Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

Websites repeatedly say that AK ranks from the 4th to 10th best starting hand depending on site and whether the AK is sooted. For example:

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/poke...tinghands.html

http://www.4kingpoker.com/poker_play...g_ak_hands.php

Why is it not 14th since in my book:

AK < 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99 TT JJ QQ KK AA

I have a lot of trouble playing AK so maybe some perspective on this will help me.

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

Because AK does better against hand ranges than 22 will.

22 is dominated by a lot of hands and is at BEST a slight coinflip advantage against any hand.

AK is dominated only by AA or KK to some degree and is at WORST a coinflip in most other situations.

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

AK < 22 - lol. Like recondite said, 22 is a flip against ANY TWO CARDS that don't have a 2 in them, and is a huge dog against any pair.

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

A way to look at another way, AK and 22 are practically the same in made hand value (a pair of deuces being the very next rank up from Ace-King high) but AK has considerably more outs than 22 against another pair (6 outs + broadway straight for AK, only 2 outs for 22).

Also, AK dominates other commonly played big card hands, such as AQ, whereas the only hands 22 will dominate are highly unlikely to see the flop.

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

Here is some perspective for AK:

1. It is the type of hand that likes to see all five cards.

2. The reason for 1. is that AK is a drawing hand.

3. AK is only dominated by two other hands. Against all other hands it is either a slight dog (QQ-TT), a coin flip (22-66) or is ahead from a bit (two undercards) to a lot (Ax or Kx).

So what is AK useful for? It is used to move all-in with. That's one of the key NL strategies with AK. By moving in with AK (either by coming over the top of a raiser, punishing a bunch of limpers or open-raising all-in when short), you can take advantage of some of it's features I listed above.

Another feature of AK is to win pots against hands like AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, etc. As well, AK being the very best drawing hand will make the nut straight or the nut flush when it's draw comes in, again potentially crushing those other A or K hands.

The place to be careful with AK is in deep stack situations. AK usually needs to be raised to cut the field (and get AQ to come along for a bad ride.). However, in deep stack scenarios, you can get calls from hand that will beat AK when it hits TPTK. A flop of A T 9 with two suits should not exactly be a happy day scenario in a multiway pot for AK (unless he has those two suits). You may be ahead at the moment but about half the deck would produce a turn card that could leave you drawing dead on the river.

Caution is required for these deepstack landmine type pots and flops. I try to get the betting done preflop and if I feel that villain has KK or AA by the a 4 or 5 bet then I'll just leave the hand there.

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

22 is a microscopic 50.3%-49.7% favorite against one random hand. 22 is an underdog against 85s. 22 is an underdog against 2+ random hands. 22 often has an information disadvantage in a normal pot so it is hard to bet for value.

AK is a significant favorite over 1 or more random hands. AK is a big favorite over many good hands your opponents will play for a raise. AK can often semibluff cheaply or bet for value after the flop.

22 does slightly better than AK when your opponent has Q2-32, 22, or AA, and the AA shouldn't count because AK blocks half of the AA combinations. AK does better against the other hands your opponent can hold, often by a huge amount.

If you were playing 2 card stud, 22 would be the 13th best hand. Since you are playing a 7 card stud variant, 22 is at best a mediocre hand which is often overvalued, while AK is a very good hand. According to some of the PokerRoom stats, on average, 22 loses money in every position (although at some stakes and some positions, it comes out slightly ahead, which may be noise). AKo wins money in every position.

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

Doyle Brunson tells stories of $500 coinflips with 22 and his opponent holding AK. His opponents usually gave up after losing a few thousand.

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

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Doyle Brunson tells stories of $500 coinflips with 22 and his opponent holding AK. His opponents usually gave up after losing a few thousand.

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this clearly proves 22 is the better starting hand IMO

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

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Doyle Brunson tells stories of $500 coinflips with 22 and his opponent holding AK. His opponents usually gave up after losing a few thousand.

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this clearly proves 22 is the better starting hand IMO

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lol, unless the AK is suited, and the 22 doesn't have one of the AK's suit.


equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 50.084% 49.77% 00.31% 852207 5387.50 { AsKs }
Hand 1: 49.916% 49.60% 00.31% 849322 5387.50 { 2d2h }

Re: Ranking of AK among best starting hands
 

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