Playing AA and AK

How should you proceed if you are dealt with a starting hand of pocket Aces or a suited/unsuited Ace and King? Both AA and AK are among the strongest starting hands (actually, a pocket pair of Aces is the best starting hand), however, playing AA and AK do involve a certain skill level. A player will always have great chances with such cards as a pocket pair of Aces or an AK starting hand. Nevertheless, a poker player can still go wrong in maximizing the cards potential and actually to lose the whole hand if they fail to suitable play an AA or an AK.

Playing AA & AK: Play Slowly or Play forcefully Pre-Flop?

Slow playing your AA and AK – it is the manual rule as you play pocket Aces or a great strong starting hand such as AK. It is considered that if you are looking to get as much money into the pot as much players waiting to see the flop, you should slow play to get a reasonable sized pot when you actually win.

This strategy makes such great sense that the other players will probably get the impression that you indeed have a pocket pair of Aces or an AK, as you slow play pre-flop, more even if you are, in general, a forceful raiser.
Aggressive play pre-flop – it makes more sense as it is put in practice. With aggressive pre-flop play, you are able to cut down the number of players, “punish” speculative players and in the same time to mount up the size of the pot at one larger stroke (if there are enough players at the table).

Naturally, this strategy will be more efficient in case you are indeed an aggressive player. If you are usually a play-safe player and you start raising and re-raising pre-flop out of the blue, it is obvious you have a pocket pair of Aces or an AK.

Rule of Thumb When Playing AA or AK

If you are mostly an impulsive player and you land on AA or AK starting hand, it is better to raise and re-raise pre-flop, more even if you are engaged in a no-limit game.
Limping in is the usual strategy of players having AA and AK starting hands and you want to be unpredictable, as you would lose the opportunity to win as much money as possible. Additionally, you want to defend your pocket cards from drawing hands. Forceful play – although not all-out play – pre-flop is perfect to accomplish that and to reel sufficient players in for a larger pot.