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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