Head Games: Deep Thoughts on Playing A-K in Tournaments

The Pros: Antonio Esfandiari, Greg Raymer, and Sorel Mizzi

Craig Tapscott: What are your thoughts on playing A-K and the mistakes that you see people make with that hand?

Antonio Esfandiari: I think that A-K is a very good and powerful hand. It can be a monster in tournament poker, but sometimes people think that it’s two aces — and it’s not two aces. Sure, deep in a tournament, a lot of times you just can’t get away from it. But in the early stages, I see many young players who tend to play A-K way too fast. That’s the biggest mistake that I see people make. They’re deep-stacked and will put in their whole stack with A-K, and they don’t even have a pair. I tend to play the hand a little slower, especially preflop, because when you get into a preflop battle while holding A-K and the flop comes 9-8-7, what are you going to do?

Greg Raymer: People tend to get married to the hand, especially when it’s pretty obvious preflop that they’re up against a premium pair. The biggest problem is not giving up on the hand when the evidence clearly suggests that you’re beat. It’s one thing if you have a short stack or average stack late in a tournament; then, it’s perfectly acceptable to get it all in preflop with A-K. Hopefully, you’re the guy shoving and not the one calling. Either way, it can’t be too horrible if you’re not too deep to get it all in with A-K. The problem is, people will have 100 big blinds and they’ve put in only a few big blinds preflop, and then they miss the flop. They’re heads up now, and they somehow convince themselves that the other guy doesn’t have them beat. In that situation, if the opponent is willing to put more money into the pot on the flop, he’s going to have A-K beat more often than not.

Sorel Mizzi: A-K is probably the most overplayed and underplayed hand at the same time. The typical mistake that I see a weak-tight player make is reshoving for 30 big blinds or more preflop with A-K. It might be better to reraise to induce a shove, or just call a raise and play the hand post-flop. A passive player might just call a raise with A-K and less than 20 big blinds, and try to hit a flop, while most of the time it’s better to just get it in. A loose-aggressive player may get into a raising and reraising war with A-K and more than 50 big blinds, and not be able to get away from it preflop under any circumstances. Most of the time, it’s better just to call a reraise, barring player-dependent reads. Obviously, the situations that I shared above can be correct in some instances, depending on the table dynamics and whom you’re playing against. But it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t have to reraise with A-K. There’s nothing wrong with just calling when you’re deep enough to play post-flop, and calling actually might be the optimal play in a lot of situations (for example, when players in front of you are short-stacked and capable of squeezing light).

Craig Tapscott: How do you approach playing A-K during different stages of a tournament?

Antonio Esfandiari: Late in a tournament, it really depends on how many big blinds I have and what’s going on at the table. For the most part, I’m almost always going to open the pot for a raise. If I get reraised, depending on the stack sizes, most of the time I’m probably shipping it in; that is, unless I have a very deep stack and the other guy also has a deep stack. Then, I probably will just flat-call. Also, if I’m up against a very tight player who raised from early position, I will just flat-call. He will never know what I have, and if I miss, I can easily get away from it. And if someone else re-pops it, I can see what the original raiser does before I do anything.

Greg Raymer: Deep in tournaments when the average stack is short or my stack is short, I’m going to play A-K pretty much like aces. I’m really trying to get it all in preflop. When the stacks are deeper, like in the World Series of Poker main event, I’m going to play A-K in a lot of different ways. If the situation seems reasonable to do so, I will get it all in preflop if I can be the guy shoving. If not, I might try to see a flop cheaply to see if I can hit something. Sometimes you’re better off just calling a raise and seeing a flop with A-K, because people will tend not to put you on that hand. They expect you to raise, reraise, four-bet, or whatever with A-K. A lot of people play it so aggressively that when you don’t, they don’t give you credit for having that good a hand. Let’s say that an opponent raised with A-J or A-10 preflop and you just called with A-K. Then, when you flop top pair with your ace, he will assume that he has you outkicked. That’s a great spot to be in.

Sorel Mizzi: I don’t think the stage of the tournament is really relevant, for the most part. In the early stages, you obviously don’t want to play for stacks with A-K. You don’t want to go too crazy preflop, unless you have less than 20 big blinds; then, you do. But it’s very player-dependent. I’ve done crazy things with A-K in the past. I have even over-limped preflop. In a recent North American Poker Tour event, a player limped in from under the gun and I had 30 big blinds; I limped in, as well. In that situation, I knew that the players in front of me were kind of aggressive and would try to pick up the chips in that spot. And, sure enough, the small blind raised and the big blind called, and then the original limper called. That was a perfect spot for me to shove all in with A-K and a ton of fold equity. I ended up winning the pot without a showdown. You can be tricky like that sometimes, but it really depends on the dynamics of the table you’re at. ♠

_Greg Raymer won the 2004 World Series of Poker main event, and is the lead instructor at the WSOP Academy. In the 2009 WSOP $40,000 no-limit hold’em event, he finished third and took home $774,927. He is a Team PokerStars pro and has more than $6.9 million in career tournament cashes.

Sorel Mizzi has amassed career online and live cashes of more than $4.5 million. In 2010, he finished third at the Aussie Millions. Also this year, he won an event at the Borgata Spring Poker Open, and captured a PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up event for $149,737. Mizzi is sponsored by Titan Poker.

Antonio Esfandiari won a World Series of Poker bracelet in the 2004 $2,000 pot-limit hold’em event. He finished third in the 2005 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, and has a career total of $3.3 million in tournament cashes. He is sponsored by VictoryPoker.net._