Most Common Bust Out Hand
AK may be the most common bust out hand
By Andy Bloch
AK may be the most common bust out hand because it's too strong
to lay down in most situations, yet it doesn't have a big edge against
a random hand. I've gone out of tournaments more times with AK than
any other hand. AK suited wins about 65% of the time against the
top 20% of hands, but just slightly more often -- 67% of the time
-- against a random hand. Against a wild, loose player who raises
every hand, you'd actually prefer to have 88 or a higher pair.
Players sometimes make the mistake of trapping with AK when they
don't have a lot of chips, but AK is not a big enough favorite against
a random hand to risk letting the big blind in for free -- although
this depends on your opponents and the chip stacks. In the Foxwoods
episode this week, you see Howard Lederer making a great play with
his AK early on against Ron Rose. Given his stack size, he knew
that if he raised, he'd be committed to the pot if someone else
re-raised. He also knew that the players left to act were very aggressive
and likely to raise if he just called the blind. So, he decided
to "limp" (just call) with his AK and re-raise if someone
raised. If Howard had much less than he had, he probably would have
just raised all-in.
If there's already 2 or more raises in front of you, AK should
usually be folded. How you should play against a single raise depends
on your position. When I get to act after the raiser on the flop,
I may just call. When I'm out of position with it I usually try
to win the pot with a re-raise before the flop. But if I know that
the raiser is very likely to call me, I may just call and see a
flop before risking the rest of my chips
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