Learn to play the Ace-King with the Masters

Carlos Mortensen "I don't like to play A-K all-in before the flop at the beginning in any tournament. I did it recently, and I got knocked out! A-K is a very good hand against ace-high. It's the best hand you can go with. A-K against another ace, 'cause even if the guy has pocket kings, it only takes you one card. A-K is good to see the flop. If it's suited, call raises with it. But I play it very carefully at the beginning of a tournament.

"Of course, late in the tournament, it is an all-in hand. If the blinds are too big, you have to play it, but at the tournament, the blinds tell you what to do with your hand. If you have $10,000 or $20,000 in chips, and the blinds are only 25/50 or 50/100, you cannot call all your chips with A-K. What can you expect? If the guy has a pair of deuces, it is better than what you have.

"At the end, when the blinds are higher, you have to play. I will say that I like A-K better than A-Q! I don't like A-Q! It is the worst. You want a pair, or A-K."

Mel Judah "There is always a time to play A-K. If you are short-stacked, you would be happy to put your money all-in with A-K. If there is a pair against you, you are about 50/50. If someone has A-Q or A-J, you are a bigger favorite, so the power of A-K is good; but when you have a lot of chips, you have to be a lot more careful with A-K because you don't want to lose all your chips based on one hand. Although A-K has many times beaten two kings or two queens, it depends on your chip situation and how much pressure you can put on your opponent. I don't think there is anything wrong with playing A-K. It depends how your table is playing, and whether you should see a flop sometimes and then try to take the pot away from your opponent after the flop. A-K does have its good points. It depends on how you represent it. Most times you would be happy to have A-K."

Annie Duke "How I play A-K totally depends on the situation. If it's very early in a tournament I'm never going to overplay it. Early in a tournament I really like to just call with it if there are no antes out there. I just try to hit it and then see what happens. The thing about A-K is you have to understand what you are getting into with the hand. The fact of the matter is if you have a pot that is all in, rarely is A-K going to be the dominating hand. Most of the time you are going to be racing with Q-Q, J-J, 10-10, 9-9. So, you really have to decide if you are at a point where you want to race. The nice thing about moving in with A-K is that very often you are going to get someone with a hand that you don't want to play against to lay it down."

John Phan "A-K can get a lot of people in trouble, including myself. I get knocked out of a lot of tournaments with A-K. All the new players think A-K is so big; they go all-in no matter what. A lot of the time A-K runs into aces or kings, and you are drawing pretty slim. Sometimes it is better to just see a flop, depending on how many chips you have vs. the other player. If you have the same amount of chips, then check and call. You don't want to go too crazy."

Scotty Nguyen "I've been doing this for the last 15 years. Every tournament, I get knocked out with kings, aces; A-K doesn't mean anything. I'm not going to let A-K break me. Kings break me all the time. Too many people die with A-K. They love A-K. That's the way it is sometimes. A-K beats your aces. For me, A-K is all right, but I'm not dying with A-K."