Believe it or not some top-level players would prefer to be dealt Ace, King than a pair of Aces.

Well at the highest level the game is all about deception and you can actually win more with Ace, King whereas against your medium to low level players, you'd want pocket rockets every time.

But this does underline how Ace, King is a versatile pocket hand and one that should be played with aggressive intent most of the time.

The default course of action is to raise four or five times the big blind and if you hit the flop then continue down the aggressive route.

Ace, King is the perfect hand to re-raise and not be afraid to go All-in as the chances of running into a pair of Aces or a pair of Kings are less likely.

If you re-raise three or four times the initial raise you will get many opponents who have raised on the back of low pocket pairs or Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack or King-Queen to fold.

If you do get called you have at worst a 42% chance of victory but the number of times you raise people out of pot or they call with Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack or King-Queen will make up for the times you get gazumped by a pair of Aces or a pair of Kings.

Re-raising will put significant pressure on the initial raiser. Most players with a pair of eights and lower will fold and loose players holding Ace-Queen, Ace-Jack or King-Queen will call hoping they are in a coin flip situation.

With a re-raise your opponents are likely to fold three or four as many times as you get a caller and even in that 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 time you get called you have a good shot of winning.

The key is to figure out the raising, re-raising and calling standards of your opponents.

Sometimes you can narrow an opponent's hand range down to a pair of Aces or a pair of Kings on the back of his betting patterns.

Against others, you know they will fold pairs all the way up to Jacks whilst others will mix things up and sometimes flat call with a pair of Aces and bet at every opportunity with say a pair of Jacks.

Against most opponents, we are only going to be able to make assumptions on how they would play and that is the tricky part of playing Ace, King as it is far more opponent dependent than a hand like a pair of sevens.

But if the average small stakes player raises pre-flop, meaning they can be raising anything from Ten, Jack through to a pair of Aces, then you should re-raise.

You'll be ahead of most of their hand range and you want them to think you have a big pair. People will fold and show top pair in these circumstances.

Ace, King can be very versatile as if the average player raises, you can flat call hoping he's got Ace and a lower card.and then an Ace flops.

Here the player won't think you have Ace, King and will probably think his Ace, Queen or Ace, Jack is good enough and you'll get paid off post-flop.

If you miss, you might raise them on the flop if his continuation bet looks weak or you might bet out if he checks on a ragged flop.

The real key to playing Ace, King is not going broke on top pair. Just because you have the best pair and best kicker, doesn't mean you can't be defeated.

Ace, King is a hand you have to be able to push with and a hand you have to be able to let go of in the correct circumstances.

The decision is typically more clear and easy to make in tournament play versus cash games because it can be made almost exclusively based upon chip position.

But, if your modus operandi is to call with Ace, King regardless of the situation behind a raise, then your playing this hand too weak pre-flop.

But you don't want to re-raise if you will be pot committed after a continuation bet on the flop.

Stack size is a big issue. You need to have enough stack left to not be pot committed when you make your continuation bet on the flop.

You might want to leave the initiative with your opponent if your opponent will be pot committed with a continuation bet on the flop.

If you are going to be pot committed on an Ace or King high flop, you should definitely re-raise pre-flop and attempt to fold the threats that could bust you like middle to small pairs and suited connectors.

There is nothing worse then going bust with top pair when you limped in or called pre-flop. If your willing to go broke with the hand, you should definitely be more aggressive with it pre-flop.

Angus MacKenzie / Eurosport