Ace King Offsuit

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We all know ace-king (AK) is a better hand than ace-jack (AJ). But you might be surprised how much better AK is. I will show you my exact winrates with a mix of 6max and full ring texas no limit Holdem games. I played over 5 million hands.

When we hold an Ace in our hand it becomes less likely that our opponent holds Aces or Ace-King. Good equity against a calling range. Suited Ax will almost always have at least 35% equity against a 4-bet calling range. Solid playability. Suited wheel Ax hands have the ability to flop straight draws, pairs and of course the nut flush draw. Only fresh and important news from trusted sources about mcmillan and wife 3 today! Be in trend of Crypto markets,mcmillan and wife 3, cryptocurrencies price.

And from the graph below, you can see that AK makes you a lot more money. AJ is still a winning hand, and you should be opening from most positions, except for early position in full ring games. But AK is entirely on another level. Let’s have a look at different possible poker scenarios.

AK vs. AJ preflop: Different approach

Ace King is open from any position on the table. The majority of the time, it is good enough to 3bet preflop with. It is in the top 3.5% of hands, even a top 2.5% hand if we hold ace-king suited (AKs). 3betting the hand for value builds the pot, and often players call with worse hands, so we can dominate opponents postflop.

Against very aggressive people that 3bet or 4bet a lot, AK can even be a profitable 4bet and stack off-handpreflop. It is a real money maker hand that provides steady wins.

Ace Jack, on the other hand, is folded from the early position if off suited, and a fold against early position opens. Ace Jack suited (AJs) is still a raise preflop from all positions, but it isn’t as good as AK. We will not be 3betting this hand that often. And we are certainly not prepared to stack off preflop with this hand – vast majority of times this would be a huge mistake.

Preflop, Ace-King is a clear winner.

Ace King vs. Ace Jack postflop: Which plays better

Postflop, the situation doesn’t change much. Ace King is still a better hand more often; let’s check why.

Ace King is a good hand to have postflop

Non-pair hands will hit a pair by the river half of the time.

Chances to hit top pair or better on the flop with AK is around 33%.

So ⅔ of the time, you will not have a pair yet on the flop. But when you do hit top pair on the flop with AK, it will be top pair with top kicker. This allows us to value bet several streets, where we get paid by top pairs that have a lower kicker. We have a chance to hit the nut flush if we have AKs. Not to mention, we can apply aggression on dry flops when we miss, and bluff with our hand.

On most ace high or K high boards, we go for at least 2 streets of value, and if it is a 3bet pot, then probably you can play for stacks. Hands like KJ, KQ, AQ, AJ, etc. will have a hard time finding a fold against our bets, as hitting a top pair with 2nd and 3rd kicker is still a decent hand in Texas Holdem.

On very draw heavy flops like 789 (2 spades), we should be just giving up, as bluffing on such board will just cost us money, if we don’t have the nut flush draw, of course.

On dry boards, for example, Q27r (rainbow), we can apply aggression and bluff. We can even hit any K or A on turn or river to improve.

When we have some draw but no made hand yet, we can go either way. Taking a free card is fine if betting and getting check-raised would be bad, as we need to fold and give up our draw equity.

Ace King is a good hand, and as you can see from the graph, winrate is pretty consistent, with no big swings.

Ace Jack does fine, but that’s about it

With Ace Jack, we will not hit top pair top kicker all the time.

But our decent kicker on A high flops still allows us to value bet our hand. We will get paid off by draws, weaker aces, and some weaker pairs. When we hit a jack, we need to be a bit more careful. There could be K or Q on turn and river, which would make our hand not as strong. Also someone passive player could be holding an overpair, that they decided not to 3bet preflop with.

The same as for AK, we need to give up on draw heavy boards. And dry flops are an excellent candidate to start bluffing.

From the chart, you can see a clear difference in winrate compared to Ace-King. While still profitable, our profit will be a lot smaller.

Difference between AJs (suited) and AJo (offsuit) is huge

Look at the difference of my winrates when I hold AJs and when I have AJo. The difference is enormous. One is close to 100bb/100 winrate, while the other one is several times smaller. Due to smaller winrate, there is also more variance involved, and the graph doesn’t go up as smoothly as it does for AJs. That is also the reason my overall chart for AJ doesn’t look that smooth anymore, despite 30bb+/100 winrate.

This will be the case for aces with lower side cards as well.

It is quite common that those off suited hand combinations are not profitable anymore, while the suited counterpart is still making us a nice profit.

This is all because we can semi-bluff more often when we get a flush draw or even better, value bet with the nut flush.

Multiway pots

By now, it comes as a no surprise. AK does better in multiway pots also. It hits the bigger two pairs. But for both hands and as a general rule in multiway pots, the correct approach is not to be bluffing in multiway pots. The chance that at least some player has hit something is too high.

Instead, you should be focusing on value bet properly when you hit your strong hands. I see many players, even on low stakes, to telegraph their hand. They would bet pot every time on the river with nuts. When maybe it makes more sense to go for a bit smaller sizing and get called by more hands. Then again in some spots, I would go for overbet shove, where some people might go for ⅔ value bet.

All of this comes with years of experience and playing many hands. And of course, discussing the strategy with better players than I am.

There is one scenario when having AJ is better

In one particular situation, it is better to have ace-jack than ace-king. This is the case only for suited hands.

Imagine the following scenario: We hit a nut flush with AKs. Now nobody can have second nuts. We hold the K ourselves. So it is better if we have AJ instead. This means that someone else can have 2nd nut flush. And 2nd nut flushes are most likely to stack off. Lower flushes might even find a fold to our huge bets on all 3 streets. But 2nd nut flush will rarely fold.

Of course, AK is still better for all the other typical postflop scenarios, where kickers matter. Flush vs. 2nd nut lush will not happen that often, especially compared to top pair better kicker, vs. top pair lower kicker scenarios.

Conclusion

Now you know how much better Ace-King is compared to Ace-Jack. It is better at all these scenarios:

• AK is better preflop, it meats more hands, and can apply more pressure.
  
• AK is better postflop. It has a better kicker when we hit top pair. It hits bigger two pairs
  
• AK is better in multiway pots. Again, better two pairs are really valuable in multiway scenarios.

One scenario where having AJ is better:

• If both hands are suited, and we hit a nut flush. Then having AJ is better as someone can hold second nut flush.

You also know what kind of winrates you can expect with each of those hands. Ace king is all around better, but AJ is still a winning and playable hand, we just need to be a bit more careful with it.

Useful Links:

• AK vs QQ
  
• AK vs 22
  
• Chances to win with AA
  
• AQ vs KJ
  

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Some players prefer to have ace-king (AK), and there are ones who are more thrilled to see QQ in their hole cards. But if you are an experienced player like me, you will be pretty satisfied to see either. It is no secret that both are excellent hands.

But which makes you more money? Which hand does better preflop, and which postflop? How about heads-up and in multiway spots? With more than 5 million hands that I played online, I have plenty of data to share with you and answer all of these questions and more.

Many people simply say it is a flip when you put ace-king against pocket queens.

But how good is ace-king against pocket queens actually in terms of raw equity (if both players would go all in every time and nobody folds)? Well, actual odds are a little bit different. For someone who also plays a lot of Omaha lately, every percentage matters. AK, including both suited and off-suited combinations, has 44% equity against QQ. This is quite a few percentages away from a flip. But there is more to hands than just the raw equity.

Ace King vs. pocket queens preflop

If we compare AKs (ace-king suited) against QQ, then we have 46%, which is better – suited hands always have a little more equity. And AKo (ace-king offsuit) has a 43.24% chance to win. When postflop play doesn’t matter, then you would be happier holding QQ every time, it simply has more equity. Even when you are up against more opponents, this doesn’t change.

Both hands are at the top of our range and are really good hands. Look at the graph of both (images below), and you will notice a big, straight line up. Both are great money making hands. There aren’t any big swings, just consistent profit, once you have a large enough sample.

Both hands are good enough to 3bet preflop with for value. Depending on how loose the opponent is, these can be good enough to stack off even preflop.

But poker plays primarily postflop, so it is essential to check how different flops affect our approach with these two hands.

AK vs. QQ postflop

Pocket queens postflop

Pocket queens aren’t a sure thing to win postflop, far from that. Even pocket aces don’t win all the time. But if played correctly, it can result in a nice steady wins time after time. The biggest problem is, of course, overcards on the flop.

How often do you think you will see an overcard on the flop when you hold QQ? Actually quite often.

Whne you hold QQ, you will see an overcard a bit more than 42% of the time on the flop. If we discount the times that we flop a set, then the odds to see overcard on the flop and we didn’t hit a set is 38%.

Ace King Off Suit

So more than one-third of the time, if we are faced with pressure from the opponent, we need to give up our hand, maybe not on the flop, but certainly on turn on the river. But at times, we also get free showdowns, where we are faced with only one street of bet, and the rest is checked down. You can expect to win a fair share of those small pots.

In a scenario where we don’t see the overcard and flop is not to draw heavy, we can usually extract 2 streets of value, sometimes three, and this really makes for a majority of our winrate – along with 3betting the hand preflop of course.

When the flop is full of draws, imagine 789 with two spades flop, then it is best to pot control with our hand. We still do okay in terms of equity, but building the pot is not smart anymore.

Ace King postflop

Ace king is a good hand to have postflop. We will hit top pair around 30% of the time. Sometimes we will also have the nut flush draw or a gutshot straight draw or other backdoor draws, like a backdoor straight draw.

All is not lost if we miss the flop. We can apply aggression and bluff on some of the driest flops, or just take a free card or call one street to see if we improve.

Every time we hit a pair on the flop, it will be top pair with a top kicker (assuming board doesn’t pair). This allows us to extract the value of all the draws and other top pairs with a lower kicker. We can very often go for two streets of value, sometimes even all 3.

As you can see, my AK winrate is very smooth, with no big swings. Pretty much, AK is a consistent money maker. There are some draw heavy boards where it is best to just give up, for example, 789 with 2 spades board, might still be fine to call a bet on with QQ, but AK isn’t good enough call a bet. It is best to give up and look for a better spot.

Ace King vs. QQ multiway

The general idea is to not bluff in multi-way pots. Therefore folding with AK will often happen if you don’t hit anything on the flop. It is the best decision to give up and wait for better spots.

On the other hand, on many flops, QQ can bet or at least call a bet. If we hit a set, it will more often than not be a top set, and then we get paid off nicely if someone else has a good enough hand willing to play for stacks.

Position matters

Like with any hole cards in poker, position matters with AK and QQ also. We often have a different strategic plan when we are in position, compared to out of position. Playing in the position, we can pot control more and have easier decisions on the river.

With AK, if you miss the flop, it is much easier to bluff in position as you get to see opponents’ actions first before you make yours.

On some flops, it is better to make a cbet with QQ when OOP (out of position), where on the same board, we would check back and take a free card if we were IP (in position). Therefore it is no surprise that with both hands, it is easier to play in position.QQ can withstand more pressure from opponents, even when out of position.

Winrate comparison of pocket queens (QQ) vs. Ace king (AK)

As you can tell both, Ak and QQ are substantial winners. The graph goes up smoothly for both. I can’t imagine anyone would be losing money with either of those. But QQ significantly outperforms AK. Winrate is more than doubled. I have quite a significant sample of 6max, and Full ring games and my winrates are the following:

• 150 bb per 100 hands (150bb/100) for AK.
  
• 360bb per 100 hands (350bb/100) for QQ

This means that for every AK I get dealt, I win one and a half big blinds. Which is a great result! For QQ, I do even better with 3.6 big blinds every time I receive them.

Just a side note, do you see how big of a thing it is if we get a fold by everyone preflop when we open? We win as much as if we would be holding AK, with no need to play postflop.

Conclusion

Preflop QQ is a better hand, it will win more often, and it also beats AK with a small equity advantage.

When it comes to postflop, you were able to see that both hands are really good. In some scenarios, AK does better, especially postflop when A or K is present on the board, but on those times, we also can let go of our pocket queens quite easily. The other times QQ can extract value from all the top pair types of hands and lower overpairs.

While it makes sense to bluff often with AK, with QQ, we already have strong showdown value.

Bluffing often with QQ doesn’t make sense, but still be cautious to not inflate the pot blindly for what you might wrongly believe is value betting. It is better to check and pot control sometimes, depending on the board and your position.

Ace King Off Suit Is Called

If I would need to choose, I rather have QQ both preflop and postflop, except for multiway spots, where I am fine having AK (but QQ still does better).

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Useful links:

Ace King Off Suit

• Ace King (AK) vs. pocket deuces (22)