There’s a lot of debate about AK suited being a stronger poker hand than QQ or JJ. Let’s tackle this problem in the context of showdown value. Running through some common scenarios, we see that statistically AKs is only a 45-55 underdog to a made pocket pair. With 8 outs, the ability to connect to the highest straight or flush, and possibly catch two overpairs on the board against small poker pocket pairs, AK has some serious showdown value. Now why would you be worried about showdown value? Well, in situations where the betting doesn’t get a person off his or her online poker hand, and you feel that you’re losing, you need a hand that has a good amount of value if it does come to showing the cards down. Which is why a hand like AKs, AA, KK, QQ, or JJ has such good showdown value. In the event of an all in, there are very few better hands preflop, and post flop, the value depends on the flop texture. JJ is almost always golden when the flop is a lot of under cards and not very coordinated. This concept is especially necessary in tournaments when the blinds start eating your stack. Hands like AKo even are hands you may consider stacking off with in a tournament where you’re short stacked and need a strong hand to showdown when the big stack calls you to take you out.