I wanted to get more specific than the other blinds post.

Marm really got me thinking about this when he challenged me on why a raise is correct with AKo.

The comments below are specifically for when 4+ people are already in the pot and the players are loose.


The reason to raise with these (big aces) hands is you have a PE edge over loose players.

It is generally correct to see at least on more card after the flop, so no problem making a big pot.

Your opponents are making a mistake putting money into the put on your raise was +EV so it was correct.

With AKs and other big suited aces I still agree with this.

But for AKo and AQo I am starting to think that raising less mandatory.

you have a PE edge over loose players.

With AKo and 4 opponents your expectation for a raise is probably between .05 and .08 big bets. Is that significant? Not as good at the .12 I would expect from AKs.

It is generally correct to see at least on more card after the flop, so no problem making a big pot.

Lets give an example with The flop will usually give you at least one card to a straight and one card to a flush for example



on this flop, you have over card outs, and two backdoor draws. Getting 11:1 or so on your money makes this an easy call and a raise me even be correct to thin the field and clean up outs. I queen a ten or a spade on the turn improves your outs and an A or K will likely win it for you.

but with you have only the overcards and the back door straight cards. you need two of a suit on the flop to have a back door flush draw, but may face heavy action on the turn from a made flush you are trying to our draw. Which also kills your straight and over card outs.

A Q or a T will give you a belly buster, but then an A or K leaves you vulnerable to straight. Do you have the equity on the flop to raise to protect (drive out the hands that could hit the straights)? I don't think so - it definitely is not as clear.

Do you mean Holdem Poker for Advanced Players? OR was that a joke? Kind of funny if it was a joke.

Marm or someone else can probably answer that.

In a limit game with 4 limpers or so, I very rarely raise AKo and never raise AQo.

In my opinion, the equity gained by the preflop raise does not of set the following advantages of not raising:

1. You can easily get away from bad flops without anyone knowing that you are tossing a big hand.

2. There is no obligation to bet out into a family pot where there in virtually no chance to take it down right there if you miss.

3. You are not commiting yourself due to the pot odds to chance overcards. Most times in a limped family pot an ace or even a king on the turn will only cost you a bunch of bets to someone who just hit their 2 pair.

4. You lose you biggest equity gain and that is concealment of the hand. If you hit the hand well there is a very good chance that you will win a much bigger pot in the end due to no one putting you on AK. You lose out on this very profitable play if you raise preflop.

5. By not raising you change up your play slightly if you are viewed as an aggressive player. You're keeping your opponents on their toes.

Those are just some of my thoughts. I can obviously make a case for raising here so I'm not saying raising should never be done.

one mental sticking point I am having is that you will flop TPTK about 32% of the time with AK.

I am going to play it about the same post-flop whether I raise on not when I hit. Very few things could make me fold post flop at the .5/1 and under games I play.

In the looser more passive games, I am not going to feel like I have to bet just because I raised PF when I miss. I raised for value, my post flop bets should be for value. But your pre-flop profit is small, so you aren't losing much by not raising PF.


I am too lazy to do the math on how often you will flop an A or a Q with no K to AQ.