Big Slick. What a poker hand. Has there ever been a hand that’s won you bigger pots? Likewise, has there ever been a hand that’s lost you bigger pots? Poker players like a good flip, and there’s no better hand to do it with than the old ace-king.

Back in December, we watched a Big Slick hand play out at the MSPT Season 9 Finale at Canterbury Park. It happened in Level 9 (400/800/100) when the under-the-gun player opened for 2,000 and Ian Matakis three-bet to 5,900 two spots over. Kevin Berthelsen then four-bet all in for 32,525 from the lojack and the original raiser folded.

Matakis gave it some thought and then committed most of his stack to put his opponent at risk.

Matakis:
Berthelsen:

Berthelsen got it in good but fell behind on the flop. Neither the turn nor river helped Berthelsen and he exited the tournament area while Matakis was pushed the nearly 70K pot.

We were curious about the hand and consulted Jonathan Little of PokerCoaching.com.

MSPT: Obviously Berthelsen should four-bet kings preflop like he did. However, do you think he should have considered a smaller amount or are you ok with the jam?

Little: This depends on his stack size. It is difficult to know how many chips he started with, but if it was only 40,000 or so, going all in is likely his best play because if he cold four-bets to 15,000, he should not have much of a folding range. If he had more than 40,000, it probably makes sense to make it 15,000 or so with a range of premium hands and a few bluffs that contain blockers such as AxQx, AxJx, or KxQx.

MSPT: Given the way the hand played out, how do you feel about Matakis calling with Big Slick? What about a fold?

Little: Whenever you get cold four-bet, it is important to figure out if your opponent has many (or any) bluffs in their range. That said, blocks aces and kings, meaning you are likely against QxQx, JxJx, or AxKx, all of which you are in fine shape against, given the pot odds. However, if you know your opponent would only four-bet with aces and kings, clearly you should fold. I usually give my opponents more credit than that though, so I tend to get in with Big Slick in almost all situations when stacks are 50 big blinds or shorter.

MSPT: What are your thoughts about Big Slick in today’s poker world? It seems players are more willing to get it in preflop with ace-king than they have in the past.

Little: I have always been happy to get all-in with AxKx. The idea that it is a "drawing hand" or "behind" pairs is silly. You have some amount of equity in all situations and AxKx tends to have 45% or more against reasonable ranges. Given there is usually already some money in the pot, you will be getting at least a break-even price to get in due to the pot odds, and often you only need to win 40% of the time or so. If you know you will win 45% of the time and you only need to win 40% of the time, you should rarely fold.

PokerCoaching.com is an interactive poker learning experience from two-time WPT Champion Jonathan Little. Try it for free at PokerCoaching.com/mspt.