There are many reasonable ways to approach playing A-K. Some players play it aggressively every time, consistently raising and re-raising. Others take the cautious route, calling and then checking when they fail to improve to at least top pair, top kicker.

Instead of playing it the same way every time, you should make a point to actively pay attention to your opponent's tendencies to play A-K (and every other hand) most profitably.

To illustrate this concept, let's take a look at this:

With blinds at 100-200 with a 200 big blind ante, the player in the lojack seat raised to 500 out of his 8,000 effective stack. Everyone folded around to our Hero in the small blind who called with A Spade Suit KClub Suit.

While calling is certainly better than folding, three-betting to 1,800 is usually ideal in order to get money in the pot with what is usually the best hand. If you elect to just call with A-K pre-flop, it is important to note that you are not "slow playing," hoping to automatically check-raise on any flop for value. Instead, you are playing a decently strong hand cautiously, opting to see if you flop a premium hand before investing significant money.

CARDPLAYER.COM/Jonathan Little