AK is really strong?

[dangbaonguyen93]

There is not much debate because AK is definitely a very strong hold hand preflop. However, the strength of this pair of cards is not as strong as big pairs like AA or KK and headsup will even be the underdog if you encounter pairs of 6 or more.

Let's analyze the AK hand in the headsup situation first

AK suited VS double 6 = 47.9%

AK suited VS QJ suited = 60.0%

AK suited VS 67 suited = 57.7%

These numbers are quite clear because AK is just a drawing hand and not a made hand like other pairs. AK, whether of the same suit or not, will be weaker than most pairs and not even much better than other suited connector hands. AK's win rate drops a lot when there are many players participating. The odds for you to call and win increase, but in return, out hits and draws are significantly blocked. Remember that you are holding a strong preflop hand in your hand and by the time the flop, turn or river comes out, this hand is not necessarily strong anymore. Do not limp AK at this stage unless the number of players is small and your stack is deep enough to play slowly. AK players need to proactively bet or raise to filter out opponents and leave some hands that you are winning or have a high chance of winning like AQ, AJ, small pairs.

With a deep enough stack when reraised preflop, the reasonable choice would be to call or reraise to test the strength of your opponent's hand. With a small stack this option will be fold or all-in. Calling with AK with a low stack is not a good choice because the miss flop rate is quite high and the remaining chips will not be enough to play in the later stages of the hand.
Goodluck and GG

 

[dannystanks]

Here are some other cool stats for AK.
AKs flops a flush 1% of the time.
AK flops a straight 0.3% of the time.
Top Pair 29%
Trips 1.4%
2 pair 2%
Ace high 67%
AK flops a gut shot 11%

Most of the time we miss and now hold Ace high. After that, most common hand is top pair, and then a gut shot.

AK does have 65% equity over any two random cards.

AK will be dominated heads up 0.5% of the time.
AK will be dominated in a 6 handed game 2.4% of the time.
AK will be dominated in a 9 handed game 3.9% of the time.

 

[mr.fers_one]

AK is a good hand, but this does not mean that you need to go all in with UTG when 100bb... and I've seen a lot of such situations with fish.