knowing your adversaries will help you gauge your position when you have A-K and see a flop like nine-eight-two. After you wager preflop and were called, you assume your competitor is also holding good cards and the flop may have by-passed them as poorly as it missed you. Your assuming will often times be correct. Also, do not omit that most poor bettors wouldn’t understand great cards if they tripped over them and could have called with A-x and paired the table.
If your competitors checks, you could check and observe a free card or lay a bet and attempt to pick the pot up right there. If they wager, you could raise to observe if they’re for real or fold. What you want to avoid is basically calling your opponent’s wager to see what the turn brings. If any card other than and Ace or King hits, you will not know any more info than you did following the flop. Now let’s say the turn brings a 4 and your competitor wagers once more, what will you do? To call a wager on the flop you must anticipate your hand was the strongest, so you must surely believe it still is. So, you call a wager on the turn and one more on the river to figure out that your opposing player has a hand of 10-8 and only had second pair following the flop. At that instance, it dawns on you that a raise following the flop might have won the money right then.
A-K is a beautiful thing to see in your hole cards. Just be certain you participate in them wisely and they can bring you awesome happiness at the poker table.