How to Play Ace-King in Hold'em Poker Tournaments

Ace-King (AK) is one of the biggest decision hands in no-limit tournaments. It can make you or break you. AK is known to be a good �all-in hand� and it is, but you don�t want to push all you chips in every time you see it. You will have to learn how to play it well, and know when its time to make the all-in move.

In early stages of a tournament it�s a good idea to play AK lightly. Its not a good idea to play AK too aggressively pre-flop in early stages because there usually isn�t much of a pot to fight for. You need to make a pre-flop raise with AK but watch out for re-raises, you may want to fold to a large re-raise. If someone has already made a large raise its usually a good idea to just call and see if you hit an Ace or a King. If someone makes a small raise, double the blinds or so, you should make a re-raise to get some information. If he re-raises back you probably should toss the hand. Most likely he has a top pocket pair or AK and its not a good idea to risk a lot of chips hoping for a split pot.

When you have AK, you have about a 50% chance of hitting an ace or a king on the flop. When you do hit either card you will have top pair with the best kicker. Usually you will have the best hand on the flop so you want to make a good bet. In this situation I would make a bet about half the size of the pot. If you only have one opponent and the flop has a lot of random cards I might check the hand to try and get the other player to make a bet on the turn so I can raise him. But if the flop looks like it has a lot of flush or straight draws I might just bet on the flop so the other player doesn�t get any free cards.

When you hit an ace or a king and have lots of players in the pot you should always make a bet on the flop. Again, about half the pot would be a good bet. If someone makes a bet you should make a re-raise, especially if you are a beginner. Once you get the feel of the game, and believe you have the best hand, you can always just call and re-raise a bet on the turn. This can help build the pot. This is a more advanced play with AK though. It takes a good feel for the game to make plays like this.

I�m sure you want to know why AK is a good all in hand and when you should make the all-in move with it. So now I will explain how to effectively move all in with AK and why you should.

When you go all-in with AK your almost never in bad shape. The only time you will be in real bad shape with AK is when you up against aces. AK only has about a 10% chance of winning against aces. Against king you have about a 30% chance of winning. That�s not good but not that bad. If your up against any other pocket pair, its about a 50% chance of winning. And against 2 under cards you have more than a 60% chance of winning. The best situation would be against a ace and a random card or a king and a random card. In that situation you have about a 75% chance.

As you look above at all the odds you can see that an all in with AK is never a sure win but its never a sure loss either. The other reasons that AK makes a good all-in hand is that.

1. It can sometimes be the best hand without improving. If you weren�t all-in you might have been forced to fold the unpaired AK to an aggressive bettor. When your all in you cannot be bluffed out.

2. When AK wins its usually with just hitting one pair. This can be a hard hand to play especially for beginners. When you move all in a lot of hands that could have won with a draw would have folded.

3. A lot of the time when AK wins, its from hitting an ace or a king on the river or the turn. However if your not all in you would probably fold before the turn and river. Since your all in you get to see all 5 cards.

Now the best time to go all-in with AK is when your all in bet is between 3-5 times the size of the pot. So if the pot has a 1000 chips in it I would make a all in move if I had 3-5 thousand chips. Though, if there was already a raise and a few callers you might just want to call. The reason for this is that you are a lot more likely to be called. That means you probably wont win from everyone folding. Getting called by a small pocket pair is no good when you have AK since its less than a 50% chance that you win. In this situation I would just call and see if I hit an ace or a king.

When you are a beginning player you will probably make more all-in moves with AK. That�s fine when you first start playing tournaments but it�s a play style that can get you broke quick. So after you start playing more and more you will probably want to be more careful with your all-in moves.

No Limit Holdem Tournament Tips

No Limit Holdem tournament strategy can be different than if you were playing in a cash game. Some people play tighter in tournament play than in cash games and some people may switch their strategy from tight to semi loose. Here are two tips that may help the amateur poker player and the more experienced player play No Limit Holdem tournament style.

Play the Bubble

In tournament play the worst position to finish in is the bubble position. The bubble is the position before you finish in the money. For example if you are playing in a tournament where there are 30 players, let's say the top 5 positions will win some money. The bubble position would be the person who finishes in position 6. You can see why this is the wost position in which to finish the tournament.

If you play your cards right you can use this information to your advantage. Usually when the bubble position is closing in, players begin to play their cards tighter and tighter in order to avoid being put out of the tournament without any winnings. Take a good look around the table try to remember how players were playing there hands before the bubble position was approaching. If you see that a player was raising previously and now they are more conservative, you may have spotted your target.

Always turn the heat up on this type of player when possible. This type of player is more conscious of the fact that they would like to finish in the money and less likely to take a bunch of risk. If this player bets than you raise them. If this player raises then you re-raise them and if they are in the blinds, almost always raise their blinds. When put to the test this type of person will most likely play conservatively and wait for absolutely excellent quality hands.

Easy On the All Ins

As an experienced poker player there is nothing more annoying then sitting at a table when another player is constantly using the all in call. No Limit Holdem has become famous for this call but it is to be used for strategic means and not to be over used as a crutch. When someone does this constantly, it is like sitting there with a shirt on that reads "Amateur Poker Player. Take my money please."

Besides an experienced poker player is going to pick up on your tendencies and it wont take long for them to figure out when the all in call is coming and bait you into using it at the wrong time. An experience player is able to see this a pick a person apart. So use the all in call sparingly and for strategy and do not abuse it.