During the World Series of Poker this year I talked to some pros about the problems that many classified through online satellites have been playing a Big Slick (AK) during the first few blind levels. It seemed that a large percentage of the players, we estimate about 70%, was more than willing to be the case with this hand if linking pair on the flop. But many pros, including myself, think that Ace-King is a very difficult hand to play in the first few levels in a big tournament, where the stacks are very long compared to the blinds. The reason for this is that top pair / top kicker is probably a bad hand if another player is willing to risk all their chips. This is not always the case but even you may find a player that is looking extremely bad left the box with KQ, but this is a rare exception. The problem of playing early is that AK is very difficult to get an idea where you are in the hand.
Even in a safe flop or something like K 9 2 you can think your hand is good. But you can not be sure. Imagine that you raise preflop with AK and one player beats you call. The two see a flop of K 9 2. Safe bets on the flop and again on the turn. a l does call on both streets. What now? You betting on the river and pray to not let it go? Or you check in the hope your opponent does the same? It is a difficult situation and neither option is a radically good.