SCENARIO 24
Suppose you are in the big blind with introduction:
Novice Nancy opens in second position for $50, Loose Louie calls to her left, action Al calls on the button, and Authority Artie calls from the small blind poker game.
What's Your Move?
A. Fold
B. Raise to $50
C. Call
First Move Analysis
You have a pair of fives, not the kind of pair that you want to put a lot of chips in the pot no limit holdem with before the flop, although you can call a small amount to try to hit trips on the flop. The correct play is to call ©. "Please give me a five on the flop!" you're silently praying. The flop comes with the:
Authority Artie checks, we check, and Nancy bets $100. Louie folds. Al calls on the button and Artie folds in the small blind card game.
What's Your Move?
A. Call
B. Raise
C. Fold
Second Move Analysis
Ooops! You didn't hit the set you were hoping for. No set on the flop, no bet. The correct strategy hand is to fold ©.
Big Connected Cards
How to Play A-K
Otherwise known as Big Slick, A-K is a hand that plays a lot of big pots. You usually raise with A-K, thereby putting pressure on your opponents. It isn't unusual to see the poker player raise before the flop with a pair only to have an opponent reraise all-in behind him with an A-K.
You might ask, "Why would someone move all in with this hand?" Big Slick is primarily a drawing hand and any pair is a favorite to it before the flop. It is Because of the pressure that you put on players when you move in on them with A-K. For example, suppose an opponent raises the pot understanding with J-J and you move all-in with enough chips to cover his stack. Your opponent feels a ton of pressure because if he loses the hand he will be out of the tournament. He is at a disadvantage because he doesn't know what cards you are holding. Unless he has aces, he knows that if you have a larger pair than his jacks, you are a big favorite to win the pot.
And that is the kind of pressure inherent to no-limit holdem poker game tournaments-if you make the wrong decision, you instantly become a spectator looking on from the rail.
Lots of tournaments are won or lost in confrontations Between an A-K and a pair. As T.J.Cloutier wrote in Championship No-limit & Pot-Limit Holdem, "You have to win when you have A-K and you winning poker when you're up against A-K. " When you're A-K is up against a pocket pair, it is almost like flipping coins-heads you win, tails you lose. A classic confrontation that seems to inevitably occur in poker tournaments is A-K against Q-Q, in which the queens are a small favorite against Big Slick. In fact, unless an opponent has pocket aces or kings, the A-K is only a small underdog in the pot. For that simple reason, A-K is a hand that players try to bully the table with.
The higher the blinds get in the tournament the more you can put pressure on your opponents when you have an A-K. In the early rounds there isn't much money to fight over, but in the later rounds just winning principles the blinds and antes will help you to maintain your stack size.
In the late stages of a tournament, a lot of players will play any type of ace-hand, regardless of the second card in their hand. on television you often will see two opponents hit an ace on the flop. What determines the winner is the kicker, the side card you have in your hand. If you have A-K, you have the highest possible kicker, aces with a king kicker, which would beat an opponent with A-J or A-Q unless he paired his kicker. And that is another strength of Big Slick.
Of course, if your A-K is suited you can make a flush (the nut flush, in fact) or you can make the nut straight if the board is showing a Q-J-10. One of the beauties of A-K suited, then, is that when you flop a flush or straight draw, you are always drawing to the best hand.