You’ll almost always raise pre-flop with A-K, unless it’s been raised and/or re-raised before the action gets to you. I’ll usually raise 4-5 times the blind in looser games to try and thin the field. You probably have the best hand right now and by raising you can accomplish one of two things (either of which are desirable): This goes for early, middle, and late positions. In no-limit ring games I will raise about 70-80 percent of the time whether I am the first one in the pot or following a few limpers. Since you’re certainly going to miss more often than you hit, it is important to take the lead early in the hand and seize control.
However, one of the key aspects to remember is that the odds say you will only flop a pair about 1 out of 3 times. Unless one of your opponents has the rare holding of pocket AA or KK you are no worse than a coin-flip in the hand (remember that two overcards are about a coin-flip pre-flop favorite against a smaller pocket pair). One of the beauties of Big Slick is the pre-flop pressure that you can put on your opponents. Ninja Tip for A-K in Low-Stakes Tournaments.
