CHAPTER FOU R

THE INTRINSIC VALUE OF AK

Most players inherently understand that AK is a strong hand. But

how strong is it really? How often are we dealt AK? How does it tend
to hit flops? How does AK retain equity when hitting and missing?

This chapter will explore and answer these questions.

Keep in mind that our goal is NOT to memorize all of these percent-
ages down to the hundredth decimal place. Our goal is to get an
intrinsic feel for how AK performs which in turn prepares us with
realistic expectations.

HOW OFTEN ARE YOU DEALT AK?

While this knowledge is not particularly useful when choosing our
exact lines at the table, it is a good idea to know how often we are
dealt certain hands.

AKs AKo Full AK

COMBOS 4 12 16
%-FORM 0.30% 0.90% 1.21%
You will be dealt AK about once in every
82 hands

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

As a comparison, we are dealt AA 0.45% of the time.

In case you are curious, here is the likelihood that your AK will be
dominated based upon how many players are dealt into the hand:

# OF % CHANCE
PLAYERS DEALT IN AK IS DOMINATED
2 (heads up) 0.5%
3 players 1.0%
6 players 2.4%
9 players 3.9%
10 players 4.4%
So even if your brain quickly recounts all of the times you were dealt
AK and ran into a monster – you now know how rarely that actually
happens.

DENSITY OF AK
When putting your opponent on a range of hands, it is often help-
ful to understand the density of AK in that range. Simply put, of the
hands they are likely playing, what percentage of them are AK?

This information is incredibly useful when playing 3bet and 4bet

pots, but we can also use this information when crafting lines against
our opponent with other holdings.

% OF RANGE THAT IS
OPEN-RAISING
RANGE AKs AKo Full AK
77+/AK 6.3% 18.8% 25%
22+/AJ+/KQ 2.8% 8.5% 11%
22+/AJ+/KJ+/QJ/ATs/65s+ 2.0% 5.9% 8%

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

22+/ATB/54s+/T8s+ 1.5% 4.4% 6%

Top-30% Of Hands 1.0% 3.0% 4%
Top-45% Of Hands 0.7% 2.0% 3%

% OF RANGE THAT IS
RE-RAISE
RANGE AKs AKo Full AK
QQ+/AK 11.8% 35.3% 47%
TT+/AQ+ 6.5% 19.4% 26%
99+/AJ+/KQ 4.0% 12.0% 16%
99+/AJ+/KQ/ 2.9% 8.8% 12%
A2s-A5s/64s-T8s

% OF RANGE THAT IS
CALL VS.
RE-RAISE RANGE AKs AKo Full AK
TT-QQ/AK 11.8% 35.3% 47%
88-JJ/AJ+/KQ 4.5% 13.6% 18%
66-QQ/AJ+/KJ+/ATs/98s+ 2.8% 8.5% 11%
Notice that as a range gets narrower, AK naturally makes up a larger
density of that range.

When we identify this and have an idea what they would do with that
AK when facing aggression, we can develop a massive preflop edge.

If your opponent 3bet you with JJ+/AK, and you assumed

they would only give your 4bet action with KK+, how often
are they folding to your 4bet?

Complete this exercise when you are holding two blank

cards, AK, 77, and A8s.

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

AK AND BLOCKERS
Strong players have a solid grasp on combos and blockers. This
technical knowledge helps them craft lines and optimize in spots
where most players are simply guessing.

When we hold AK, be it suited or unsuited, we naturally reduce the

ability for our opponent to hold hands like AA, KK, and AK.

Let us explore some common preflop ranges our opponents use and
how our AK impacts those ranges.

OPEN-RAISING COMBOS COMBOS

WITH NO WHEN WE
RANGE BLOCKERS HOLD AK
77+/AK 64 51

AK reduces their starting range by 20%

22+/AJ+/KQ 142 117

AK reduces their starting range by 18%

22+/AJ+/KJ+/QJ/ATs/65s+ 202 172

AK reduces their starting range by 15%

22+/ATB/54s+/T8s+ 270 233

AK reduces their starting range by 14%

Top-30% Of Hands 398 345

AK reduces their starting range by 13%

Top-45% Of Hands 606 525

AK reduces their starting range by 13%

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

CALLING COMBOS COMBOS

WITH NO WHEN WE
RANGE BLOCKERS HOLD AK
22-JJ/AJ-AQ/KQ 108 96

AK reduces their starting range by 11%

22-JJ/AT-AQ/KJ+/54s+ 172 152

AK reduces their starting range by 12%

22-TT/A9+/KT+/QT+/
286 254
A2s+/43s+/64s+/J9s-K9s

AK reduces their starting range by 11%

RE-RAISE COMBOS COMBOS

WITH NO WHEN WE
RANGE BLOCKERS HOLD AK
QQ+/AK 34 21

AK reduces their starting range by 38%

TT+/AQ+ 62 45

AK reduces their starting range by 27%

99+/AJ+/KQ 100 75

AK reduces their starting range by 25%

99+/AJ+/KQ/A2s-A5s/64s-T8s 136 107

AK reduces their starting range by 21%

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

CALL VS. COMBOS COMBOS

WITH NO WHEN WE
RE-RAISE RANGE BLOCKERS HOLD AK
TT-QQ/AK 34 27

AK reduces their starting range by 21%

88-JJ/AJ+/KQ 88 69

AK reduces their starting range by 22%

66-QQ/AJ+/KJ+/ATs/98s+ 142 118

AK reduces their starting range by 17%

This exercise can also be taken a step further. For instance, what if
we knew our opponent would open-raise with X range and only give
our 3bet action with Y range? If we held AK in that situation, it would
be helpful to know how our hole cards would impact the outright
folding frequency of villain.

Would this knowledge be useful if instead you held hands

like A5s, KTs, and even QJo?

We could continue creating chart after chart, but at the end of the
day, your own exploration will take you much further. Download a
free worksheet for this exercise at www.splitsuit.com/ak-blockers

HOW AK HITS FLOPS

It may come as a shock, but AK is going to miss the flop – OFTEN.
Even though AK is a premium hand preflop, it still misses the flop
almost two-thirds of the time.

But even knowing that, how does AK perform the one-third of the
time that it does hit? Using Flopzilla, we can see what percentage of
the time AK flops the following:

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

FLOPPED HAND Full

STRENGTH AKs AKo AK
QUADS+ 0.02% 0.01% 0.01%
FULL HOUSE 0.09% 0.09% 0.09%
FLUSH 0.84% 0.00% 0.21%
STRAIGHT 0.32% 0.33% 0.33%
3 OF A KIND 1.35% 1.35% 1.35%
TWO PAIR 2.02% 2.02% 2.02%
TOP PAIR 28.96% 28.96% 28.96%
ACE HIGH 66.41% 67.24% 67.04%
FLUSHDRAW
(2 CARD) 10.94% - 2.74%
NUT FLUSHDRAW
(1 CARD) - 1.40% 1.05%
GUTSHOT 11.20% 11.35% 11.31%
FLUSHDRAW
+PAIR 1.68% 0.56% 0.84%
FLUSHDRAW
+GUTSHOT 1.47% 0.32% 0.60%
GUTSHOT
+PAIR 1.47% 1.47% 1.47%
GUTSHOT
+OVERCARDS 9.74% 9.88% 9.84%

The most common outcome with AK is that we will miss the flop en-
tirely and be left holding Ace-high. After that, our most common hits
include top pair and then gutshots.

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

Did you realize that AK misses this often? Did you realize that AK
flops gutshots that often? Did you realize that AK flops monsters that
rarely?

These tidbits informed the postflop chapters of this book to prepare

you for spots that happen regularly (and heavily impact your winrate).

HITS, MISSES, AND EQUITY

It can be a bit black-and-white to only think about hits and misses.
After all, our AK can miss and yet we still win the pot. Or our AK can
hit a strong hand and yet we end up losing the pot.

In almost every instance, our AK will have some equity when we

miss a flop against a range. And our opponent’s range will almost
always have some equity when our AK hits the flop.

Instead of exploring a bunch of AK vs. ranges vs. specific flops – let

us rather zoom out and explore how AK performs against certain
ranges AVERAGED over thousands of flops. To do this, we can use
FlopFalcon (www.redchippoker.com/flopfalcon) and we will define a
‘hit’ as any pair (or better) or a draw with 8+ outs.

AK vs. 66+/AQ+/KQ/AJs
(E.G. A NIT OPENS FROM EP AND YOU CALL THEIR RAISE)

HITS HOW OFTEN AK HAS THIS

VS. MISSES THIS HAPPENS MUCH EQUITY
BOTH HIT 27% 73% EQUITY
ONLY AK HITS 4% 94% EQUITY
ONLY RANGE HITS 47% 27% EQUITY
BOTH MISS 22% 73% EQUITY

OVERALL, AK HAS 52% EQUITY ACROSS ALL FLOPS

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

AK vs. A 24% CALLING RANGE

(E.G. YOU OPEN-RAISE AND A RECREATIONAL PLAYER CALLS)

HITS HOW OFTEN AK HAS THIS

VS. MISSES THIS HAPPENS MUCH EQUITY
BOTH HIT 20% 76% EQUITY
ONLY AK HITS 11% 95% EQUITY
ONLY RANGE HITS 38% 34% EQUITY
BOTH MISS 31% 77% EQUITY

OVERALL, AK HAS 62% EQUITY ACROSS ALL FLOPS

AK vs. 77-JJ/AQ/AJ/AKo/KQ/KJs/ATs
(E.G. AN ABC TAG OPENS, YOU 3BET, AND THEY CALL OOP)

HITS HOW OFTEN AK HAS THIS

VS. MISSES THIS HAPPENS MUCH EQUITY
BOTH HIT 25% 76% EQUITY
ONLY AK HITS 5% 95% EQUITY
ONLY RANGE HITS 38% 31% EQUITY
BOTH MISS 32% 78% EQUITY

OVERALL, AK HAS 60% EQUITY ACROSS ALL FLOPS

One major thing to notice is that AK still retains a good chunk of

equity even when it misses and our opponent hits.

Players who routinely play AK with the mindset of “I’m only to give
postflop action with top pair or better” find themselves leaving
tons of money on the table. That mindset results in an egregious
folding-frequency that even bad regs can pick up on.

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OPTIMIZING ACE KING

Here is one more important spot to visualize.

Say you open-raise, villain 3bets you, and you call. This is a com-
mon enough situation that exploring this spot a number of times and
ways is beneficial. But if we make the assumption that villain 3bets
with a depolarized range of 99+/AQ+, and we modify a ‘hit’ for villain
to only include middle pair (or better) or a draw with 8+ outs, we see:

AK vs. 99+/AQ+
(E.G. YOU OPEN-RAISE, GET 3BET, AND CALL)

HITS HOW OFTEN AK HAS THIS

VS. MISSES THIS HAPPENS MUCH EQUITY
BOTH HIT 24% 70% EQUITY
ONLY AK HITS 5% 92% EQUITY
ONLY RANGE HITS 47% 26% EQUITY
BOTH MISS 24% 66% EQUITY

OVERALL, AK HAS 49% EQUITY ACROSS ALL FLOPS

Even against such a strong 3betting range, our AK retains almost

50% equity across ALL flops.

If the only takeaway you get from this book is that you should be
folding your equity away less often, this book has paid for itself.

Seriously.

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