Playing Ace King is already a difficult task from the get go. Playing Ace King from early position can be extremely challenging. By playing this hand in position it gives you a considerable edge in being able to act last in the hand. Acting last allows you to control the pot size and get away from the hand if things get to heated. You don’t have such an advantage when you are the first to act.

So how do you play Ace King in EP?

Clearly I am going to raise the pot and I may raise the pot just a little more than normal if I had big pocket pair. Why? Because I don’t want and hangers-on in the pot. I also want to make it so that if I get re-raised big I can easily get away from the hand. I do not subscribe to calling huge pre-flop raises with Ace King especially early in a tournament. It usually means you are beat. Once the money is in the middle I am going to proceed to bet out after the flop to see where i am at no matter what hits the board. About 60 percent of the time I can end the hand with the post flop bet right there. If I meet some resistance and miss the flop I can easily get away from the hand. If I get a smooth call I am going to proceed with caution on the turn and flop.

To put it simply you need to be careful when playing Ace King from early position. Remember, Ace King is not a made hand.