Poker Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
Some opponents will have a very definitive pattern here
Some opponents will have a very definitive pattern here So if you get to see an AK opponent go to showdown with an unimproved hand, and then get to see them go to showdown with a made hand, you want to note the differences in how they bet these two hands. A lot of opponents (especially at micro and small stakes) are not very balanced in how they bet their bluffs versus their made hands. Note everything you see about the differences, and try and relate their betting pattern to a ratio of the pot size.
For example, if you see someone bet
For example, if you see someone bet an unimproved hand on the flop for a ½ sized pot bet on the flop, but they bet a made hand for slightly larger or 3/4ths the pot size bet on the flop, this will likely be a pretty reliable betting tell. If you get to see it more than once, you can almost ink it, and assume it is. Most of the better players won't vary their bet sizing much or at all, as you're told in most books and by other players not to, but you will spot some that do. You’ll know in this example when your opponent is betting weak, they’re weak, and when they bet strong, they’re strong. You might see the opposite of this, or any other combination of betting patterns, and different ones also on the turn. So don’t only note that this opponent is an AK, but how they bet their hands as well (you should do this with all opponents of course, but especially true when you see opponents who are firing multiple bullets).