The Flop Includes An A Or A K
(For Example, A-9-4, K-10-7, A-ai-3, or K-Q-J)
You bet, raise, and reraise quite a bit because you have hit "top pair" with "top kicker." In every case where an A or a K hits the flop you will have top pair with top kicker (A-A-K or A-K-K), and this is a very strong hand in Hold'em! For example, if the flop is A-9-4, then you have a pair of aces with a king kicker. This hand will beat all other pairs of aces like A-Q, A-J, A-10, A-8, etc.
But let's suppose now that the flop is A-9-4 and someone is holding A-9. Your A-K would be losing on this flop, because A-9 now makes two pair, aces and nines. Still, for every time someone who plays a weak A-9 against your powerful A-K and beats you, you'll beat him more than two other times (that is, the A-K is slightly more than a 2.5 to 1 favorite heads-up against A-9). The point I'm trying to make is that A-K becomes very powerful when you catch an A or a K on the flop, and you should put in a lot of betting and raising on the flop when this is the case. Fortunes have been won and lost with A-K!
Now let's move on to a few examples of how to play the A-K when you miss the flop.
The Flop Is J-5-2
You bet out $2. The lion, Leo, raises, making it $4 to go; and the elephant, Earl, calls the bet. In this case you figure that one of your opponents has you beat, but you call $2 anyway, on the chance that an A, K, Q, or 10 will hit the board on fourth street. If an A or K hits, then you should bet out $4 on fourth street. But if a Q or 10 hits, then you will want to call a $4 bet (check and then call $4 if your opponents bet) because you have picked up a straight draw. Since you know you will call $4 when a Q or a 10 hits, you may choose to bet out $4, attempting to win the pot right there (but right now we are talking about play on the flop). So the play on the flop here is fairly simple: you bet out $2 and call the raise of $2.
The Flop Is and You Have g-g]
You bet out $2, and the lion raises it to $4 to go. The jackal calls $4. Now what do you do? Folding here isn't a bad option, because two of the cards that under other conditions you would like to see on the turn or river, [V] or [V], would make four diamonds on the board, so they're very likely good cards for someone else, bad cards for you. Still, it costs you only $2 to see if you can hit your hand. I would probably just fold for $2, but an expert could call the $2 bet, because he feels that he reads his opponents well enough to avoid getting too involved later on in the hand. The point I'm trying to make is this: sometimes, even though you have A-K, you have to fold your hand on the flop when the others raise you. You're not folding often, mind you, but situations where you face three suited connected cards like 0-0-0 or 0-0-0 on tne board,and y°u have none oi the
suited cards in your hand (like with 0-0), are )ust to° "kely to have helped someone else in the hand. Those two examples are the worst possible flops for your 0-0, and lt's Probably right to just fold your hand on the spot.
Poker - Short Handed Games A short-handed game is one that has either...
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