Everyone who competes in texas hold’em understands that Ace-King is one of the very best starting hands. But, it is simply that, an opening hand. It is just two cards of a 7-card equation. In nearly every situation, you’ll want to jump out firing with A-K as your pocket cards. When the flop comes, you have to reassess your cards and think things through before you just presume your overcards are the strongest.
Like many other opportunities in holdem, knowing your competitors will assisting you in gauging your position when you hold Ace-King and observe a flop like 9-8-2. After you wager preflop and were called, you assume your competitor is also holding good cards and the flop may have missed them as badly as it by-passed you. Your assuming will often times be precise. Also, do not neglect that most poor folks would not understand good cards if they tripped over them and possibly could have called with Ace-x and paired the table.
If your opposing player checks, you could check and observe a free card or lay a wager and try to grab the pot up right there. If they wager, you might raise to observe if they’re in or fold. What you want to avoid is basically calling your opponent’s wager to see what the turn gives rise to. If any card instead of the Ace or King is turned over, you won’t know any more information than you did following the flop. Let us say the turn brings a 4 and your competitor wagers again, what do you do? To call a wager on the flop you had to think your hand was the best, so you must surely think it remains so. So, you call a bet on the turn and 1 more on the river to find out that your opposition was holding 10-8 and only had second pair after the flop. At that moment, it dawns on you that a raise the bet after the flop might have captured the pot right there.
Ace-King is a beautiful combination to find in your hole cards. Just be sure you bet on them carefully and they’ll bring you awesome cheerfulness at the poker table.