Ace King (Ace-King) is considered to be one of the strongest starting hands in the game. In fact, it is the very sole reason behind many players calling your raise or re-raise. But, what if you were holding the weaker Ace-King? In this situation, you probably do not want to continue pushing, since you are most likely beaten by a stronger hand.
If you happen to be holding Ace-King, the correct play is to make a continuation bet about 1/2 to 3/4 of the pot size. This is a very strong play in many ways. If your opponents holds any part of the Ace-King offsuit, they will have at most, a marginal hand to call a strong bet by you. When you hit the Ace-King, most often they will have no idea whether they actually have the best hand or not. By betting the flop, as strong as you feel your hand may be most likely, you will often scare your opponents out of the hand by making them uncomfortable with the size of the bet.
The benefit of betting the flop when you happen to hold Ace-King is that this situation gets to you as a player a lot quicker. Your opponents that may have been considering their starting hand suddenly find themselves distancing themselves from the hand. It is important to capitalize on this, and to do so as quickly as possible. Why waste their time in going for the draw when you have another play in the game that will be even more effective? Make them pay for their draws when you have Ace-King.
When you are deciding to make a continuation bet, do everything you can to indicate that you are hesitant about putting a lot of your chips in to the pokerrepublik. If your opponents know that, they will attempt to steal the pot from you anyway. With these kinds of hands, you want to try to trap your opponents and allow them to take the free card. However, if you are calling raises with Ace-King, you want to make sure that you do not fall too far behind if someone behind you bets.
When you happen to be in a heads-up situation, Ace-King becomes even more useful. Hitting flops with Ace-King gets around the average hand of 2.5:1, making it very strong against almost any hand. When you decide to bluff, you will want to make sure that you bet your Ace-King as strongly as you can. Against lower pairs, you will likely want to hit the flop hard to push your opponents off a hand. Against a higher pair, you will want to aim for the high pair, since your Ace-King will likely be higher after the flop. When you hit the flop, make a strong bet and your opponents will likely think they are ahead of you. When you make a big raise, you will often scare away your opponents, unless some of them have top pair or better.
Playing Ace-King is not easy. However, it can be fun and rewarding. Take some time and learn how to play Ace-King and you will be rewarded.