Pocket Ace King: The Anna Kournikova

You may have heard pocket Ace-King referred to as the Anna Kournikova in the poker world. Why? The answer is because is looks great, but plays terribly.

This is generally the strategy most will approach when playing this hand in real money situations, but it’s still a very valuable opening hand, there’s just some key things to remember when playing it.

Let’s first take a look at the odds of this “great-looking” hand. Suited AK against a hand like pocket 7’s before the flop has just under a 48% chance of winning. That’s right, you are less likely to win the hand against a pair of 7’s. Even against pocket sixes, you remain under 48% to win the hand. So what pair would AK be better than before the flop? Believe it or not, there is only one pair out there: pocket 2’s. That’s right, only pocket 2’s are less favored to win against Ace-King before the flop and only by a measly 0.17 %. All these examples above as well are with pairs that do not include the suit of your AK. If we include a suited card that you are holding in your opponent’s hand, your odds decrease even further as it becomes more difficult for you to draw a flush. Without suited cards when holding AK, your odds will reduce even further.

So now we’ve studied the mathematical implications and you can see it’s fairly clear the hand isn’t as great as it seems. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t win money with this hand. The key is to watch your aggressiveness before the flop. When betting a hand like Ace-King, it’s still of value to increase the blinds before the flop to push out any players trying to limp in and see some free cards. Be careful not too raise too much though as you may get re-raised by a nice high pocket pair that will have a distinct advantage over your hand. It’s important to be aggressive, but still keep control of the betting. Once you’re able to see a flop than you can comfortably continue your betting action from there. Don’t be fooled by an Ace, King, Six flop though, as if the pre-raise flop was fairly high, there could be some sneaky pocket sixes out there. Always beware of an all-in from another player in a situation like this. Most players wouldn’t all-in with an Ace-Queen, but may trap you with a low pocket pair that hits for trips or a set.

Good luck and remember the math above when playing the Anna Kournikova!

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