The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Different times call for different measures. When you're playing poker, you must take occasional risks to have a chance at winning otherwise you will be blinded out before you have a chance to win. Sometimes what may come across to novice players as being overtly conservative may be, in my mind, the correct play, but in other situations playing it "safe" is simply just playing poorly.

The best drawing hand you can start with in hold-em is big slick, Ace-King. You haven't made a hand yet, but if you do it has the potential to be very powerful and win you a big pot. If you can get them suited that's even better, but even if it isn't it can get you the best top pair, the nut straight and flush amongst other hands.

However, how many times have we entered a pot with Ace-King only to see three rags on the flop? No pair, no draw, and now there's a big bet in front of you and you're deciding whether or not to call. The poker community has an amusing term for A-K: Anna Kournikova: looks good, rarely wins.

That's why I don't consider it a bad thing if I raise pre-flop with A-K and everyone folds. It's not like having pocket Aces or Kings where you definitely want some action: A-K is still only Ace high and you're an underdog to anyone holding a pocket pair. Here's another expression you should commit to memory: better to win a small pot than to lose a big one.

So what would you do in this situation: You have A-K at the start of a tournament and you make your usual 3x the big blind raise. A player behind you elects to go all-in, putting your entire stack at risk. It's to you: do you call?

As I mentioned, it's the start of the tournament. The blinds in relation to your stack are very small. The gamble to double up early in a situation where you'd likely only be a slight favourite (about 60-40 to two random cards if the player is a maniac) is simply not worth it. And not to mention you wouldn't mind playing the game a little and not be busted out on the first hand. Folding Ace-King in this spot is not a bad play in my view.

Now let's say a player goes all-in at the final table of a tournament. The blinds are very high, and the average stack is only 10x the big blind in question. In this case, yes, you absolutely must call in this situation, especially against a short-stack. Folding Ace-King here is too tight, because with the blinds as high as they are, the premium hands you're going to get dealt will be few and far in between before you run out of chips. You need to find a spot to get your chip stack at a comfortable level so you a) don't get blinded out and b) you have a chance to win. In this instance, there's a good chance you have the player dominated (i.e. you're up against Ace-rag) and you're putting your chips in with the best of it anyway. The likely worst case scenario is that you might be up against a pair, in which case you'd be about a coin flip. If you're up against Aces or Kings, well, that's just incredibly bad luck. But even if that was the case, safe play here won't save you. You must take a gamble when the blinds are very high in relation to your stack. Like in baseball, go down swinging. Make a stand with your good hands and give yourself a chance to win, not finish in 4th place.

Another thing you want to avoid is having your chip stack so low, you can't force the blinds to fold to your all-in because you have so few chips left in front of you. If you can raise no more than 3x the big blind, for instance, almost anyone would call with any 2 cards they have if they're the big blind, and with have A-K, you're only a 3-2 favourite against two random cards. And it doesn't it always seem the bad beats hit you in a spot where you're risking elimination?

Be aggressive, and conservative, where appropriate with Ace-King.