Ace-King is also called Anna Kournikova, because it always looks great, but never wins. What to do with AK after getting 4-bet pre and you are playing for a huge $327,900 pot?
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
Online poker cash game legends Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov, Dan “Jungleman” Cates, Sergio Aido and Wiktor “limitless” Malinowski sat down during the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe to play a NL$500/$1,000 high stakes cash game.
The only unknown player at the table was Vladi Chaoulov from Romania, who gets put to the test by Sergio Aido in our Poker Hand of the Week.
They are playing 5-max NL$500/$1,000 and Vladi Chaoulov got Sergio Aido covered at the start of the hand.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
Mikita Badziakouski raises UTG with A♦10♦ to $2,000 and gets 3-bet by Vladi Chaoulov with A♠K♣ to $8,000. Sergio Aido now wakes up with K♥K♠ on the button and makes it $22,000 to go.
Mikita gets out of the way, but Chaoulov goes for the 5-bet to $60,000, Aido just calls in position with his Pocket Kings. Pot Size: $131,500
Flop:
The flop is relatively dry with 6♥J♦6♣ rainbow. Chaoulov quickly announces All-In with Ace-King high and Aido, who has less than pot behind, insta-calls.
Just like that there is an incredible $327,900 in the middle and Sergio Aido is a massive 85% favourite.
They agree to run it twice and here are the two runouts:
Aido wins both of them and gets rewarded with a massive $327,000 Pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
The question here is what to do with Ace-King in a cash game after getting 4-bet pre? Do you need to play for stacks here or not? Let’s take an in-depth look.
As so often in poker the answer is it depends. It mainly depends on your opponent and if you are having position on him or not.
If your opponent is a nit, then Ace-King will be rarely good here and you are in the most cases crushed, but if your opponent is loose-aggressive then this is a pretty easy All-In.
In this particular spot, I would proceed with caution as Sergio Aido is more on the tight side, you are out of position and Mikita Badziakouski has raised UTG, so chances are that he also has an Ace in his hand.
Chaoulov should have narrowed down Aido’s 4-betting range to Pocket Aces, Kings and Queens and Ace-King. AK is very unlikely as Vladi holds it himself.
That leaves us with only Aces, Kings and Queens and against this range Chaoulov has only 30%, so he shouldn’t have 5-bet and instead only have called the 4-bet to control the size of the pot.
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
If your opponent has a tight 4-betting range, it’s best to just call with Ace-King in cash games hoping to hit an Ace or a King on the flop.
5-betting or even 5-bet shoving with Ace-King is a bad idea and clearly -EV, if your opponent only has QQ+ and AK himself.
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