Call or Fold After Missing the Flop With Ace-King?
DECISION POINT: In a no-limit hold'em cash game it folds to you in middle position and you raise with A?K?. The cutoff and the blinds all call, and the flop comes Q?J?7?. The blinds check, you check, and the cutoff bets. The blinds both fold. Action is on you...
PRO ANSWER: In a heads-up pot, we would never check-fold ace-king on this board. We would generally continuation bet it out of position, or if we check, we would check-call at a minimum. Our hand has a lot of equity against our opponent's range heads-up.
However, given that this flop was seen four ways, the cutoff's betting range should be much more constricted than in a heads-up scenario. Against a range that includes top pair, club draws, straight draws, two pair, and sets, we should check-fold ace-king with no club.
If we had held either the A? or K?, we would be justified in continuing here. But with no club in our hand and facing a range that should have very few low equity stabs in it, continuing would not be profitable in the long run.
Folding is the best play.
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