The arguments for
and against Big Slick

IT MAY not be pocket Aces, nor is it pocket Kings but, as far as monster starting hands go, it is next on most players' list.

Numerous poker experts rank A-K, known in poker slang as ‘Big Slick', as the third-best starting hand in Hold'em, ahead of even pocket Queens and pocket Jacks.

Test your skills: Racing Post Poker

  PICTURE: Racing Post Poker  

Apparently, T J Cloutier, the former road gambler and respected tournament player, feels so strongly
about the importance of A-K that in one of his authoritative books, he dedicated one-third of the practice hands to playing with and against it.

"In a tournament, you have to win both sides of it," says Cloutier.

"You have to have your pair hold up when they have an A-K and you have to catch the Ace or the King when you have A-K and they have the pair. That's how you win tournaments."

Never a truer word spoken, but with A-K (suited or not) a mathematical outsider against any pocket pair above 3s, just how come the hand is rated so highly?

Well, A-K is a hand that you play confidently in pre-flop situations where the same cannot be said of those pocket 3s in the face of a re-raise all-in.

You try calling an all-in, or even moving all-in, during the late stages of a tournament with a tiny pair - it is hard to do.

In fact, despite holding the likes of pocket Jacks, many players will pass to a re-raise despite strongly suspecting their aggressive opponent has A-K. That is some pass when you consider the Jacks are a 57 per cent favourite.

However, the power of the move does indicate the all-in player can realistically have one of just a few hands - namely Q-Q, K-K, A-A or the A-K - and should he/she have one of those three pairs, the pocket Jacks are a remote 4-1 shot to get lucky.

But it is just that type of second-guessing that makes playing A-K forcibly so decisive and earns the hand its place among the very best starting hands in Hold'em.

Click here to play Racing Post Poker now