[mrmuzeman]

Nice advice mate Heres a post I made before one time on AK...

When you raise pre flop with AK and you and only get 1 or 2 callers you should almost always follow it up with a near pot size bet even under the gun unless the board looks scary imo. If you get called then your through of course but often youll win the hand right there. Throw it away if you get raised and hit nothing. Check whenever you dont hit AK I know what youll have everytime and Ill bet with nothing and take the pot away from you.

Bare in mind by playing this way and betting out whenever you raised pre flop, no one will ever know what you have or a clue whether youve hit anything and its always good to keep your opponents guessing.

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IMO letting this hand go is one of the hardest but most essential things for any player to be able to do.

I hear what is said and its important to be able to lay down a good but beatable hand but AK IS a drawing hand so you will have to hit with it to win in a showdown. Its extremely easy to get away from imo, if I hit I bet. If I dont hit and I raised pre flop Ill bet. If I get called here ill check it down if poss. If I get raised ill fold. AA or KK is what I would describe as a hand thats hard to let go of. Its probably for this reason AK is maybe even better than AA cos youll lose less with it and win just as much in a big pot by an ace with a weaker kicker.

Also pre flop - in general raising with AK is a sound play. Often I will raise with it in late position or on the button to cut out the field and I have position to make a bet and take the pot when everyone probably checks to me after the flop.

But in early position I often just call with it tbh. This way im not forced into following up my pre flop raise with another bet after the flop. I say this because ill be out of position when I make this bet and if I get called I wont know where I stand even if I hit with it. Also youll have a weak ace come in somewhere with you and cos you never raised preflop they might think their kicker is good (say AJ) when an ace comes on the flop. Cos they think you would have raised with AK right? Wrong!

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Say im holding AK (off) which i raise substantially pre-flop with

What dyou mean by substantial? I wouldnt suggest raising substantially unless the game is very loose or somebody already raised. 4xbigblind is usually sufficient as a normal bring in. I also just like calling with AK to raises.

Bare in mind also im primarily a cash game player so the things I say apply to that more although of course theres a fair bit of crossover between cash and tournament play. I would get busy with AK more in a tournament id say in general, its a good hand all in ina tournament as youll hardly ever be in a bad spot with it. Also remember AKs can always be played slightly stronger than AKo